THE CITY OF GOD

BY: ST. AUGUSTINE

REPORTED BY:
KENT DEVIN BANGONON
RAY ANGELO ROBIDLLO
TED OLIVER TAMAYO
J DOMINIC SANTIAGO
FELINE MAE JALLORINA
ALMIRA ROSE MESINA
 WHY THE BOOK WAS CREATED?
• In A.D. 410, a pivotal moment in Western history, the Vandals, under the
command of their king, Alaric, captured the city of Rome. Rome was known as
the Eternal City because the Romans thought that it would literally never fall,
and the year 410 shook this belief to its foundations and ultimately led to the
collapse of the Roman Empire. The world itself seemed to have been destroyed,
and everyone sought answers about what to do and what to believe in. Those
who adhered to the waning pagan faith were quick to blame the Christians,
claiming that the gods had abandoned Rome because many Romans had
forsaken them and taken the new faith. These Romans claimed that Christians
were not patriotic enough because they asked people to serve God rather than
the state, and they advocated forgiveness toward enemies. More important, they
said the Christian God had failed to protect Rome, as he should have done,
since Constantine had declared him to be the one true God. The angry
wrangling between the two communities prompted Augustine to begin writing
The City of God in 413.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK

• Clarify that Christianity was not to blame for the fall of the Roman Empire.
• Reveal that even the most evil actions of fallen angels and sinful man cannot thwart the
unfolding of God’s eternal plan.
• Propose that the fall of the Roman Empire was insignificant in the context of the eternal plan
of God.
• Describe the choice we must all make choose to occupy either the City of God or the City of
Earth the consequence of which is eternal.
WHEN AND WHERE THE BOOK WAS
CREATED?

• The book was written around 413 – 427 A.D. a few years after the
sacked of Rome in 410 A.D.
• It was printed around 467-495 A.D. following the invention of
printing.
• It was written in hippo. The place where he was assigned as bishop
during the time when the vandals sacked Rome.
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

• The book is divided into two parts: Part I and part II.
• Part I is consist of books I-X.
• It is a polemical critique of Roman religion and philosophy, corresponding to the Earthly City.
• Books I-V is a critique of pagan religion.
• Books VI-X is a critique of pagan philosophy.
• Part II is consist of books XI-XXII.
• Is a discussion on the City of God and its relationship to the Earthly City.
• Books XI-XIV is about the origins of the two cities.
• Books Xv-XVIII is about the history and progress of the two cities.
• Books XIX-XXII is about the deserved destinies of the two cities.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART I)

• Book I - Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the
recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the
gods. He speaks of the blessings and ills of life, which then, as always, happened to good and bad men
alike. Finally, he rebukes the shamelessness of those who cast up to the Christians that their women had
been violated by the soldiers.
• Book II - Augustine reviews those calamities which the Romans suffered before the time of Christ, and
while the worship of the false gods was universally practised; and demonstrates that, far from being
preserved from misfortune by the gods, the Romans have been by them overwhelmed with the only, or at
least the greatest, of all calamities— the corruption of manners, and the vices of the soul.
• Book III - Augustine has proved regarding moral and spiritual calamities, so in this book he proves
regarding external and bodily disasters, that since the foundation of the city the Romans have been
continually subject to them; and that even when the false gods were worshipped without a rival, before
the advent of Christ, they afforded no relief from such calamities.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART I)
• Book IV - It is proved that the extent and long duration of the Roman empire is to be ascribed, not to Jove or the
gods of the heathen, to whom individually scarce even single things and the very basest functions were believed to
be entrusted, but to the one true God, the author of felicity, by whose power and judgment earthly kingdoms are
founded and maintained.
• Book V - Augustine first discusses the doctrine of fate, for the sake of confuting those who are disposed to refer to
fate the power and increase of the Roman empire, which could not be attributed to false gods, as has been shown
in the preceding book. After that, he proves that there is no contradiction between God's prescience and our free
will. He then speaks of the manners of the ancient Romans, and shows in what sense it was due to the virtue of the
Romans themselves, and in how far to the counsel of God, that he increased their dominion, though they did not
worship him. Finally, he explains what is to be accounted the true happiness of the Christian emperors.
• Book VI - Hitherto the argument has been conducted against those who believe that the gods are to be worshipped
for the sake of temporal advantages, now it is directed against those who believe that they are to be worshipped for
the sake of eternal life. Augustine devotes the five following books to the confutation of this latter belief, and first
of all shows how mean an opinion of the gods was held by Varro himself, the most esteemed writer on heathen
theology. Of this theology Augustine adopts Varro's division into three kinds, mythical, natural, and civil; and at
once demonstrates that neither the mythical nor the civil can contribute anything to the happiness of the future life.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART I)

