Ironically, I switched my major at Grinnell College from history to religion because of this book. We had just read Thucydides in the Historiography class, the last course required to complete the major, when Professor Kintner assigned 'De civitate Dei'. That weekend, opening the tome and beginning to read, I decided it was simply too much. Augustine's approach seemed to be psychotic polemics, not history. Being a junior and having accumulated a lot of religion credits almost by chance, I determined a switch was doable in the time remaining and that I'd learn more of the history I was interested in by making the switch.

Years later, working part-time for Ares Press, a publisher of books about the classics and ancient history, and seeking employment at a great books college which included 'De civitate Dei' in its reading list, I picked up the book again and this time read through the thing.

It wasn't fun, nor was it particularly interesting, but it did make a lot more sense that it would have when I was twenty. The Grinnell religion degree, the subsequent M.Div. and graduate program in philosophy all helped to prepare me for the thought-world of Augustine.

Augustine is widely considered the most important of the early church fathers. He was born in North Africa in 354 A.D., became the Bishop of Hippo and wrote a vast number of works—most notably Confessions, On Christian Doctrine, On the Trinity, and City of God. Augustine’s legacy particularly in the Protestant tradition, cannot be underestimated, as his works left an indelible impression upon the Reformers—a legacy that Protestants still draw upon today. Indeed, the very nature of the argument concerning Christ and Culture was framed by Augustine in City of God.
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City of God was Augustine���s last major work, finished in 426 A.D., having begun writing thirteen years prior. It is a massive volume, a little over one thousand pages of translated Latin. The work is broken up into twenty-two books, or chapters as we would call them today. Each book is then broken up into small chapters. This organization allows the reader to move through the book topically, and makes it easy to read in small sections.

The first half of the work focuses on Rome and pagan theology and philosophy—critiquing and exposing it as demon worship. The second half of the work focuses on the two cities—the City of God and the City of Man. First time readers will find the second half the most rewarding and the easiest-going. But there is profit in the first half—even for the modern day reader.
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Augustine is one of the pre-eminent Christian thinkers in the church, and his insights into pagan philosophy, though often arcane and hard to follow without a good understanding of pagan philosophy and religion, is sharp and incisive. Augustine’s understanding of the human heart and his skill in biblical exposition through these sections are excellent. His thought is often provocatively simple and straightforward. For example, when answering critics that argue that certain events have led to the slaughter of Christians, he writes,
“Well, if this be hard to bear, it is assuredly the common lot of all who are born into this life. Of this at least I am certain, that no one has ever died who was not destined to die some time. Now the end of life puts the longest life on a par with the shortest. For of two things which have alike ceased to be, the one is not better, the other worse--the one greater, the other less. And of what consequence is it what kind of death puts an end to life, since he who has died once is not forced to go through the same ordeal a second time? And as in the daily casualties of life every man is, as it were, threatened with numberless deaths, so long as it remains uncertain which of them is his fate, I would ask whether it is not better to suffer one and die, than to live in fear of all?” Book I Chapter 11

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In the first half of the City of God, Augustine comments on the burial of the dead, gives counsel for victims of rape, discusses suicide, argues in favor of capital punishment, argues that a kingdom without justice is a robber, discusses the foreknowledge of God and the freedom of man, discusses the sovereignty of God, and discusses sacrifice among many other topics. These arguments are foundational to the Protestant project and the advancement of Christian thought in the world. Yet it is the second half of the book that has left the more profound mark in western civilization—Augustine’s discussion of the two cities.
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The two cities have been at odds since the fall of Lucifer and the descent of some angels into demons, who then tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Augustine writes that the,
“…two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, ‘Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.’” Book XIV Chapter 28
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Augustine traces the history of the two cities—the City of God and the City of Man. The City of God is a small, but faithful remnant. The City of Man follows those disobedient to God—in biblical times the majority of people. This contrast was perhaps most evident in the flood that covered the earth, when God spared only Noah and his family. This chronicle of the origins and history of the two cities is essentially a commentary on Genesis and the Old Testament—and a fine one at that. It is clear that as one commentator has said that, “Augustine taught the west to read,” meaning that Augustine’s hermeneutical method is the foundation for those that have followed in his formidable footsteps.
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One of the most helpful insights from the two cities division is his understanding of the overlap of the two cities. As Augustine writes, the two cities are at odds—their telos, or end, are in opposite directions—the City of God toward the glory of God, the City of Man toward glory of self. This divergence leads to conflict in understanding justice, the purpose of culture, the goal of education, and so on. So while the two cities have very different ends in mind, there is some overlap in interests. Toward the conclusion of book XIX, he writes,

