"Daar zullen wij rusten en zien, zullen wij zien en liefhebben, zullen wij liefhebben en lofprijzen. Dat is wat er op het einde zonder einde zal zijn. Want welk ander einde is er voor ons dan het bereiken van dat koninkrijk, dat nooit een einde vindt?" (XXII.30)

Amazing to read and wrestle with biblical commentary written ~1600 years ago!

After 2 Years in the Making, I have finally completed St. Augustine's City of God. This book, is amazing, but its also very intense and involved. I can see myself referring back to this many times in the Future. The first half of the book tries to undo many of the errors found in a dying Pagan society, that seems very similar in thought to our own culture today. Whereas the second half of the book, has more of a focused on God and His Eternal City and the implications it has for all of mankind.

However say what you will the footnotes coupled with the history, philosophy, theology even psychology as well as criticism for the society of his time is all provided by St. Augustine and is supplemented with the translators footnotes. I would wager this book could probably be completed in 22 Weeks, if one spends One Week on Each Book, however if you are like me, you may find yourself stopping and going, making this read something that takes even longer to complete, the read however once complete is well worth it.

terrible

You probably classify books semi-consciously as; Books to make you Happy, Books to make you Good, Books to make you Smart. And then you'll once in a while get a book like this one, that says things like, "it will readily occur to any one that the blessedness which an intelligent being desires as its legitimate object results from a combination of these two things, namely, that it uninterruptedly enjoy the unchangeable good... and that it be delivered from all dubiety, and know certainly that it shall eternally abide in the same enjoyment." And you realize you have to adjust all your categories, because you're suddenly seeing the universe from several angles at once.
This book is part of the nerve system of the Western tradition. You could do far worse with a month of serious study than spend time with it.

This is simply an initial reaction book review. Further and deeper thoughts will follow on a blog somewhere...

I have finished reading City of God. It is a massive book. It took me a year plus a few months to achieve this, albeit sometimes going weeks without peaking inside. This is one of the largest works from antiquity, and it's basically an education in a volume -- history, the theory of history, theology, biblical scholarship, pagan religion, philosophy, political philosophy, moral philosophy, Christian apologetics, and more, are all treated in this one, giant, compelling (at times, admittedly, dry) volume.

Augustine ostensibly sets out in this book, On the City of God Against the Pagans, to demonstrate the falsehood of polytheistic traditionalists' arguing that Christianity was the cause of Rome's sack at the hands of Alaric in 410; at least, that's what we always say Augustine sets out in this book. If it is, he clearly decided that the only way to do it was to set forth the 'two cities' -- the City of Man and the City of God, describing each, its origins, and its history, as well as dealing with the polytheist detractors head-on with his reading of Livy that observes that Rome had many disasters when she observed the pax deorum, and that many bad men prosper, so Christianity can't be to blame for 410.

Augustine's discussion of Roman history is a joy to read, for it presents us with an alternative reading -- God allowed Rome to prosper for his own designs, not due to anything Rome had done. This runs counter to the vision of history abroad amidst many both of the pagans and of the Christians who imagined history as 'good men prosper while bad men fail.'

This book will also throw you headlong into the Christian reading of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, as Augustine sets forth the parallel histories, from Adam to the reward of the saints in glory at the bodily resurrection. Here you are immersed in the story of Scripture but also always surrounded by how Augustine's keen intellect read and interpreted the text, seeking out its meaning meticulously. Modern scholars may disagree with Augustine's conclusions at times, but his keenness in seeking out the truth and working through difficult bits of the Bible will be eternally laudable.

City of God is not for the faint of heart. It is, as I say, large. It is also, figuratively speaking, heavy. You will have to think your way through this book. You will probably forget some of it as you move on to later parts. But its contribution to so much western theology and philosophy makes it worth the effort. If you want to think hard about history, theology, philosophy, if you want to exercise your brain and consider why the world is as it is, if you want to enter into the world of one of antiquity's greatest minds, if you want to see what an ancient tour-de-force in philosophy looks like, if you want to understand the fourth and fifth centuries -- you should read this book.

Free download available at Vol. I - Project Gutenberg.

Free download available at Vol. II - Project Gutenberg.

This is my first time reading this mammoth work. Just finished it and don’t even know how to review such a thing. Some quick initial thoughts: Idols are bad. Really bad. Never thought I’d spend so much time thinking about Roman paganism, and yet was edified by reflecting on how Christ triumphed over the demons.