• Book VII - It is shown that eternal life is not obtained by the worship of Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the
other select gods of the civil theology.
• Book VIII - Augustine comes now to the third kind of theology, that is, the natural, and takes up the
question, whether the worship of the gods of the natural theology is of any avail towards securing
blessedness in the life to come. This question he prefers to discuss with the Platonists, because the
Platonic system is facile princeps among philosophies, and makes the nearest approximation to Christian
truth. In pursuing this argument, he first refutes Apuleius, and all who maintain that the demons should
be worshipped as messengers and mediators between gods and men; demonstrating that by no possibility
can men be reconciled to good gods by demons, who are the slaves of vice, and who delight in and
patronize what good and wise men abhor and condemn—the blasphemous fictions of poets, theatrical
exhibitions, and magical arts.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART I)

• Book IX - Having in the preceding book shown that the worship of demons must be abjured, since they
in a thousand ways proclaim themselves to be wicked spirits, Augustine in this book meets those who
allege a distinction among demons, some being evil, while others are good; and, having exploded this
distinction, he proves that to no demon, but to Christ alone, belongs the office of providing men with
eternal blessedness.
• Book X - Augustine teaches that the good angels wish God alone, whom they themselves serve, to
receive that divine honor which is rendered by sacrifice, and which is called latreia. He then goes on to
dispute against Porphyry about the principle and way of the soul's cleansing and deliverance.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART II)

• Book XI - Here begins the second part of this work, which treats of the origin, history, and destinies of
the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly. In the first place, Augustine shows in this book how the two
cities were formed originally, by the separation of the good and bad angels; and takes occasion to treat of
the creation of the world, as it is described in Holy Scripture in the beginning of the book of Genesis.
• Book XII - Augustine first institutes two inquiries regarding the angels; namely, whence is there in some
a good, and in others an evil will? And, what is the reason of the blessedness of the good, and the misery
of the evil? Afterwards he treats of the creation of man, and teaches that he is not from eternity, but was
created, and by none other than God.
• Book XIII - It is taught that death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART II)
• Book XIV - Augustine again treats of the sin of the first man, and teaches that it is the cause of the carnal life
and vicious affections of man. Especially he proves that the shame which accompanies lust is the just
punishment of that disobedience, and inquires how man, if he had not sinned, would have been able without
lust to propagate his kind.
• Book XV - Throughout the Old Testament we see the cities develop the earthly by the children of the flesh
and the heavenly by the children of the promise. The parallel courses of the earthly and heavenly cities were
highlighted in Scripture, from Abraham to the Old Testament prophets, and then on to Christ.
Abraham to the Old Testament
• prophets, and then on to Christ.Book XVI - In the former part of this book, from the first to the twelfth
chapter, the progress of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, from Noah to Abraham, is exhibited from
Holy Scripture: In the latter part, the progress of the heavenly alone, from Abraham to the kings of Israel, is
the subject.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART II)

• Book XVII - The history of the city of God is traced during the period of the kings and prophets from
Samuel to David, even to Christ; and the prophecies which are recorded in the books of Kings, Psalms,
and those of Solomon, are interpreted of Christ and the church.
• Book XVIII - Augustine traces the parallel courses of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of
Abraham to the end of the world; and alludes to the oracles regarding Christ, both those uttered by the
Sibyls, and those of the sacred prophets who wrote after the foundation of Rome, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah,
Micah, and their successors.
• Book XIX - The end of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, is discussed. Augustine reviews the
opinions of the philosophers regarding the supreme good, and their vain efforts to make for themselves a
happiness in this life; and, while he refutes these, he takes occasion to show what the peace and
happiness belonging to the heavenly city, or the people of Christ, are both now and hereafter.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK(PART II)

• Book XX - Concerning the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the old and new
testaments.
• Book XXI - Of the end reserved for the city of the devil, namely, the eternal punishment of
the damned; and of the arguments which unbelief brings against it.
• Book XXII - Treats of the end of the city of God, that is to say, of the eternal happiness of the
saints; the faith of the resurrection of the body is established and explained; and the work
concludes by showing how the saints, clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, shall be
employed.
SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• www.augnet.org
• http://www.christianbooksummaries.com/library/v4/cbs0424.pdf