City of God (Penguin Classics)

Augustine’s City of God is classic of Western literature, theology, philosophy, and cultural criticism. It is a work that, alone, is almost half of Aristotle’s surviving corpus (and Augustine’s surviving corpus is the largest corpus of any Western author, and there are plenty of works of Augustine’s that have been lost to us). The City of God, as most know, was written in the aftermath of the Sack of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths. This sent shock waves throughout the Roman Empire – hitting Christians and Pagans alike. What we often forget too is that, while Christianity had been made the official state religion of the Roman Empire by Emperor Theodosius, “Paganism” still outnumbered Roman Christianity. Part of Augustine’s response was to counsel Christians whose faith was shaken by the events and traumatic experiences. The other part was Augustine’s response to the pagan critics – ensuring that the City of God would stand as one of the most comprehensive, and systematic, works of cultural criticism ever penned by a human. People in the English-speaking world, thanks to the Protestant Reformation, should re-read Augustine without the mediation of Luther or Calvin, and especially Calvin. Americans, in particular, should give Augustine’s work a read. America is often described as the New Rome, or the New Athens. Either way, America is the great superpower and is, in many ways, an empire of old. Although the notion of imperial soteriology has been greatly and grossly exaggerated, some Christians had begun to see the Roman Empire as an instrument of God’s salvific plans. In other words, God works through a nation to achieve his goals. Augustine vehemently opposes this view of seeing sacred history as tied to particular nations of men. Augustine is thoroughly Catholic. He is Catholic in his hermeneutics and he is Catholic in his ecclesiology. Which means he is Catholic in his ecclesiological hermeneutic which runs throughout the work. It was already common in the patristic period to read the Old Testament in a Christo-centric and ecclesiastic manner, so Augustine is no different when he comments upon how to read the ancient stories (but it is Augustine's authority that is so important). Unlike “fundamentalists” today, who see the OT stories as one of history, Augustine fits in the patristic tradition of allegorical hermeneutics. Yes, Augustine does believe in a literal Old Testament history (he had no reason to think otherwise) but that’s not what he is most concerned with. Instead, he is concerned with the truly “literal” (what we call today as allegorical) reading: The Old Testament stories are all prefigurations and signs of Christ and the Church. To give an example, in Book XV when he comments on the story of Cain and Abel Augustine doesn’t really care about Cain and Abel as fundamentalists would. Instead, he reads Cain and Abel as a story prefiguring Christ’s death and the Christian Church. Abel is like Christ, the good shepherd who is killed by humanity (archetypally represented by Cain). But Abel is also like the Church, the body of true life for even though Abel was physically killed it was Abel who spiritually lived on, while Cain embodies both physical and spiritual death. This is because, as Augustine tells us, Abel is like the City of God and Cain like the City of Man. Cain’s mark to wander and eventually found the first cities is also Augustine understanding those marked to be forever separated from Christ and his Church – and that city-life is tainted by the sin of fratricide leading to the perpetual lust for domination. But it is important to note, as Augustine does, God does not abandon the reprobate first (per Calvin's double predestination). It is the reprobate who abandon God – like Adam in the garden, or Cain just after murdering Abel, God appears and talks to them, offering a path to repent, but sinful man deflects the blame and doesn’t want to own their actions. Then, and only then, does God depart. (Hence Augustine's single predestination, for God knows who will choose him and forsake him, but he is still present with those who will forsake him until the moment of their forsaking -- whereas in Calvin God has already separated himself from the eternally damned before the beginning of time.) In reading the creation story of Genesis, Augustine not only emphasis the unity and equality between man and woman, “The woman, then, is the creation of God, just as the man; but her creation out of man emphasizes the idea of the unity between them” (XXII, 17), but it doesn’t stop there. Augustine reads the story of Adam and Eve in the same ecclesiastic hermeneutical lens: “And in the manner of that creation [the creation of Adam and Eve] there is, as I have said, a foreshadowing of Christ and his Church.” Those interested in the art of patristic hermeneutics, and especially ecclesiological hermeneutics, can be enriched by Augustine’s hermeneutic within the City of God. This is important for Americans, again, to realize the profundity of what Augustine is claiming (who influenced the Catholic tradition as a result): GOD HAS ALWAYS WORKED THROUGH HIS CHURCH! God has never actually worked through a “nation” but always his church. The Church is present at creation, it is present through the Flood (Noah’s Ark), it is present through the patriarchs and prophets, and it is present through the people of Israel before Christ’s crucifixion. There are no chosen nations, so to speak – all the nations, like earthly Jerusalem or Babylon, are destined to failure but the Church and the Church alone is chosen to endure to the end! But City of God is more than a work of philosophy, theology, and Biblical interpretation, it is among the greatest and most penetrating works of cultural criticism. Again, Americans should read, or reread, Augustine in light of this fact. Augustine does not spare from scrutiny and criticism all of the “sacred myths” of Rome. If Augustine were alive today, speaking of the city of man that is America, he would be equally critical of America’s founding myths: The City Upon the Hill, “The Last Best Hope,” and the veneration of the Founding Fathers and so on. Augustine doesn't spare the Roman city (archetypal of the earthly city of man) and its foundation of “love of self to the point of contempt of God” from any criticism. The city of man is the city where you can be whatever you want to be, the city where you can do whatever you want to do, the city where everything is permitted, which is the same as to say that nothing is important or sacred. The love of self is the love of nothingness and exhausts itself, always, in death and destruction. Augustine’s reading of the rape of Lucretia (Book I) and Romulus and Remus (Book XV) are just two of many examples of his withering cultural criticism. Lucretia, for those who don’t know Roman history and mythology, was a young and beautiful noblewoman who was raped by one of King Tarquin’s sons. Defiled by what one had done to her, rather than with her (as Augustine so acutely and deftly puts it), ultimately commits suicide though she had done nothing wrong. Lucretia’s tragedy is the tragedy of the city of man. Lucretia loved her self so much that after the rape she felt like she couldn’t love herself anymore and that if she went on living she would be scorned by Roman society. So she took her life. The love of self drove her to commit suicide. The sin of Lucretia’s suicide is just as much on Tarquin’s son, Lucretia herself, as it is on the Roman people as a whole. The irony is, Augustine sees, is that Lucretia had to die in order to win the praises of the city of man. Only through her death could she be loved again. Lucretia’s importance in Roman myth is that it was her death that galvanized the people to overthrow the Tuscan monarchy and establish the supposedly liberty-loving republic. In the story of Romulus and Remus Augustine parallels this with Cain and Abel. But Augustine, while noting the similarities, also highlights the difference. The murder of Remus by Romulus was because of love of self. Driven by competition and want for praise of self and all the glory of founding Rome to themselves, this meant that