Was helpful to see that Augustine is at his best when he is focused on the big differences and the core truths. Some of his weakest arguments come when he is getting excessively detailed with very specific critics long forgotten. There’s a lesson in that for Christian speakers and writers today.

There are some unfortunate things of course, his views on women, slaves, and sex, for example. For instance, his belabored and detailed defense of Abraham’s “exemplary use” of Hagar takes great pains to deal with so many of Augustine’s hang ups about sex, but never once considers the agency of Hagar as a person. For him, she is a female body to be used as Abraham and Sarah see fit.

I really appreciated seeing how Augustine thought then about so many things we think we are discussing now for the first time and how he addressed analogs of arguments that are still being made to day. All of this means there is a lot of wisdom for how to handle our version of those things. We fight many of the same demons and their followers.

Some examples are how he deals with the criticism that people were naive and apt to believe fanciful stories about Jesus. We hear this argument now. He shows how the Roman worship of Romulus was thought remarkable in its day precisely because even at that time people knew better than to fall for lies of that magnitude. He then shows how that faith is explainable in all the ways Christianity isn’t (Romans and those who fear them worship Romulus, but no one else does). So, ancients weren’t that naive, and yet all nations still believed this remarkable claim about Jesus against all odds.

Also found it helpful when he dealt with the sort of once-saved-always-saved, easy-believism that took sacramental form and others in his day. His answers were much the same as answers made to new versions in our day, drawn from the basics of the faith. He made some great arguments against universalism I’d never heard before.

His discussion of eschatology is outstanding and wonderful. He combines the hope of the New Heavens and New Earth, bodily resurrection, and the beatific vision all into one great and rich hope.

I definitely look forward to re-reading some sections more closely in the future.

Well, that was a book. I have been reading this one for probably far too long and I feel a bit dazed to realise I have actually finished it. This book is an interesting one to think about and perhaps I will revisit these words in a few weeks once I have more time to let this one simmer (yet Augustine’s words have been simmering around in my brain for the past eight months or so, so maybe that is long enough!). I am glad I read this book, yet I’m not sure I’ll ever re-visit. For this book, more than any I’ve read in recent memory, is a chore. Augustine goes here and there and everywhere. Yes the book is structured. Yes there is a progression. But I find myself slightly baffled at times by the topics that Augustine chooses to spend fifty pages on, and then the topics I would consider slightly more important get barely a page. Editors today would have a field day with this one. I don’t generally consider abridged versions of old books a good idea, but I would not argue with someone who chose to read a (good) abridged copy of this book.

Am I really being so harsh on Augustine, one of the prominent theologians of the Christian world? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike this one. I simply find it a bit unfocused and probably not entirely worth the time and effort it takes to read. In a way though, I think I understand why I feel as I do. In some ways, this book has far more value as a historical work than as a theological one. Yes, there are many solid and brilliant theological insights contained therein. Yes, Augustine’s devotion to the faith and high view of Scripture cannot be denied. Yes, Augustine’s clinging to Christ as the only way of salvation and his understanding of being eternally with God as the prime good of mankind was encouraging, and thrilling to meditate on! Yet, I also realise that this book was (as all books are) a product of its time. This is actually quite a polemical work. Augustine is responding to the philosophies of his day and speaking to the world in which he lived. So this book is enlightening and fascinating as we consider the topics that were of supreme and dire importance to the great minds of the late 4th century. In this day we do not perhaps need pages and pages detailing the natures and deficiencies of the pagan gods who were so quickly fading into irrelevance. But still? This book is important because it shows a great man of God (and indeed a great intellect, though that is of lesser importance) defending the faith and boldly speaking forth the gospel of God to a world that was so lost in its own pride and ignorance. Maybe the pride and ignorance of that long-ago world seems odd to us now, yet we cannot smirk too much. In this present world we are just as proud of our ignorance, though we would not put it in such terms. Anyway! I go off the topic. This book is important and it is quite fascinating to see Augustine discussing the Christian faith in a world that had just known the name Jesus Christ for barely four centuries. And I am exceedingly encouraged to see the faith Augustine has in both the nature and work of God, as well as his utter confidence in the Scriptures. Yes, sometimes Augustine says things with absolute confidence that I would…question. Augustine is not perfect and this book is not perfect. Yet still, there are many times where Augustine humbly confesses that he does not quite know the answer and simply puts forth his thoughts in the wisdom that he knows God has given him. Would that we all in this day exhibit more of Augustine’s humility.