“Wherefore, as the life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God, of whom the sacred writings of the Hebrews say, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord." Miserable, therefore, is the people which is alienated from God. Yet even this people has a peace of its own which is not to be lightly esteemed, though, indeed, it shall not in the end enjoy it, because it makes no good use of it before the end. But it is our interest that it enjoy this peace meanwhile in this life; for as long as the two cities are commingled, we also enjoy the peace of Babylon. For from Babylon the people of God is so freed that it meanwhile sojourns in its company. And therefore the apostle also admonished the Church to pray for kings and those in authority, assigning as the reason, "that we may live a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and love." And the prophet Jeremiah, when predicting the captivity that was to befall the ancient people of God, and giving them the divine command to go obediently to Babylonia, and thus serve their God, counselled them also to pray for Babylonia, saying, ‘In the peace thereof shall ye have peace," [1305] --the temporal peace which the good and the wicked together enjoy.’” Book XIX, Chapter 26
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So ultimately the two cities can, and in the best scenario, will cooperate with one another in seeking peace. But there is great danger here, as he warns earlier in book XIX. He warns of the City of Man, “For, in general, the city of the ungodly, which did not obey the command of God that it should offer no sacrifice save to Him alone, and which, therefore, could not give to the soul its proper command over the body, nor to the reason its just authority over the vices, is void of true justice.” (Book XIX, Chapter 24) It stands, therefore, that justice will only reign in the City of God.
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Ultimately, as Augustine concludes The City of God, he reminds us that the City of Man is perishing and that only the City of God will endure. Therefore the citizens of the City of God ought to labor unto the City of God, forsaking the purposes of the City of Man for the enduring, Heavenly City. Jesus says as much when he says, “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20)
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Augustine’s model is a helpful one. Christians ought to labor in advancing the City of God now, for the City of God is not only a future place, but a present one—with a history of faithful saints. Those that have been faithful to God from Abel forward have labored in the City of God. The choice is not between the present and the future as so many believe. Culture, government, and family are not simply present realities as opposed to the church and Christ’s kingdom as eternal realities. The options are faithfulness and unfaithfulness. Creating art, establishing justice, and having a family, are not earthly things—they are either labors in the City of God to the glory of God, or labors toward the City of Man to the glory of self.
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Faithful Christians understand, as Augustine did, that all of life is the establishment and advancement of the City of God, in incremental steps, toward the ultimate fulfillment of the new heavens and earth. Things we may perceive as of only temporary value such as civil law, art, music, war, food, drink, sex, friendship, work are in fact of eternal significance if offered to the glory of God and his eternal city. Let us exert ourselves to the glory of God by offering our labors unto the City of God.

Definitely a must read for every Christian!

I would like my certificate of completion now please.

A beautiful, beautiful work of art full of divine inspiration and the passion of God.

I did it!

See my reading plan here ( #cityofgod2019 ). I read parts of this in an graduate English seminar at Baylor in 2012.

i: brief biography
vii–viii: chronology
- 312: Constantine (Con.) becomes Xn and declares Roman Empire a Xn empire
- 325: Council of Nicaea
- 354: A born
- 361–3: brief return to paganism under Julian the Apostate
- 384: A becomes professor of rhetoric in Milan
- 386: A converts to Xnity
- 395: A becomes bishop of Hippo (North Africa)
- 410: sack of Rome (A age 56); encounter with many exiles
- 413: begins to write CoG
- 430: death

Introduction
ix: "More than any other single episode the sacking of Rome gave Augustine a reason to write the City of God" (exiles asked "how he could explain this collapse of a Christian empire")