neither could share the praise and glory with one another. Hence, Romulus murdered Remus so as to win all of the laurels and honors of founding Rome for himself. Rome’s foundation is built upon the blood of a murdered family member. What one can’t afford to miss in this reading of the founding of Rome (again archetypal of the city of man) is that the city of man is always internally divided! The city of man is divided among itself in competition as the iteration of the libido dominadi, with competition being seen as the pathway to glory, honor, and fame, etc. Americans who like to breach bipartisanship and “unity” need to realize that the city of man, founded in its sin and lust for domination, enslaved by its culture of self-love and nothing more, cannot ever be united and unified. This is why earthly citizens need to transcend their citizenship to the only place of true unity: The Unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is also part of Augustine’s criticism of Cicero – a man whom he greatly admired and was a fatherly intellectual figure of sorts (recall in the Confessions that Augustine credits Cicero with turning him away from atheism to belief in God, and in a way, Cicero is responsible for Augustine’s conversion to Christianity). Cicero’s great works: Republic and On Obligations, are very Christian in one sense, but deeply flawed in another. Cicero was right to see the need for justice and unity and strong moral character in order for a society to survive. But he was naïve to think Rome was ever that utopian republic that Cicero speaks of in some of his writings. How can a city founded on the love of self ever be united? Augustine is, although this is somewhat anachronistic, an ardent critic of “individualism” in the modern sense of the word. (Individualism, in Latin: individuum, means to be “indivisible”, i.e. bringing two together as one; just a fun etymological lesson the next time you consider what the implications of “individualism” are to philosophical anthropology.) The hope of nations is not a king, a president, or a congress -- it is the Church, of which Christ is the head of. The City of Rome, Augustine tells us through the stories of Romulus and Remus, Lucretia, and Aeneas, is founded on death and domination. Domination exhausting itself into death is really the only thing the city of man knows. Augustine's analysis and criticism of Roman myth, culture, and sacred literature is among the most penetrating and thoughtful cultural criticism any human writer has ever produced. Furthermore, in dealing with theology, Augustine – ever the Catholic – knows that God is Truth itself. (The idea of God as Truth itself is Catholic dogma.) In reading the narrative of the Fall and Sin in Genesis Augustine, again, deploys that allegorical hermeneutic. What did it mean for Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? It was not to gain consciousness as existentialist theologians of the 20th century say (for man was already lonely in Genesis 2 which is why God made woman to make him whole: indivisible.) Augustine understands the Fall to be man’s attempt to decide for himself what is good and what is evil, in the false hope that being the “measure of all things” will bring him happiness. Augustine’s anthropology is defined by eudemonia. All humans seek happiness. Happiness is the end of human existence. This is why heaven, in Catholic doctrine, is the place of enduring and eternal happiness. Salvation is about happiness! But what is sin? Sin is misdirected desire at love and happiness according to Augustine. Humans do what they do out of a misguided belief that it will make them happy. The ultimate rebellion of man is thinking that he can simply claim his actions to be “good” so as to make him happy. That is what Augustine understands the first sin to be about; and that is ultimately what all sin is about. The City of God, Augustine tells us in Book XIV, is about living in union with the Truth of God's orderly creation. The city of man, by contrast, lives in falsity and darkness: It cares not about the Truth but only about the self as the measure of all things. Once more, thoughtful people today can see just how prescient Augustine was in understanding the ways of the city of man - the city that prefers falsity and ignorance in the never to be satisfied quest for happiness precisely because this quest, which places man (instead of God) at the center of all things perpetuates man's rebellion against nature itself. To live by God’s standard, Augustine says in Book XIV, is to live by nature’s standard – the standard of Truth itself. To live in union with the Truth, to live as God intended, is the only way to be truly happy. To live by the standard of man, is to live by the standard of falsity. Lastly, on the issue of image of God (imago Dei), Augustine (and Catholic doctrine affirms this) understands a crucial aspect of the imago Dei to mean that humans possess the gift of reason. Reason is what makes us like God. It is what separates humans from the rest of the created order. Animals may possess sense. They may be able to love in the way that animals can show affection. They may have simple thought processes. But animals do not possess rationality like humans do (e.g. ability to come to know the good and the true and live by that standard). Part of the Fall of Man, for Augustine, is man’s rejection of Reason. Since God is Reason and Reason is God (Logos theology) and Christ is the Wisdom itself (Christ as the Logos), the rejection of human reason in the garden story (by man wanting to decide for himself what is good and evil to bring about his joy), man actually rejected his own reason. Rather than use his reason to understand himself and the world, thereby living in union with the Truth of the created order whereby he would be happy, man rejects the rational order of creation and tries to define for himself what is good, what is evil, and who he is and who is not. This is what has led to the disordered affairs of body and soul in Christian anthropology. All desire seeks happiness and is, technically, good. But human reason is what guide desires to its end (finding bliss only in God). In rejecting human reason we become “fallen,” we become nothing less than brute animals who give into our impulses over and over again – only to be disappointed in the end. The idea of the Fall as the Fall of Human Reason is one of the reasons why actually literate scholars of Christian philosophy and theology (whether they are believing scholars or not) see the so-called “New Atheist” movement as nothing but a “secularization” of Christianity. Think about dunces like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins who know almost nothing of religious hermeneutical traditions and their longstanding philosophies: That narrative that humans were once great and rational beings who have since fallen into darkness, ignorance, and superstition and now have to embrace the “light” of science and truth to lift themselves out of the pit of despair and darkness – guess where that narrative comes from? Yep, Christianity. For the world was void and left in darkness until the light of Christ gave it form in creation. The world was brilliant in its light and the people knew God before descending into darkness and ignorance (see Romans 1). Having rejected reason they have given themselves over to their passions and are left to wallow in despair (also see Romans 1). What saves man from this wretched state of ignorance and darkness? The “Light of Christ.” It’s the same story just retold. Augustine’s City of God is, without overstatement, a work that outshines most other works. There is no other work of antiquity, Christian, Greek, Jewish, or Roman, that is as comprehensive and systematic, as penetrating in its criticism, and as influential in its legacy, as Augustine’s City of God. It is a long and arduous read at times, this much is true. There are things that Augustine says that we now know not to be true. But that shouldn’t prevent anyone from reading one of the classic works of Western literature, philosophy, criticism, political philosophy, and theology. It is thought-provoking, tragic, ironic, and hopeful, all in one.

