Augustine, City of God

Shambi McGill

HIS 111-I1; K. Bradshaw

Essay #1 Augustine, City of God

September 12, 2010

They had denied the multitudes of gods worshipped by those around them, and yet, it seemed their one God had failed to protect their home, Rome. When pagan neighbors blamed them for the fall of their great city, a retort was necessitated. St. Augustine of Hippo presented such a response with The City of God. Augustine comforted his followers by explaining that they were a part of one of two cities and proceeded to elaborate on the nature of these two cities: the heavenly and the earthly. These “cities” are described by their founding, the nature of their inhabitants, and their eventual fate.

The foundation of both cities is love, the love of their inhabitants. The earthly city dwellers love themselves and material goods, arrogance is a common vein from ruler to pauper, and each person prioritizes his own self-interests. The heavenly-city-intended love God above all else, in humility give all the glory to God, and serve one another in love.

Both the earthly and the heavenly cities pursued peace, however, they sought it through different means and with differing intentions. Peace to enjoy the spoils of war, won through mass brawn and superior intellect, drove the earthly cities. The inhabitants of the heavenly city preferred peace, but never at the cost of forfeiting their faith.  Either city may battle feverishly for this peace. If the victor had a just cause, the war could be justified.

All man-kind, whether of earthly or heavenly city, has need of food, clothing, and shelter. Two types of families are described with regard to securing these necessities. Faith-equipped families acknowledged their need of such things, but relied on God to be their supplier and could find consolation in an assurance that those needs would be met. They focused on their eternal future and saw material goods only as assistance through this life. Those families described as faithless found comfort only in the tangible commodities themselves and diligently chased after them for fear of lack.

Augustine directly addresses the allegations against the Christians for the demise of Rome by defending Monotheistic truth. He shepherds the believers, defending the worship of one sovereign God, and goes so far as to say that the philosophers teaching allegiance to many gods were demonically influenced. Reference is made to the incompatibility of the two belief systems and the pagan’s persecution of the early church.

The eternal fates of the two cities are drastically different. Augustine repeatedly alludes to the eternal when regarding things of the heavenly city. He encourages the faithful that they are merely pilgrims passing through this earth on their way to a celestial place without the common burdens of the flesh and soul. He describes this rebirth in saying, “this mortal life shall give place to one that is eternal, and our body shall be no more this animal body which by its corruption weighs down the soul, but a spiritual body feeling no want…” In a stark contradiction, he describes the earthly city as temporary and subjected to a severe judgment.

Massive influence to Christian culture is attributed to Augustine, though whether the accolades are justifiable is dubious. He was a student of the Bible and an advocate for the study of the Bible. Many of his teachings were rooted in these studies. Christianity, also, is founded in that same Word. All of Augustine’s teachings that share doctrine with Christianity cannot be credited solely to him. For instance, the worship of one God alone is a commandment Moses recited to the Israelites long before Augustine re-iterated the principle. However, stances on some other debatable issues seem more directly rooted in Augustinian precepts. One such concept is that of a “just war.” Though blood may be shed, he taught that a victory for the side with the just cause is favored by God.

The pilgrimage of believers through this world is another of his notions. Christian culture readily accepts that the time spent on earth is merely to be tolerated until the mortal body dies. Then, paradise awaits, a place where pain and suffering are no more, and all joy is beheld. This idea leaves a vacuum where the responsibility for this earth and the pursuit of joy may otherwise exist in this present life.

Augustine’s efforts to comfort and encourage the early church are manifest in this excerpt from The City of God. He assured them of the virtue in worshipping one God. He explained the temporary nature of this earth, and thus, by necessity the impermanence of Rome.   Be rest-assure, he declared, that God will meet their families’ needs. He proclaimed that in facing persecution, know that this life pales in comparison to the life to come and that righteousness is loving God to the extent of forsaking self.

Christian culture has indeed been altered by the application of Augustine’s precepts. Though directed at the early church, the encouragement of his teachings has been attractive to many generations since.