St. Augustine’s ‘The City of God’

The city of God is a book written by the 5th century Church Father, St. Augustine. Augustine wrote the treatise as a general defense of Christianity, that is, to admonish the assumption that Christianity was the cause of capital of Italys downfall. Augustine also intended the treatise to be an exposition of Christian orthodox beliefs (against the Arians and Schismatics). The historical context in which the book was situated, Christianity was the official religion of the ro hu part winsome type Empire. realityy Christians dominated the politics of Rome (the emperor himself was a Christian). The Ro reality stir persecuted the adherents of pagan religions. A significant portion of the Roman budget went to the construction of elaborate basilicas and churches. Pagan philosophers saw these events as proofs of the pestiferous intent of Christianity. The impending fall of Rome was the work of Christianity. Christianity weakened the Roman allege by dominating its own will on Romes future . It destroyed traditional Roman virtues.It replaced militant disposition of the Roman army by preaching the efficacy of peace and universal love. Christianity, in general, put Rome into a state of anarchy and loss of patriotism. Taking into account these facts, St. Augustine sought to establish a logical, unfathomable approach in answering the criticisms of the pagan philosophers. He argued that the cosmea of the Roman state is first and firstly subject to ecclesiastic will. According to him, the destiny of nations and states is determined by God, the source of legitimate political authority.No nation, state, or even community could last for eternity. For Augustine, the existence of the state is temporary, for its elements are temporary, created by the minds of man whose existence is also material. It was the destiny of Rome to fall under the hands of the barbarians a fact which can non be comprehend by the human mind. St. Augustine wrote, Whether the same world remains int act throughout or whether it keeps setting into mutiny and rising into newness with each rotation of the wheel of time.Whereas, if one rejects the periodicity of identical patterns, one is left with an limitless diversity of events which no knowledge or pre-knowledge could possibly comprehend (Curtis, 429). Thinkers such as Smith, Nietzsche, and Gibbons rejected the above-mentioned assumption of Augustine. These thinkers argued that it was clear that the fall of Rome was due to the ineptness of the Christian religion, its impracticality as an imperial religion, and indecency as a political and religious movement (Toynbee, 219).One need not determine observational data to prove Augustines thesis. Michael Schmaus argued that the fragile constitution of the state is due primarily to its base. The state is the font of man a being whose existence is temporary. Hence, if a state is to last for eternity, according to Schmaus, it must be tolerant to the weaknesses of man from outr ight desire of the flesh, from political conflicts, from the intrigues of the human mind. Schmaus stated The term eternity, in essence, only refers to the Divine Being.The state, in particular, is not in any way an everlasting entity, for it is wholly mans creation a derivation of mans innate qualities. These qualities, we may describe, as momentary, capricious, and overtly devoid of divine significance. Man, by himself, cannot affect a change in the state of nature, or his predilections receptive of uniting the elements of political life (Schmaus, 57). St. Augustine based his personal line of credits on the notion that the state is a obligatory evil. Augustine derived this asseveration from basic theological truths. The first truth attested to the integrity of man before the fall.In traditional Christian theology, the first human beings possessed, besides righteousness and holiness a genuine partnership with God, the so-called preternatural gifts (justitia originalis), gifts of integrity, vacatedom from worthless and death, from inordinate appetites and ignorance. The sin of Adam greatly weakened these gifts. Man became vulnerable to weakness, to death. Hence, according to Augustine death belongs to the nature of man. But as a result of sin it has the added character of penalty that is to say, what belongs to the nature of man, his transitories, is now bound up with anxiety, pain and glaring absurdity.Because the state is a necessary evil, accordingly man itself is bound by such necessity. He must live in that necessity, and of course its consequences. A necessary evil man must endure, for it is his temporary refuge. It is a temporary refuge from the ineptness of savagery, from irrationality, and from the affects of nature. The state was created as a temporary refuge of man an entity which inhibits mans innate savagery and irrationality things which were consequential