Book Review: City of God (book 7)

Chpt. 1 - 5
Augustine apologizes for possibly writing for a target audience lower then his readers in chapter one. Chapter two, three and four were discussing how the "common" gods co-mingled with the "superior" gods. Augustine notes how the "common" gosd have less stories of license and ill repute. In chapter five, Augustine revisits Varro's opinon of God as teh soul of the world.

Chpt. 6 - 10
Chapter six is a continuation of chapter five. Chapter seven discusses Janus and Terminus. Augustine argues that death is both a beginning and ending. As such, Augustine says that Janus and Terminus must be the same. Chapter eight discusses Janus in more detail. Janus argues that he is the fate of the world, Augustine repudiates this. Chapter eight is a comparison between Janus and Jove. It seems that Janus and Jove are popular foci for worship by Augustine's comtemporaries. Augustine seems to believe taht Janus is the preferrible option of the two. Chapter nine discusses this as well. Chapter ten questions if Janus or Jove should be distinguised as separate or not.

Chpt. 11 - 14
Chapter eleven states that all surnames of Jove refered to him as one diety. Augustine argues this is a mutually exclusive thing, where Jove can not be in charge of X at the same time as god Z is incharge of it. [...]

Chapter twelve is full of yet more of Augustine's scathing sarcasm. He discusses Jove's title of coin with the apparently popular argument of how he can do all things. Augustine confronts this with the argument of how the wealthy worry about losing or acquiring more wealth, where as the poor are not troubled with it. He concludes with welath lies in wisdom as coming from God. Chapters thirteen and fourteen continue the previous arguments. Essentually, he is using the physical principle of the conservation of matter with respect to dieties and their realm of influence.

Ch. 15 - 20

Chapter fifteen decries the description of stars as gods to be foolishness. Confusing the created with the creator perhaps? Chapter sisteen continues the argument but with the assignment of deities to things like water, mountains, etc. Chapter seventeen does this as well. Chapter eighteen argues that Varro states that the gods are ambiguious. It leads me to question if Varro would agree with Augustine's argument of people confusing the object with creator. In chapter nineteen, Augustine' statement that paganisim is a result of ignorance and the deception of the masses for socio-political gain. Augustine then applies this argument to the worship of Saturn and Ceres in chapter twenty. [It is facinating that Augustine's statements are echoed many generations by Karl Marx with respect to all forms of religion.]

Chpt. 21 - 25
Chapter twenty one takes the arguments of the last chapter and adds a dimension. Augusine examines Bacchus's worship and states that it is forced debauchery compounding the deceptions of the earlier argument. Augustine argues in chapter twenty two the same of the worship of Neptune. Chapter twenty three and twenty four discuss the pagan view of the earth. Augustine seems to be arguing again a violation of the conservation and for an identity crisis for the gods. Augustine touches briefly on the matter of eunchs in the service of the earth cult. He notes rather bitterly in the conclusion of chapter twenty four and in all of chapter twenty five how an eunch is a worthless example of fertility because of their sterility.

Chpt. 26 - 30
Chapter twenty six is an invecting against the worship of the earth cults. Chapter twenty seven is an argument that "natural" philosophy is a "false hope" of the true way. Augustine uses this to support his argument in chapter twenty eight that Varro doesn't have a leg to stand on. Chapter twenty nine shows the flaws taht Augustien sees. Mainly this is that people are confusing the object with the creator. Chapter thirty cautions us to remember that God is separate from creation and acts thru his intermediatries and will.

Ch. 31 - 35
Augustine's invective against philosophy is impressive. As he proceeds through the remainder of book seven and thru books eight and nine, Augustine tears down the popular classes of philosophy from his era.

Book seven predominantly concerns itself with the confusing of the object with the creator. It discusses the errors that proceed from this stance:
- The qualities ascribed to the parts of the world as holy/divine (nature deities) are actuality qualities of God.
- The multiplicity of nature gods results in confusion as to the reign/power of these gods.
- The overlapping associations of power suggest a unifying deitie that reigns/has power ofer the whole.
- The variety between the standard for "good" between worship, priests, and philosophers is a result of multiple gods.
Augustine's argument against "natural philosophy" as described by Varro is summarized by the following:

The powers associated with the nature gods are the property and qualities of one god. This god is good. The confusion of good and the profanity attending the nature gods is due to the deception of men by devils.

Originally Published: 11/4/2006 (All content is original to the initial post, including the horrible spelling.)