What can I say? This is a classic. I am so glad I read this before my 30th birthday and before the 2016 US presidential election. It really puts things into perspective. No matter how great I think America is and how much of a superpower it is it does not compare to how long and how great the Roman Empire was. I cannot even begin to imagine how the citizens of Rome must have felt when they heard the news that the barbarian tribes from the north took over Rome in 410AD. This apologetic work from Augustine of Hippo does not only argue that the City of God will overcome the City of Man one day but also teaches one how to engage critics and persuasively convince the reader. Augustine was a Roman through and through but His love for the true Eternal City was always more important. This book gave me an appreciation for how God always has a 'pilgrim people' that He has predestined to fight the good fight. If you are looking for a biblical theology of the City of God throughout all of Scripture then this is a great read for you. It will also give you an appreciation for how the current trend of 'gospel-centered' is not anything new but really old and Augustine was a master at making Christ-centered connections from the OT. For example, on page 971 Augustine skillfully writes, "This is why, as the Lord carried his cross, so Isaac himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he too was to be placed. Moreover, after the father had been prevented from striking his son, since it was not right that Isaac should be slain, who was the ram whose immolation completed the sacrifice by blood of symbolic significance? Bear in mind that when Abraham saw the ram it was caught by the horns in a thicket. Who, then, was symbolized by that ram but Jesus, crowned with Jewish thorns150 before he was offered in sacrifice? The book is filled with little nuggets all throughout. Couldn't recommend it more!