of the fall. The state, according to Augustine, is lead by pride and flesh. The state is the embodiment of worldly desires and passions.Although it inhibits mans lust for materiality, it is in itself the efficacy of such materiality. The state though is necessary because it enabled man to work in groups, to limit mans obsession with himself, and to protect man from the dangers of the natural world. The state, however, is not necessarily good. Man must endure the world of politics, lie, and outright political chaos. Hence, the state is a temporary state of nature. Again, Augustines argument makes sense because of the assumption that the state is a temporary association.Philosophers like Aristotle, Hobbes, and Locke supported this argument. These philosophers agree that the state is a temporary refuge of man that is, it was borne out of mans own innate weakness. However, these philosophers disagreed on the nature of mans weakness, whether either borne out of lack of faith on a Divine entity or just the condition of the state of nature. Augustines arguments wer e not immune to criticisms. One of the weakness of this argument is provided by Schoonenberg who argued that it is impossible to attach the social origin of the state with the theological origin of man.According to him, a distinction must be made between what is political and what is epistemological (Schoonenberg, 58). Schoonenberg argued that the origin of Christianity is separate from the origin of the state, as far as orthodoxy is concerned. Here, it is possible that Augustine may have committed this particular mistake. Now, Augustine examined the origin of mans weakness in relation to Divine Providence. St. Augustine argued that the fall of man is caused by mans desire to make himself an equal of God. The evil which befallen man is neither the work of God or nature it is the work of man. Here, St.Augustine discussed the nature of evil and free will. According to him, evil comes into the world in a kind of privation. Privation is desire for things which are less real and not good . Evil is love of the world of shadows and allusion a perversion of Divine will. According to Augustine, the origin of sin is free will, that is, individual freedom. Free will presupposes that man is independent of God, which man, by his own nature, can succeed apart from God (Schoonenberg, 329). For Augustine, the arrogance of man is in itself the rejection of God and the acceptance of the temporary state of nature. Man loves this arrogance because it increases his fidelity to himself that is, arrogance is the fruit of deception that man can wander by himself, that he can, apart from God, measure the knowledge and the inertia of God. Augustine wrote The vestigial fallacy of these men, who prefer to walk in round about error rather than to keep to the corking path of truth, is that they have nothing but their own tiny, changing human minds to measure the divine mind, unendingly capacious and utterly immutable, a mind that can count things without passing from one to the nextWit hout having a notion of God, they mistake themselves for Him, and, instead of measuring God by God, they compared themselves to themselves (Curtis, 415). St. Augustine argued that the end to mans suffering is the establishment of the city of God, a place where Christ reigned. The City of God is synonymous with the Second approach path of Christ, whose authority has no equal. Augustine pointed that the founding of this city is unlike any other city on earth. It is everlasting. It is immune from the intricate weaknesses of man from his passion, idolatry, and irrational manifestations.The City of God is the manifestation of Gods desire to free humanity from suffering and death. From an orthodox theological point of view, Augustines argument is consistent with the notion of a God-saving being, merciful, and full of inertia. Mans choice is either to accept this promise or reject it. It may be impossible here to prove Augustines point, but from a Christian viewpoint, his argument seems to navigate on the ideas of Divine love and justice, which are evident in the doctrinal conjugation of todays Christian sects. In the Confessions, Augustine proudly asserts, What then is my God, what but the headmaster God?For who is Lord but the Lord sustaining and fulfilling and protecting, creating and nourishing Thou owest nothing yet dost pay as if in debt to Thy creature (Confessions, 24). Conclusion The City of God is both a defense of orthodox Christianity from the attacks of pagan philosophers and a summary of primary Christian beliefs. Augustine dismissed the notion that Christianity was the cause of Romes downfall. In addition, Augustine stated that the state is a necessary object of mans existence. Its origin lies entirely in the facet of individual social constructivism, not in the crucial malivolence of an evil entity.