I’ve re-started reading The City of God by Augustine.
Augustine wrote to defend “the city of God,” which ultimately exists “in the security of its everlasting seat,” but also exists in some ways in “this world of time1.” This is Augustine’s expression of the already/not-yet idea of the Kingdom – it is already among us in some ways but not yet in others for which we wait expectantly.
Part of Augustine’s personal story as he wrote in his Confessions, was his ability to argue and debate and the pride he experienced as a young man at university then as a professor. He was uniquely equipped to we write to convince those who are proudly attacking Christianity and blaming it for the fall of the Roman empire to the barbarians. He also understood
“how great is the effort needed to convince the proud of the power and excellence of humility, an excellence which makes it soar above all the summits of this world, which sway in their temporal instability, overtopping them all with an eminence not arrogated by human pride but granted by divine grace.”
In a parallel contrast to the eternal (yet present in time) city of God vs. the temporary earthly cities of men, Augustine’s arguments are here framed as soaring above the temporal world of the prideful arguments of his opponents.
Chapter 1
The people arguing against Christianity were attributing every disaster to Christ, but “do not make Christ responsible for the benefits (6).” The disaster was the fall of Rome. The empire had turned to Christianity, so they blamed this religious move for the fall of Rome. But what benefits is Augustine talking about? These very people experienced very tangible benefits in both a specific and more general sense.
In short: They weren’t dead. Their lives were spared because they hid in churches and pretended to be Christians. They professed Christ when in a crisis, but are slandering him now that its over. (They valued their temporary lives, but are discarding all consideration for their eternal lives.) In a more general sense, they owed their lives to Christian culture. War is normal2. Stopping the war are the doors of a place of worship was not normal.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2 Augustine begins to expound on this by pulling in historical data to back up his claim that it is abnormal for conquerors to stop war at the doors of a religious center. Discussion centers around the fall of Troy.
Chapter 3
The Romans adopted the gods of the Greeks after the Greeks were conquered. When Rome conquered the Greeks, the guardian deities were conquered. Virgil is quoted calling the gods of the Greeks “vanquished gods.”
After Troy, the Romans adopted the Greek theological system, and those Augustine is arguing against believed that the Roman empire should have remained committed to these gods for their protection. These are the gods that the Romans conquered. They were entrusting their lives to gods who had already been defeated! How foolish. This is
“to rely not on divinities but on defaulters. It is not sensible to assume that Rome would have escaped this disaster had these gods not first perished.”
Chapter 4
In addition to these deities being viewed as conquered, Troy is good for another example – the “consecrated buildings” in Troy provided no protection for the people. Troy and Rome both fell. The contrast is that those in religious builders were killed in Troy, and spared in Rome.
Chapter 5
Augustine quotes Sallust, a historian, quoting a speech from Cato to the senate describing war. In his description he includes that temples are “despoiled.” The official senate understanding of war was that religious institutions and buildings are not exempt.
Chapter 6
It’s not just among the barbarians that temples are normally destroyed. Augustine cites various Roman conquests in which there was no exemption for religious buildings.
Reaction:
While there may be other times in history when the religious people among the conquered were spared, it is the exception, not the rule. These people who were mad at Christ and Christianity should at least have been grateful that when Rome was conquered, their lives were spared thanks to the influence of Christianity and Christian culture.
This made me think of our world. The headlines today are that atheists led by Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are trying to get the Pope arrested. These two men are anti-Christians. Their communicated creed3 is: “There is no God and I hate him!” Like Augustine’s opponents, they attribute everything negative to Christ without granting him any of the benefits they themselves have received.
We live in a culture that has been influenced by Christianity for centuries. Life is valued, so we have hospitals and better healthcare. Slavery has been overthrown. Equal rights movements have spread. Even the founders of America owe their values to the influence of Christianity, even if they weren’t Christians themselves. At minimum, non-Christians should be granting Christ the benefits of which they have partaken. (A good example of this would be Matthew Parris who in 2008 wrote the article “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God,” in which he argues that evangelical missionaries can best bring a healthy helpful value system to Africa.)
There’s a lot of parallels between the opponents of the city of God in Augustine’s day and those in our day.
Other Quotes:
The task is long and arduous; but God is our helper. (5)
I cannot refrain from speaking about the city of this world, a city which aims at dominion, which holds nations in enslavement, but is itself dominated by that very lust of domination. (5)
Footnotes:
1 Book 1, Preface. Page 5.
2 Augustine writes (1:1 Page 6) that God constantly uses war to correct and chasten the “corrupt morals of mankind.” War is not unexpected for Augustine, but part of God’s providence in human affairs. Augustine does not say that God chooses sides in a war as if God is always with the conqueror. Those who are conquered aren’t necessarily under judgment of being bad, as through war God is “removing to a better state whose life is approved.”
3 Naturally they don’t say this is their creed, but it’s what gets communicated by them. Take for example Hitchens’ book: “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”
