The City of God

Augustine's book The City of God derives its title from a phrase that appears in Psalm 87. The psalm reads: "On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God" (vv. 1–3). The song continues to name great earthly cities in the ancient world, such as Babylon. These were cities with great power and reputable people who accomplished great things. However, towering over them was the city of God.

Augustine used this phrase as well as the entirety of Psalm 87 as inspiration for his book. It was not a simple book; in fact, Augustine took fourteen years to write it, from 413 to 427. During that time, a great classic was birthed.

The book is actually composed of twenty-two smaller books (or chapters) divided into two parts. Books 1 to 10 are primarily a negative critique of the pagan worldview. The critique is aimed at philosophies that were either naturalistic—focused on this world—or mythological—focused on the world to come. After the critique is a commendation of Christianity, which he offers in books 11 through 22. He does this by tracing out two cities—the city of God and the city of man. He looks at the origin of these two cities, the paths these two cities take, and the end of these two cities.

Part of the reason Augustine wrote The City of God was because Christians were being blamed for the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in AD 410. This event was a shock to contemporary people; Rome was called "the eternal city" and it was thought that it would endure forever. As the Roman Empire was crumbling, people blamed Christians because they refused to worship the gods of the city. So Augustine wrote this apologetic to show that Christians were not to blame for the sack of Rome.

One of the themes that Augustine tackles is happiness or felicity. The cities of God and man have two entirely different approaches to this question of happiness. In the city of man, happiness is attained through serving the self and living for the self. Augustine shows that this way of life is actually emptiness rather than happiness. In the city of God, happiness is found in God Himself. On the last page of the book, Augustine tell us:

How great shall be that felicity, which shall be tainted with no evil, which shall lack no good, and which shall afford leisure for the praises of God, who shall be all in all! . . . True peace shall be there, where no one shall suffer opposition either from himself or any other. God Himself, who is the Author of virtue, shall there be its reward; for, as there is nothing greater or better, He has promised Himself. What else was meant by His word through the prophet, "I will be your God, and ye shall be my people," than [that God] shall be their satisfaction, [God] shall be all that men honorably desire,—[their] life, [their] health, [their] nourishment, and plenty, and glory, and honor, and peace, and all good things?