I. Augustine and His World
x: Ciceronian ["cardinal"] virtues; Quintilian's understanding of the connection between virtue, speaking, and citizenship; Julius Caesar killed in 1c for fear that he would seize "a more permanent and 'presidential' power"—ironic that later emperors did just that (Roman Republic slowly shifted to an Empire over centuries)
xi: Pliny's panegyric to Emperor Trajan compares T to Jupiter (benevolent god); Roman syncretism made Xns stand out (wouldn't treat emperors as gods)
xi–xii: mid-3c (century before A's birth), Roman legions were being challenged/defeated
xii–xiii: Roman Empire became too large and functionally split between Greek East (Diocletian) and Latin West (Maximianus)—two Augusti, with a Caesar beneath each of them; xii, n2: A learned a little Greek, but never spoke/read it well
xiii: Con. (early 4c) united imperial powers; capitals on either side of the Mediterranean world; Praetorian Prefects > vicarii > provincial governors; mystery to bureaucratic administrators (approaching them required passing through literal veils)
xiii–xiv: Con. had to navigate how not to be a god-emperor (see p. xi), but one who served God
xiv: Eusebius (E; first Xn biographer; wrote Con.'s biography) met Con. at Council of Nicaea (325); E set Con. as an example for emulation ("It was not a new idea that the imitation of the great man or saint might encourage attempts at moral self-improvement. It is to be found in the secular classics too."); theme of E's bio is that Con.'s life shows God's blessing (Con. was a better emperor bc he served a higher purpose); the problem with E's thesis (that temporal success = God's favor) is that A faced the opposite condition (failure of the Xn Empire) and had to account for it
xv: senectus mundi (old age of the world) —> lamentation that the golden age had passed
xvi: "the sense of senectus mundi...sets...the tone of the world in which A wrote his apologia and tried to answer the critics who said Christianity was what the modern world might call a 'failed experiment.'" [amazing that when "Xn" Rome fell, some people thought that was the end of the Xn experiment]
xvi: "So, where E had been able to point triumphantly to the overcoming of God's enemies, A was faced with the problem of showing a sophisticated and skeptical readership experiencing the collapse of their world, that quite the reverse pattern of events was now the will of God and that in this case divine lessons lay in the punishment rather than in the reward of Christians."
xvi: A wrote "open letters" to Marcellinus (M), "but M was asking for something more substantial"—so he got CoG (at least first few books)
xvii: assumption that citizens would be good public speakers; A's regret re: his taste for drama (fiction/fable/deceit)
xviii: rhetoric lecturer in Carthage (371)—viewed that career as deceitful as well
xviii: common for people to be baptized toward the end of their lives (avoid mortal sin); A's baptism was delayed; A found Genesis unsatisfactory stylistically
xix: Roman syncretism led to its destruction; premodern assumption of a world filled with spirits, both local and cosmic
xx: Plotinus denounced astrology; A renounced his earlier fascination with it
xx: Roman paganism was syncretistic (Greek, Egyptian)
xxi: Mithraism (from Persian/Indian sun-worship) entered Rome in mid-1c ("superficial" parallels with Xnity)
xxi–xxii: Sallustius on gods: need to have good character to study the gods; myths teach deeper truths; mundane and supramundane gods
xxii–xxiii: philosophically speaking, Christians were both separated from pagans (1c Jew Philo's problem with an eternal world) and fascinated by them (undiminished giving [Neoplatonic] and supernatural beings [Celsus])
xxiii–xxiv: Manichean syncretism (from Persia)—dualism (eternal battle between good and evil) —> seems to explain existence of evil well, but incompatible with Xn God; included Gnostic mistrust of matter (including the body), which led to asceticism (Porphyry and vegetarianism; cf. Jerome and celibacy)
xxv–xxvii: A was surprised by Faustus's rhetorical sophistry (383); A went to Italy to teach rhetoric (deceived his mother) and became a professor in 384; similarly surprised by Ambrose's rhetorical skill in preaching; mother arrived in 385; converted to Xnity in 386 (garden; tolle lege); resigned as rhetoric teacher
xxvii–xxix: baptized in 387; mother died; returned to Hippo and founded a sort of monastic order; son died; ordained priest in 391; consecrated as Bishop of Hippo in 395 (d. in 430 at age 76)
xxix–xxxi: Tertullian (Athens vs. Jersusalem) and Cyprian rigorists—no return for those who apostatize; Decius's decree required sacrifices to pagan gods (250–51); Diocletian's edict closing Xn churches and confiscating Scriptures; persecution ended in 305; Donatist issue
xxxi–xxxiii: Pelagius (from Britain?): effort makes one good (attractive to followers of Jerome's asceticism); A emphasized grace and the inability of sinners; practice of delaying baptism changed in A's lifetime (part of the path to remission of sins)