It took me about five months of off-and-on reading to slog through City of God--it was time well-spent. Here is one of the rare 1000-page books that not only deserved its length, but could have been longer. What astounded me about reading St. Augustine was how relevant he is, even after 1600 years. The vast majority of what he discusses throughout this monumental book still matters--only the particulars have changed. In his day, pagans blamed Christians for wars and the collapse of civilization. Rationalists and materialists denied the supernatural, insisting that all religions were the same, and mocked those that believed in it. And Christians themselves, under pressure and guilt from what seemed to be the entire known world, expressed doubts about their faith. Sound familiar? Only the particulars of all these situations have changed--in the broadstrokes, Christianity is still fighting many of the same battles in which Augustine saw combat. This edition from Penguin Classics (I fully realize that Amazon will post this review on the Modern Library edition and other places that it doesn't belong) is very good. Henry Bettenson's translation is smooth, fast-moving, and heavily footnoted. While I found the footnotes very helpful--especially in the hundreds of places in which Augustine quotes from scripture and other authors, like Virgil and Plotinus--some of them struck me as unnecessary, particularly those criticizing Augustine's etymologies and those pointing out which gods or goddesses are or are not found outside Augustine's work. The most helpful notes were those describing puns or other untranslatable portions of the book. Like I said, City of God is very heavy reading and a great deal of work to get through, but the reward should outweigh the time it takes to read the book. Highly recommended.

