City of God (Penguin Classics)
by Augustine of Hippo
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Book Summary Information
Author: Augustine of HippoBrand: Penguin Group USA
Translator: Henry Bettenson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-01-06
ISBN: 0140448942
Number of pages: 1184
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780140448948
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of City of God (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Augustine Created "The West"
Summary: 5 Stars
Augustine's name is not tossed around as much as that of Plato or Caesar or many other famous men and women of antiquity, but there is no doubt that he is one of the most important thinkers in all of Western history, and he in fact created the theory of "The West" that has over time become our identity.
Augustine, classically educated, a religious experimenter, Rome's top university professor and greatest scholar, and the premier thinker of the contemporary church, reacted to the fall of Rome by creating a whole new approach to what it is citizens are to look to for their citizenship and community. He postulates a new world order centred on the Christian revelation, but including all that is good from Roman and Greek civilization.
Since Rome fell, the kind of fantasy world of Roman myth and lore kept in the popular imagination by Virgil's Aeneid and related art and literature could no longer hold water. It was time for a stronger focal point for patriotism and self-definition. That would be a Christian one, including Rome and Greece, to be sure, but the major element would be Christ. The Bible would gently nudge aside Virgil, and perhaps Augustine, aware of his own extraordinary literary prowess, saw his own monumental works edging aside the other great Latin writers such as Cicero and Sallust.
This would all be quite some bit of bombastic or farsighted folly were it not to prove true. Augustine's work was indeed adopted as the 'mind' of Christendom, his City of God being read to emperors and kings, and leading the thoughts of the leaders of Christian Europe for over a thousand years.
His 'grand unifying theory' of Western civilization, uniting the organization of Rome with the thought of Greece and the revelation of the Bible, has been accepted as the de facto definition of what it means to be Western until only the very last few decades of our time.
Augustine, apparently aware of his talents, must have been aware that his epic work outshone anything written before, and is itself a testament to the civilization that he advocates: a fully coherent combination of Greek philosophy, Roman civilization and Biblical wisdom. This seamless blend of literary prowess from Rome's greatest scholar and highest ranking professor generates for the reader a powerful education in philosophy, history and theology, tied together with awesome rhetoric, that is uniquely powerful, erudite, insightful and useful all at once.
From a historical and literary perspective, this may have been the very most important book ever written by reputedly human hands.
As it is written for the leaders of society and not for the average citizen, be ready to be intrigued, challenged to thought, and impressed with every line.
By no means must the reader have any kind of religious belief to benefit from this book, nor must the reader agree with all that Augustine postulates, nor can the reader, due to the great distance of time seperating him from us and improvements in scientific knowledge since his time. The importance, greatness and power of the writing itself commend it to us.
Summary of City of God (Penguin Classics)
St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and "City of God" is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends the best political experiences of the world and offers citizenship that will last for eternity, "City of God" is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.Augustine's City of God, a monumental work of religious lore, philosophy, and history, was written as a kind of literary tombstone for Roman culture. After the sack of Rome, Augustine wrote this book to anatomize the corruption of Romans' pursuit of earthly pleasures: "grasping for praise, open-handed with their money; honest in the pursuit of wealth, they wanted to hoard glory." Augustine contrasts his condemnation of Rome with an exaltation of Christian culture. The glory that Rome failed to attain will only be realized by citizens of the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem foreseen in Revelation. Because City of God was written for men of classical learning--custodians of the culture Augustine sought to condemn--it is thick with Ciceronian circumlocutions, and makes many stark contrasts between "Your Virgil" and "Our Scriptures." Even if Augustine's prose strikes modern ears as a bit bombastic, and if his polarized Christian/pagan world is more binary than the one we live in today, his arguments against utopianism and his defense of the richness of Christian culture remain useful and strong. City of God is, as its final words proclaim itself to be, "a giant of a book." --Michael Joseph Gross
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