II. Augustine's Book
xxxiii: Books 1–10 are against pagan arguments; Books 11–14 are about the origin of the Two Cities [2C]; Books 15–17 are about the growth of the 2C; Books 18–22 are about the purposes of the 2C
xxxiv: written/published episodically
xxxiv–xxxvi: genre possibilities include letter, apologia, philosophical dialogue, and catechism
xxxvi: A "win[s] assent by recasting familiar ideas" (such as "true sacrifice")
xxvii: education began with Latin literary classics (to develop rhetorical style), and some philosophy; A used his knowledge of the three styles (high, middle, low) in his writing; digressions were virtues
xxxviii: exegesis (Tichonius and figurative interpretation [see On Christian Teaching); four-fold method didn't arrive until Gregory the Great (literal/historical, plus three allegorical) [see his dedicatory letter in Moralia (literal, moral, and allegorical; later thinkers split allegorical into typological and anagogical)]

III. The Plan of the Book
xxxix: A thought of this as his magnum opus (see p. 5)
xl: pagans A encountered blamed barbarian invasion on Xns who prohibited sacrifices to pagan gods; Ep. 118.2.11 showcases his knowledge of pagan literature, but his point is that Xnity surpasses anything in paganism
xl–xli: Books 1–10 address those who think barbarian invasion is the fault of Xns (it's not like famine/disease/war didn't happen under their "watch")
xlii: "gods" are angels (good and bad); obedient humans will move from a mean (between angels and beasts) to fellowship with angels (12.22); Books 6–10 concern alternatives to Xnity
xliii: Books 11–22 include more Scripture bc A assumes that anyone still with him has accepted his previous arguments; Books 11–14 are about the origin of the CoG, and Books 15–17 are about its growth; Books 18–22 concern the earthly city and its mixture with the CoG

IV. The City of God
xliv: citizenship involves a bond of common interest (see 15.8; lots of OT/NT references)
xlv: politics is a result of the fall
xlvi: ability to choose good is erased by the fall (but predestination isn't incompatible with free will); Jerusalem vs. Babylon
xlvii: "The good City of God is somehow enhanced by the existence of its dark sister-city, which would never have existed but for the sin of Lucifer and Adam." #felixculpa
xlvii: visible church is a mixed community (we don't know who's who); relationship between true citizenship and rewards is unclear, because otherwise people would choose God for the wrong reasons
xlix: themes of captivity/liberation (exile/return, longing for home) are commonplace in ancient literature—peregrinus; Donatist controversy (can an unworthy vessel channel God's grace?)
l: CoG is universal history; seven stages (Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to David, David to Babylon captivity, Bab cap to X, X to end of the world, final Sabbath)
li: movement between microcosm and macrocosm
lii: we can only glimpse the CoG now; saints in CoG will derive comfort from know that they escaped torment; hierarchy doesn't disappear in the good city, but jealousy does
liii: fight temptation by replacing your desires

V. Augustine's Readership, Augustine's Influence
liii–liv: interest in Conf and CoG grew in 10c; copies found in monastery/cathedral libraries; decline of empire has an educational value for Xns
lv–lvii: A influenced Gregory of Tours, Gregory the Great, Anselm, John of Salisbury, Jacobus de Voragine (Golden Legend), Nicolas of Cusa, Calvin
lvii: RCC fights with Reformers over A; published in English for the first time in 1610
lvii: CoG is "a source of a main stream of ideas about every Christian's need in every age to work out for him- or herself the relationship between the world of political present reality and the world to come"; encouragement "to form the habit of setting what they do in the context of eternity"

