The City of God

At long last, and with the help of two faithful compatriots, I have finally finished reading Augustine's City of God.

In the introduction, Thomas Merton recommends that "no one who is not a specialist, with a good background of history or or theology or of philosophy, ought to attempt to read the City for the first time, beginning at page one. The living heart of the City is found in Book Nineteen." Having read the whole thing, I can understand his recommendation (and can attest that some sections are overly thorough and require real stamina), and yet I believe the whole thing is worth reading.

Augustine is writing to answer those who contend that Rome fell because of Christianity, and to show that the people whom God calls (whom he calls the 'city of God') do in fact seek the welfare of their earthly cities, including Rome - but not in a way that is limited to these cities' temporal welfare.

So he traces this 'city' from Adam and Eve through the Scriptures to the present (early fifth century AD), and looks forward to their final end: "the end without end" where they forever see the face of God. I would compare it to a tour around the edge of that great City like John takes in the book of Revelation. Walking around it, you are amazed by its immensity, and when, on occasion, you get a clear view through a window into the City, it takes your breath away. There are many times in reading the City of God that one is simply gazing at enormous blocks of stone. Yet there are also brilliantly clear windows, some separated by great distances of hard stone, and others lined one after another. Book nineteen is a "window section" into the City of God. For those who haven't read Augustine, I would recommend looking through the windows of Book 19, and then going back to Book 1, with some friends, and taking the entire tour. There are many other windows in the previous books that provide glimpses of the City that simply can't be seen from Book 19 to the end.

As Thomas Merton says in his introduction to the City of God, "The City of God is an exposition of dogma that was not only written but lived," which is precisely what makes it such a worthwhile read. Thus it is best read, and lived, in community.

I can't escape reviewing the City without noting that perhaps the person who composed the blurb on the back of the book took Merton's advice and didn't read the whole thing. The blurb reads:

The City of God provides an insightful interpretation of the development of modern Western society and the origin of most Western thought. Contrasting earthly and heavenly cities - representing the omnipresent struggle between good and evil - August explores human history in its relation to all eternity.

Any would-be readers should be informed that Augustine is emphatically not offering 'an insightful interpretation of modern Western society'. He is setting that tiny piece of human culture within the grand panorama of Christ's redemption from the very first human being to 'the end without end.' Furthermore, one of the cornerstones of the City is that the struggle between good and evil is not omnipresent. Rather evil has a finite historical origin in created beings with good natures turning away from the end for which they were created; and evil will have an end, when all things are put under Christ's feet, and He is all in all.

That is the end to which Augustine writes, and to which I commend this book.