"The necessity of shunning prolixity forbids my setting down all things." So writes St. Augustine in the "City of God" book 12, chapter 14. The great saint - perhaps having long held back his answer to sundry pagan attacks - erupts in a volcano of words, and as much as any single theologian, very nearly has set down all things in defense of the Church. The focus of the first part of the work (chapters 1 through 10) is primarily on responding to the claim that Christianity is to blame for the sack of Rome by Alaric in 410. He provides many examples of Rome being cursed before the spread of Christianity, and many examples of it being blessed after Christianity - not least of which the mercy shown by the Visigoths to Christians seeking asylum in churches throughout the city: nearly all were left unmolested, while pagan temples were toppled. St. Augustine also points out the inconsistencies and logical errors in pagan writers and philosophers like Porphyry, Cicero, Varro, Seneca, Lucan, and others. In the second part of the work, St. Augustine puts forth his theology of two cities, the city of God and the earthly city (I don't believe Augustine ever uses the term "the city of man.") Catechized Catholics will recognize the two cities as the Church Triumphant (along with the Church Suffering; i.e., Purgatory) and the Church Militant and the temporal world it inhabits. In book 12, chapter 3, Augustine defines one of the theological jewels of the Catholic Church - the doctrine of the origin of evil. He explains that God did not create evil, but that through free will mutable natures can become corrupted. He builds on this doctrine through the next three books. C.S. Lewis gives a wonderful synthesis of the doctrine of evil in "Mere Christianity", but it is from Augustine that he borrows much of that thought. The following books, 13 - 22, were a pleasant surprise, being exegesis of the Old and New Testaments to explain the origin, nature, and final end of the two cities, beginning (appropriately enough) with Genesis and ending with - what else - The Apocalypse. This edition from The Modern Library is attractive, sturdy, and very well made. I do have a few comments on the translation by Marcus Dods, a Protestant. First, every use of the word "catholic" is lower case. I know that there are two meanings, one meaning "universal" and the upper case denoting the Church itself. However, there are instances where the clear use of the term by St. Augustine is "The Catholic Church" - no there weren't Protestants at this time, but there were Arians and Manicheans and other schismatics, and the author is clearly trying to make a distinction from these to the true, or "Catholic Church." A more obvious case of ignorance is in book 22 chapter 7, the second footnote referencing Isaac Taylor's "Ancient Christianity": "In the Nicene Church, so lax were the notions of common morality, and in so feeble a manner did the fear of God influence the conduct of leading men, that, on occasions when the Church was to be served, and her assailants to be confounded, they did not scruple to take upon themselves the contrivance and execution of the most degrading impostures." I tracked down Isaac Taylor and "Ancient Christianity" and it's laughably shallow in its understanding of Catholicism. Just scanning through it, one finds gems like the following: "Every right-minded traveler in Spain, Italy, Ireland, and even in the more enlightened quarters of Romish supremacy, has been compelled to allow that popery, as to the vast majority of the people, is nothing better than a gaudy polytheism.... this same worship of demons, in all its elements, such as invocation, votive offering, veneration of images and relics, pilgrimages, tutelary dedications, and miraculous attestations." With such blind adherence to fables about the Church, is it any wonder that the whole world - Protestant and Catholic - is falling away? Taylor, by the way, was trying to square the use and verity of the Early Church Fathers while at the same time denying Rome and the Catholic Church. The twist people can get themselves in when they try to affirm only a part of the Truth. "The City of God" is not a trivial undertaking, but I don't think readers should shy away from it. It's not inaccessible as much as it is thorough. St. Augustine was not one to give way to ambiguity on any topic. I enjoyed this book a great deal, and have a sense of accomplishment having worked my way through it.