Book 1
Preface: to Marcellinus; defending the CoG against those who prefer pagan gods; quotes the Aeneid (spare conquered; beat down proud); city of this world is dominated by its lust for dominion
1.1: world's city vs. CoG; barbarian who sacked Rome [Alaric] spared Xns who claimed sanctuary in sacred places; some who escaped now blame X and Xns, but they're inconsistent, bc they didn't praise X for either their escape or the good that happened before; God uses war
1.2: no examples of pagans sparing pagans who seek sanctuary in temples (see n8); Priam wasn't spared, though he clung to an altar [see Aeneid 2 and Inferno 12]; Diomedes and Ulysses killed temple guards; Minerva didn't protect those who guarded the palladium
1.3: Virgil is a great poet and was read by children to form their minds (Horace); Juno mentions "Troy's vanquished gods," and Aeneas calls them "conquered gods" (the poets weren't lying); it's irrational to say that Rome was sacked because the gods weren't honored—actually, Rome's gods would have perished long before if people hadn't been trying to preserve them
1.4: Troy, the mother of Romans, couldn't save its people, although they honored the gods; the sanctuary of Juno (queen of the gods) was used to hold prisoners; maybe the Greeks spared people in temples, but if so, Virgil lied
1.5: Sallust (truthful historian) makes no mention of sparing those in temples
1.6: other historical acts of kindness/tenderness are recorded
1.7: sack of Rome was unique in that large basilicas were filled with spared religious people; Christ honored
1.8: good and evil occurs to the virtuous and vicious alike (A gives reasons); difference is in the response (nature of those who suffer)
1.9: Xn suffering leads to moral improvement; "strangers" and "heavenly country" language; unfortunately, even virtuous people often love this life too much; good example of Job
1.10: saints aren't ultimately harmed by loss of temporal goods
1.11: Xns don't fear death, which is inevitable

Book 2


Book 3


Book 4


Book 5


Book 6


Book 7


Book 8


Book 9


Book 10


Book 11


Book 12


Book 13


Book 14


Book 15


Book 16


Book 17


Book 18


Book 19


Book 20


Book 21


Book 22

I read The City of God over six months last year in a translation by Henry Bettenson which runs to 1091 pages in my Penguin Classics edition. As Joe Morecraft says, this is a book on everything. I am not going to review it; all I feel that I can do is gesture helplessly in its general direction.

Read the rest at my blog, In Which I Read Vintage Novels.

After two years, a painfully stretched attention span, and forgetting 90% of what I’ve read, I can finally say I’ve finished City of God. This obviously means a review is in order, since, you know, if there’s anything your average 21st century young adult is qualified for, it’s reviewing City of God.

It took me over a year to read this. I think another reading is called for before I write a review. For large sections it was difficult to understand why he spent so much time on the points, but presumably they were significant issues in the day. At other time his brilliance carries through the centuries resonating to 21st century readers.

I give this book a four star rating in recognition of its enormous importance in world history. There is a strong argument for not reading it given the wildly different results that are obtained depending whether the edition that you happen upon is a Calvinistic or a Roman Catholic project.

St. Augustine's first achievement is to demonstrate the strengths of Christianity versus Pagan religion and Pagan Philosophy. His second achievement is that he provides a comforting explanation of why the Visigoths were able to sack Rome the centre of Christianity. He explains that Christians are citizens of the City of God and this is where our prime loyalty lies. Earthly cities are just places of temporary residence until we rise to Heaven. Disasters that befall earthly cities are of no consequence.

The problem arises with the third major achievement. St. Augustine proposes a doctrine of predestination that is later picked up and more fully developed by Jean Calvin who in the process creates a compelling theological base to the Protestant Reformation. Catholic editors and translators tend to produce versions of the City of God that provide relatively less support to Calvin while Protestant scholars tend to highlight the sections that support Calvin. Because the complete City of God is very long, abridgements are common which aggravates the pro-Catholic or pro-Reformation biais of the edition even more.

I chose to read a Catholic edition and found very little that supported Calvin. Take great care with your choice of edition. Not reading it all is a legitimate option unless your are a theology student.

What happens when you cross a brilliant, highly detailed, philosophical classic with a lack luster reader with a short attention span? A gigantic yawn. I know this 1,100 page tome is a cornerstone of Christian theology, but it left me beyond uninspired. The world view, the intellectual approach, the scientific and experiential underpinnings were so alien to my context that I never found an entry point or a moment of interest.