City of God Book Review
By: Jonathan Masterson
St. Augustine’s The City of God reads as a tale of two cities, the city of God and the city of man. However, it is too, the object of scholars from several studies: theology, philosophy, politics, and history. St. Augustine wrote The City of God in refutation to the accusations the Romans made against the Christians as concerns the fall of Rome to the Goths. As the object of study, St. Augustine does not offer a book for pleasure, its ideas are universally set, so as not to refute just the Romans, but those men who are part of the city of man in any age. For the same reasons the Christians read The City of God 1500 years ago, we can read The City of God today. We must, then, review The City of God under the principle by which it was written. St. Augustine sums up the theme of his book in this way, “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 God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord.” [1]
The number of topics that The City of God presents for the reader’s comprehension range from common concepts, that which you may have wondered on your own, to alien ideas, that which are not present in a near society and have, therefore, no impact on you. As The City of God primarily refutes the Romans, we the readers are guided through the ideas of the pagans. For a historian, it is a gem to hear about paganism from a man of St. Augustine’s education. It is indeed fascinating to read about the pagan gods under the language of St. Augustine. As the reality of the gods was present to him, any commentary given by St. Augustine has immediate implications. We may know the gods of Rome as mythology, St. Augustine knew them as a reality. As concerns the initial reason for his writing The City of God, in refutation of the Romans, we must pause here and examine the Roman’s accusation. St. Augustine’s first argument reads, “the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods.” [2] The Romans, by devotion to their religion, argued that it was by lack of protection from their gods that Rome fell. St. Augustine, in book II of The City of God, writes that Rome had fallen before the Goths and even before the time of Christ. The demands of paganism sacked Rome morally, what stood then, were the stones of buildings waiting to be eroded by time. We might, should we read The City of God with an open mind to St. Augustine’s commentary, see our own cities as empty as Rome.
My reading of The City of God is by some prejudice, as I, like St. Augustine, am Catholic. It does not mean that I accept the words of St. Augustine without diligent consideration. To read The City of God under the scrutiny of present theological thought we find substance in most chapters and error in the others. This is by no means the fault of the author, as he wrote from what was presently understood, it is then that the theology is not erroneous, but rather out of date and therefore of little use to the modern reader. Can we then remove these chapters that spring from these past ideas? It would be the fault of the reader. While these ideas are old the general discussion around them pleases other areas of study, such as philosophy. To say that one chapter has run dry to the advancements of time would be folly. Said above, and necessarily said again, St. Augustine writes from a universal point of view. We ought to, then, not be too hasty to reduce any one chapter as lesser than another. Where a refutation of paganism fills several books, by a glance seven of the two and twenty books, several concern the history of the two cities. St. Augustine, for reference, relies on biblical accounts and historical accounts from various nations throughout the history of the ancient world. To read these chapters the modern reader will have his ideas of biblical accounts tested, such as the creation story, the account of the flood, and other activities of the people of God that are under modern scrutiny. It would be again the fault of the reader to omit the ideas which these chapters teach. The reader should have an open mind and not mistake an ancient idea as dead but consider what truth it speaks.
The City of God is a book that must be read several times by a diligent reader. I cannot recommend The City of God enough. By its theme, it is a commentary necessary for a world torn between two cities. Rome was just the present city of man; today we can see St. Augustine’s condemnations in our own nations, the love of self, and even the contempt of God. The task of reading The City of God can benefit the Christian or the Atheist. For the Christian it works to bring him more into the city of God; for the Atheist, in one way or another as St. Augustine offers many in his book, a way away from the city of man, which is of no good to any man, to the city of God. As a book, The City of God can be found in most academic libraries, and it is narrated in various audiobooks, I personally recommend The City of God narrated by David McCallion, or, as I suggest such work is better owned, can be purchased for a reasonable price from favorite stores, such as Amazon, Barnes, and Noble, etc.
1 Saint Augustine, The City of God, translated by Marcus Dods. D.D.(Random House, Inc. NY, New York, 1993), 477.
2 Ibid. Page 3.
Jonathan Masterson is the third oldest of ten children, was raised Catholic, and loves to share his faith. He is an author and a lover of poetry.
