Book Review: The City of God, Vol. 1

Title: The City of God Volume: 1
Author: St. Augustine of Hippo Translator: John Healy
Publisher: Edinburg John Grant Date: 1909

A note on the face pages state the title in Latin: De Vivitate Dei. It also says that the text was first published in 1610. The introduction explains the situation preceeding the sack of Rome by the Goths. Augustine wrote the City of God as a lament of the fall of Rome and an argument against paganism.

Book 1 Ch 1
Augustine argues the sparing of lives at the fall of Rome was due to the will of Christ. Noting the Gods, who practiced a bastardized version of Christianity, spared the refugees in Churches and cloisters. Augustine rebukes the hypocrites who claimed to be Christian in order to be spared.

Ch 2
Augustine declares that before this point, none was spared for the sake of the gods worshipped. Troy's seige is his example.

Ch 3 - 5
Augustine hilights how the Temple of Juno was a prision by the Greeks for the Trojans and something of a slaughterhouse. He then continues to show how the Romans gave an equal amount of respect to the faiths of those they conquered and made killing grounds of sacred places. This is contrasted with the apparent mercy of the Goths towards the Christians, at large. Augustine also describes how the callousness of the conqueres towards the beliefs of the conquered was the nature of warfare.

Ch 6
This is a continuation and expansion of the point that warfare has ugly consquences. Augustine proceeds to note instances where the horrid effects are mitigated or all together avoided are instances of Divine mercy.

Ch 7 & 8
These two chapters discuss the concept of suffering in our current lives as the effects of evil/wickeness on our own part. Augustine appears to argue that for the wicked such misery is a foretaste of hell and serves as punishment and a call for repentance. To the good, it is a thing of God's will to be endured; looking for potential lessons from God in the midery and a place where one may serve Christ through their own suffering.

Ch 9
Augustine reiterates the leson that one must not place too much emphasis on temporal goods. He uses the example of the Saints and what they lost vs. the spiritual goods they retained.

Ch. 10
Augustine discusses death. He argues death is a natural part of life. The true horror should be reserved for the damnation of the evil.

Ch. 11
Augustine states that burial is not a necessary condition for ressurection. He even says that dismemberment doesn't preclude one from it.

Ch. 12
Augustine states burial is good for it is a final act of honor and respect to the dead in this life. It is a rite more for the bereved, for the dead are no longer concerned with the body.

Ch. 13
In captivity, the saints are comforted by God.

Ch. 14
Augustine held up Marcus Regulus as an example of one who willingly suffered captivity to uphold is faith. Marcus Regalus's murder at the hands of his captors is an argument of the failure of the pagan gods to preserve one that served faithfully.

Ch. 15- 19
These chapters discuss rape, chastity and suicide. Rape and other forms of violation are not things that make one unchaste. Augustine argues that chasity is a quality of the mind/soul and acts perpetuated against one's body can not violate it. The responses of the body, it can be argued, are no less at fault eaitehr becuase we are built to respond to certian stimuli in certian ways.

Augustine presents a clear argument against suicide as a method of preserving one's soul from violation. He argues that murder is a graver offense then adultery. He clearly states that suicide is the murder of oneself. From this stance, one can say murder and suicide are mortal sins and adultery is a venial sin. On the saints who comitted suicide, Augustine is heistant to make a judgement. He says only that these saints must have been acting in accordance with a direction from God to do so.

Ch. 20
Augustine clarifies what is murder and what is not. He says that slaying comitted under color of law for the sake fo justice or safety are excuseable. Also, those prompted by the will of God.

Ch. 21 - 25
These are a continuation of the discussion of suicide. Interspersed are admonishments to hypocrites and an apology for the behavior of saints.

Originally Published: 8/23/06