Commentary On Augustine City Of God Books 1 5

This authoritative English-language commentary discusses Books 1-5, in which Augustine argued that Rome suffered worse disasters before Christianity was known; that empire depends on injustice; and that everything depends on the will of the true God, not on the many gods of Roman tradition.

The City of God is the most influential of Augustine's works, which played a decisive role in the formation of the Christian West. This book is the first comprehensive modern guide to it in any language. The City of God's scope embodies cosmology, psychology, political thought, anti-pagan polemic, Christian apologetic, theory of history, biblical interpretation, and apocalyptic themes. This book is, therefore, at once about a single masterpiece and at the same time surveys Augustine's developing views through the whole range of his thought. The book is written in the form of a detailed running commentary on each part of the work. Further chapters elucidate the early fifth-century political, social, historical, and literary background, the work's sources, and its place in Augustine's writings.The book should prove of value to Augustine's wide readership among students of late antiquity, theologians, philosophers, medievalists, Renaissance scholars, and historians of art and iconography.

Augustine presents the four essential elements of his philosophy in The City of God: the church, the state, the City of Heaven, and the City of the World. The church is divinely established and leads humankind to eternal goodness, which is God. The state adheres to the virtues of politics and of the mind, formulating a political community. Both of these societies are visible and seek to do good. Mirroring these are two invisible societies: the City of Heaven, for those predestined for salvation, and the City of the World, for those given eternal damnation. This grand design allows Augustine to elaborate his theory of justice, which he says issues from the proper and just sharing of those things necessary for life, just as God freely distributes air, water, and light. Humankind must therefore pursue the City of Heaven to maintain a proper sense of order, which in turn leads to true peace.

Masterfully explains Augustine's major work The City of God book by book through engagement with theology, history and political science.

The book presents human history as being a conflict between what Augustine calls the City of Man and the City of God, a conflict that is destined to end in victory of the latter. The City of God is marked by people who forgot earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The City of Man, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world. Though The City of God follows Christian theology, the main idea of a conflict between good and evil follows from Augustine's former beliefs in Manichaeanism. A philosophy based on the idea of primordial conflict between light and darkness or goodness and evil. In the case of City of God, it is the City of God (representing light) and the City of Man (representing darkness). Though his book follows an ideology of Manichaeanism, he still distances himself from them by calling them heretics: ..". I say, so just and fit, which, when piously and carefully weighed, terminates all the controversies of those who inquire into the origin of the world, has not been recognized by some heretics ..." Later, when Augustine converted to Christianity he at one point accepted Neo-Platonism. He ends up adding an idea of Neo-Platonism with a Christian idea in The City of God when he says: "As for those who own, indeed, that it was made by God, and yet ascribe to it not a temporal but only a creational beginning ..."

For Augustine, the pre-Fall Paradise was a life of tranquil love and joy. The post-Fall world is marked by loss of control over our bodies and emotions. But whatexactly happened in the Fall, and why? How does desire relate to man's disobedience, and is there any sense in which we can recover what Adam and Eve havelost?In treating City 14 as an integral whole, this study explores Augustine's critiquesof the Manichean and Platonist positions that the body is bad or evil, and discusseshis biblical doctrine of emotions in light of the two-cities theme. The entirestudy concerns topics germane to the paradisal situation: the theme of the PrimalFall and the will being 'spontaneous', the exploration of the disobedience ofthe genitals in all forms of sex, including married life, and the workings of Adamand Eve's hypothetical sexual experience in the pre-Fall world.

"In this work, traditionally translated as On Christian Doctrine, Augustine combines the pedagogical methods he learned from Greek and Roman writings with the content of the Christian faith to help preachers present biblical teachings in an effective manner. This new translation is lively and accessible." Library Journal

A volume comparable in style to Cliff's Notes, here highlighting the key points from Augustine's City of God.