Augustine’s The City of God

 

Augustine’s The City of God is one of the most influential works in Christian theology, philosophy, and political thought, written between 413 and 426 CE in response to the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410. The event had deeply shaken the Roman world, leading many to blame Christianity for the empire’s decline, claiming that abandonment of the traditional pagan gods had weakened the state. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, composed this massive twenty-two-book treatise to refute these accusations, defend the Christian faith, and articulate a profound vision of history, politics, and the destiny of humankind. His work is both apologetic and philosophical, addressing immediate controversies and advancing a comprehensive theological worldview.

The first part of the work (Books I–X) responds to pagan critics and dismantles the theological and moral claims of Roman religion. Augustine begins by contrasting the transience of earthly glory with the eternal security offered by God. He rebukes those who claim that the pagan gods protected Rome, pointing out that disasters, wars, and moral corruption existed long before Christianity emerged. He exposes the moral failings of Roman mythology, noting that the gods themselves, as depicted in literature and cult, were often immoral and unworthy of worship. For Augustine, the worship of false gods not only fails to bring temporal prosperity but also corrupts the soul. He draws on philosophical traditions, especially Platonism, to argue that the true God is the immutable source of being, and only the worship of this God leads to human flourishing. In Book X, Augustine affirms that the Christian God alone provides the way to ultimate happiness through Christ, who is the mediator between God and humanity.

The second part (Books XI–XXII) develops Augustine’s theology of history through the central metaphor of two cities: the City of God and the City of Man. The City of God is composed of those who live according to God’s will, guided by love of God and oriented toward eternal life. The City of Man, in contrast, is composed of those who live according to self-love, pride, and earthly ambition, seeking power, wealth, and temporal glory. These two cities are not geographical or political entities but rather symbolic communities defined by the orientation of their loves. The City of God is eternal, invisible, and destined for everlasting peace, while the City of Man is temporal, flawed, and destined for eventual destruction. Augustine traces the origins of these two cities back to the fall of the angels and the disobedience of Adam, showing how human history is marked by the interplay and conflict between these two orientations.

Augustine presents history as a linear progression with a divine purpose, in contrast to the cyclical view held by many ancient thinkers. For him, history is the unfolding of God’s providential plan, leading toward the final judgment. He interprets events in the Hebrew Scriptures, the life of Christ, and the growth of the Church as milestones in this redemptive history. The rise and fall of earthly empires, including Rome, are not ultimate tragedies or triumphs but parts of God’s mysterious governance. Rome’s power, like that of Babylon or other ancient empires, was permitted by God for specific purposes, but no earthly city can claim permanence or divine favor. This vision relativizes political power and glory, placing them within a larger eschatological framework.

A central theme is Augustine’s analysis of peace. He distinguishes between the imperfect, fragile peace of earthly societies—based on compromise, coercion, and mutual interest—and the perfect peace of the City of God, which is the ordered harmony of beings in obedience to God. Earthly peace is valuable and should be pursued, but it remains provisional and cannot be the ultimate good. This distinction shapes Augustine’s political philosophy: Christians can and should participate in earthly political life, seeking justice and order, but their ultimate loyalty is to the City of God. This dual citizenship means that while Christians respect and obey legitimate authorities, they do not place their hope in political systems or military power.

In discussing the virtues, Augustine critiques the Roman ideal of civic virtue, showing how even the so-called virtues of the Romans were often rooted in pride and the desire for domination. Courage, justice, temperance, and prudence, when severed from the love of God, are incomplete and distorted. True virtue is rightly ordered love—ordo amoris—where God is loved above all and all other things are loved in proper relation to Him. This redefinition of virtue challenges both pagan moral philosophy and worldly political ideals, redirecting moral evaluation toward the eternal end of the human person.

The eschatological vision in the final books culminates in Augustine’s depiction of the ultimate destinies of the two cities. The City of God will enjoy eternal communion with God, perfect peace, and joy beyond measure. The City of Man will face eternal separation from God, which is the essence of damnation. Augustine rejects the notion of cyclical rebirth or reincarnation, affirming a single life followed by judgment. He also refutes millenarian interpretations that expected a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on earth before the end; for Augustine, the reign of Christ is already a present reality in the life of the Church. The resurrection of the body, the renewal of creation, and the vision of God form the climax of his hope for the redeemed.

Augustine’s work is also an exercise in biblical interpretation, weaving together passages from the Old and New Testaments to construct a coherent narrative of God’s purposes in history. He reads Scripture typologically, seeing events and figures in the Old Testament as foreshadowing Christ and the Church. His theological anthropology, rooted in the doctrine of original sin, undergirds his explanation of human society’s flaws and the necessity of divine grace. Without grace, the will is enslaved to sin; with grace, the will is freed to love God and neighbor rightly.

The City of God also engages deeply with Greco-Roman philosophy, particularly Platonism, Stoicism, and skepticism, integrating what is true in them while rejecting what conflicts with Christian revelation. Augustine adopts the Platonic emphasis on the immaterial and eternal as superior to the material and temporal, yet insists on the goodness of creation and the reality of the incarnation. His dialogue with classical philosophy shows his conviction that reason and revelation are not opposed but that reason finds its fulfillment in faith.