For obvious reasons, we don't study religious philosophy in school--it's based on a set of rules that were not agreed upon--but I definitely think this one is at least as valuable as Plato. While Augustine's discussion is primarily based on religious principles, he also brings up relevant points, like, "Why do we spend so much time fearing death when it's inevitable and we should instead focus on living?" In truth, I'm just happy this book exists. I've been researching the 5th/6th century and have discovered there's not a lot written around that time. The Romans kept good records, but this is about the time their Empire fell. The City of God was written before the time period I'm researching, but it's one of the books they would've read during the time period I'm researching, and that's super cool. Reading this lets me step back into time and see more of how the world was back then. So if you like philosophy and history, I recommend this book. This particular version has a fluid translation (can't speak for accuracy). That, combined with pictures, have made me very happy with it.

And still is needed.. St Augustine from 4th century .. what’s changed about the two worlds? if you are aware you could know more.., read this book, God gave us everything- we just don’t remember - read the Bible & Scriptures for Jesus’s wisdom teachings- ~ shows how relationships of all kinds can /will go differently than expected- start with ..we each have strengths & weaknesses, are developed as we go or not.. good guidance is do unto others… if we all were taught to do our own spiritual growth and it’s ongoing inner work, others will be helped when we each have a spiritual education.. cultivate your understanding of your own inner moral compass & perpetuates more wisdom- as everyone surrounding each of us benefits from a balanced person- ~ what works for a good life .. is to know we are here to learn and grow.. we can practice good method and eventually understand how it helped you .. seek a balance in all things starts from within, your belief system is your GPS- be aware of your values and beliefs… as your life will stick close to that guidance.. addictions can be fun at first but there is a high price to be paid from lack of discipline and just following what feels good… limits are real.. do them less..embrace discipline .. seek balance in all things..life can go better .. as that’s where life is taking place within you.. we each have moral sovereignty ~ we each make our own life choices, what belief, what value, who put it there .. change it when know better..and each choice brings about a payment of sorts.. certain self-awareness and discipline between people are to be taught as children, can start new life with a better choice.. every day is a new beginning.. we are all spiritual beings having a human experience ... attend to your own healing and spiritual nourishment, be understanding everyone is on their own unique journey & inner plan on a schedule diff than everyone’s - yes there are patterns - expect and accept differences in people- it’s how it was all designed to be .. and people want to be with those who have shared interests &/or beliefs … if we just do a mindless life in material world, we end up following and ignoring our inner life balance & end up tired, old & empty.. seek balance of spiritual and material..

To read words penned centuries ago with real passion and sensibility is a privilege. I Highly recommend this long read.

This book is VERY long, but I read it over a period of months. Augustine raises and in many cases gives pretty good answers to a LOT of difficult questions about Christian faith. He also shows that nothing is new on the face of the earth. His detailed struggle with the myths and views of his culture is instructive. This book will give you a deeper faith, but you have to commit to finishing it bit by bit.

A book about almost everything about life. St Augustine gives his honest opinion towards the way people lived and his rebuttal to evil is admirable.

An irreplaceable classic. It's a huge book, but I'm sure it'll be worth reading it some day in the future.

The book arrived with scratches on the cover and some pages were chipped and folded in bulk. It makes me wonder if the book has been stored for some time without proper care, hence the condition? It’s not a big deal to me though.

Kein außerbiblischer Heiliger hat schöner geschrieben als der Hl. Augustinus. Üppiges Werk, das den gesamten(!) »Gottesstaat« (De civitate Dei) enthält.

Sturdy hardback with no dents or marks. Quite rare for an old book.