This book is an odd one. I think I’m glad I read it? Would I recommend it? Unsure. At least, if you’re going to read Augustine, read Confessions first. I am grateful to ponder the truths that Augustine expounded, though the journey was messy at times. It is good to think that God indeed has a people that He has called into communion with Himself. We are now truly part of the city of God and someday we shall fully and intimately know God in a way we do not know Him now. For that day we long. We do not know exactly the future or how God shall accomplish His will. Yet we do know that God’s will shall be accomplished and that He shall not abandon the people He has called to Himself. There always has been a remnant. And someday this remnant shall weep and rejoice as the bride beams to welcome her bridegroom. Oh come quickly Lord Jesus. This is a desire that burned just as hot in Augustine’s own soul. Someday I wish to talk theology with this dear brother and rejoice as we look on the face of our Lord, even if now we cannot quite imagine what that will be like. We do know it shall be far better than we can think now. Oh Lord Jesus, come quickly.

This is a long, grueling ordeal and I have several major problems with it. First, Augustine is unabashedly predestinarian. That is a heresy, but it hadn’t been declared as such until after Augustine’s death. The church makes the polite assumption that Augustine would have recanted had he lived long enough for the debates on predestinarianism. Second, Augustine speaks of the Supreme Good, sometimes as law and order, sometimes as peace. If he places God above these, it is not explicit and the same must be said of love, which is God. Third, Augustine is aggressively misogynistic. For example in Book XV, Ch 22, Augustine interprets the opening lines of Gen 6, the lines about the sons of God marrying the daugters of men in terms of his two cities, the sons of the city of God marrying the daughters of the city of men and the women captivating and corrupting the men. He also likens it to the fall of man, also attributed to a woman. ( “…this calamity, as well as the first, was occasioned by woman.) Fourth, Augustine’s world view is thoroughly aristocratic, believing that the best shall rise above the worst, even in heaven and that the relative merits of people on earth will determine their relative status in heaven(Book XXII, Chapter 30). This, despite the parables of the prodigal son, the lost coin, the lost sheep and the laborers in the vineyard. Fifth, Augustine’s view of angels is derived from a confusion about ancient myths. Augustine’s view that the world wasless than 5,000 years old leads him to regard the Greek myths as the most venerable and the Greek philosophers as the greatest of the pre-Christian world. But his sense of Greek myth is colored heavily by Vergil and he has no idea of the basis of Greek myth in astronomy (or astrllogy in his time before astronomy had been separated from astrology). The Greeks studied the planetos (from which we derive our word planet); but planetos means wanderers and the Greeks divided the wanderers into gods, which never strayed from their heavenly realm (except in disguise) and the heroes who sometimes came to earth. We would call these groups planets on the one hand and comets, asteroids and meteors on the other. Augustine reckoned those wanderers who were thought to have done terrible things as evil angels and built a terrifying view of angels from these misconceptions. Angel means messenger of God and God can, of course, use anything or anyone as a messenger. Most of God’s messengers are people who have been willing to act as God wishes, providing signs and encouragement to us in our daily lives. However, the Bible also speaks of Angels in other ways. The most significant s Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, an invitation to bear the incarnate Word. We have much to learn about angels but I don’t think Augustine is a useful or reliable guide.
In short, even though Augustine is one of only about three dozen doctors of the church, a title which actually means that all of his writings can be profitably read, I would not recommend The City of God to anyone except students of the history of these various follies. Martin Luthor relied heavily on Augustine. We would all do better to rely on scripture.

There can be no doubt that this work is the hallmark of philosophy in the first millennium, all-encompassing and yet almost too eloquent to be a tome of any systematic characteristics. Sometimes he can get protracted and entangled in some trivial theological issues, but by and large he addresses the most fundamental philosophical and theological issues with such a profundity that no writer had reached before his days. Meanwhile, through the pages of this masterpiece, St. Augustine proves himself, perhaps unintentionally, to be an outstanding scholar of pagan culture as well in that he recounts the Greek and Roman classics, religious or otherwise, as easily as breathing. What calamity has befallen our education such that we no longer produce polymathic scholars of this kind!

Similar to how a pastor preaches a message to the cultural heart of the church and the same with Paul in his epistles confronting the idolatries of the different churches. Augustine eloquently contrasts the city of Rome to the “city of God.” Rebuking Roman philosophy and it’s society for thinking becoming Christian was the downfall of Roman society.
Augustine talks about many different sins in the life of a a Christ follower in the context of this time within this masterpiece. This book demonstrates Christ in a way where it is not just a moving lecture.
Knowing the context is REQUISITE to understanding this book.