City of God
The City of God (early 400s A.D.) is a classic defense of Christianity written in Latin by Saint Augustine while in his 40s (354-430 A.D.), after Alaric and the Vandals sacked Rome. This book introduces the concept of original sin into Christian doctrine, although without using the term "original sin" itself. This book makes superb use of the concept of infinity ("infinite" referenced 30 times and "infinity" 6 times), "eternal life" (referenced 49 times), and "perfect" (referenced 64 times).
Defending Christians against being scapegoated for the fall of Rome, Augustine traced the history of two cities - the City of God compared with an earthly city - to show that pagans had brought many calamities upon themselves. The Encyclopedia Britannica observes, "In a way, Augustine’s The City of God is (even consciously) the Christian rejoinder to Plato’s Republic and Cicero’s imitation of Plato, his own De republica."[1]
This work is considered to be nearly as important as the Bible in shaping Western Civilization during the Middle Ages.
In an English translation today, it totals 608 pages long.[2] It is comprised of about 440,000 words (more than twice the length of the New Testament), subdivided into 22 books (the first 10 rebut claims by pagans to divine power, while the final 22 books recount the history of mankind from Genesis through the Last Judgment. City of God quotes hundreds of times from the Bible, including dozens of times from Psalms.
Contents
City of God's importance for today
Excerpts
| “ | For neither are there many wisdoms, but one, in which are untold and infinite treasures of things intellectual, wherein are all invisible and unchangeable reasons of things visible and changeable which were created by it.[466] For God made nothing unwittingly; not even a human workman can be said to do so. But if He knew all that He made, He made only those things which He had known. Whence flows a very striking but true conclusion, that this world could not be known to us unless it existed, but could not have existed unless it had been known to God.[3] | ” |
| “ | The infinity of number, though there be no numbering of infinite numbers, is yet not incomprehensible by Him whose understanding is infinite. And thus, if everything which is comprehended is defined or made finite by the comprehension of him who knows it, then all infinity is in some ineffable way made finite to God, for it is comprehensible by His knowledge.[4] | ” |
Citation formats
The three major citation formats would begin this way for this book:
- Chicago style: Augustine, Saint, Bishop Of Hippo, 354. City of God. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1499, 1400] ...
- APA style: Augustine, S. (1400) City of God. ...
- MLA style: Augustine, Saint, Bishop Of Hippo, 354. City of God. ...
External links
- The City of God, Britannica
- An Encouragement to Read Augustine’s Big Book, The City of God, C.S. Lewis Institute
- Gutenberg free copy of City of God
References
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-City-of-God
- ↑ https://www.amazon.com/City-God-Image-Classics-Augustine/dp/0385029101
- ↑ Gutenberg free online translation, p. 450
- ↑ Gutenberg free online translation, p. 508
