As I write this, I can look out on the Straight of Northumberland. I have the summer away from my job as a Teacher Assistant. I could feel the hot sands of the beach on my feet, I could be traveling and seeing the world, I could be volunteering at a library or fire department, or working a summer job to save up some money. Instead, I'm sitting at home after checking out a library book. The book... City of God by St. Augustine.
This book has haunted my interactions with a certain individual who I hope is reading this. Said book being only marginally less repulsive than "Poor Dad Rich Dad". Even now I'm avoiding reading by writing this.
Pain. This is an exercise in pain. But I suppose it is also a book review. The book, which the library had to request a delivery for, is "City of God - Saint Augustine. Abridged For Modern Readers, With a Foreword by Vernon J, Bourke. Introduction by Etienne Gibson. With 545 pages it still appears smaller than the Unabridged copy I found tucked away in the literature section of a Used book store. Perhaps if I'm enjoying myself too much, I'll buy that version.
As far as first impressions go City of God already has a reputation for me. that of being an ancient text pertaining to problems which have no bearing on myself today what-so-ever. I've avoided looking into Christian philosophers in general due to the same reason, even as St. Augustine became an in-joke between some friends. Horrifyingly the name just kept coming up when doing some research for myself. Modern Philosophy, Literary Analysis, History, it seemed like after first learning his name, this ancient Bishop wormed his way into relevance for every topic I wanted to look into. To exorcise this annoyance, I bit the bullet. I'll read St. Augustine. Ill learn all there is to know. Ill inundate my mind with theory and trivia in order to out maneuver St. Oggy. I'll always be one step ahead of Gus. I'll be able to anticipate his relevance and make those tangential reads for additional context irrelevant.
So I'm reading this book, and I'll write my thoughts in this format whatever it ends up becoming. I have no idea what, exactly, I'll get out of this exercise but I'll keep updating whenever I find something.
June 19 2023
Before getting to the meat of the book City of God which again, I promised myself I’d read for no reason in particular other than to free myself from constantly thinking about it, I have to begin with the Introduction. Thankfully the introduction and foreword together total 32 pages. In fact, most of the chapters in this version are abridged to about that length. I am still apprehensive about the prospect of reading a prepared version of the book, It’s like buying the choicest cuts from a butcher and never thinking about the whole animal. Vernon as my butcher of choice is happy to describe the life of St. Augustine before ending up on my place, even going as far as to gesture at different portions. Confessions, Literal Commentary on Genesis, Enorrations on the Psalms, On the Trinity, Soliloquies, all by our favourite Saint from Hippo. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Vernon J Bourke’s Introduction explains the important context in what City of God was written, Augustine’s behemoth was the response to a friends letter asking him what his thoughts were on some ideological questions of the day, particularly whether or not the church was destroying their civilization which had held for a thousand years under Polytheism. St. Augustine himself was born Pagan but Augustine has become Catholic, the response he makes to these accusations are therefore predictable. Going into it would be pointless though. Since I will be reading the book myself it would be redundant to summarize the summary of the thing I intend to summarize for you
Anyway The first 10 Chapters St. Augustine uses his background studying Roman gods to debunk the claim that Christianity caused the fall of Rome and the pantheon was holding Rome together. about 200 pages worth of this before he finally mentions the titular City of God. The next 11 chapters which make up the rest of the book are dedicated to explaining how Christianity should move forward without Rome. It is currently unclear to me whether or not the City of God is a rhetorical device like Plato’s Republic, or if it is a genuine political plan to recenter Christianity on a new capital. I would lean toward metaphor, but I did that with The Republic and was informed that Plato genuinely wanted that dystopia.
The Foreword by Etienne Gilson goes into even more exhaustive detail, explaining St. Augustine's definition of City based not in a physical place but in the ideal form of justice, calling back to Plato again. It was difficult to get through, as my sleep schedule was set against me, and 10 pages kept putting me to sleep. As a result I can’t really remember what exactly he was talking about, but I have the vague impression of someone who wants to conquer the world under a christian banner, not because its what he wants to do, but because he believes it to be inevitable. The City of God is not Physical, nor is it metaphorical, in Etienne’s words, it is Mystical. What does a City mean in a mystical sense? What does it mean that all people fall into either Gods city or The Devils City? And why do I feel like I would be placed in the latter?” These are all questions that you will not find in this entry because I refuse to go back and read any further.
I have reached the threshold. The foreword is over, done, gone. It is like i just opened City of God by Saint Augustine. Part one The Pagan Gods and Earth Happiness. I feel somewhat excited to sink my teeth into the philosophy finally, I even buffed up on my Socratic dialogues in order to keep up. Book I Christianity Did Not Cause the Fall of Rome. This is the first claim made by St. Augustine, The central thesis, everything after this point will either be in justification of this point, or a consequence of this point. No more fucking around, lets do some Philosophy. Preface... Maybe I’ll just do it tomorrow actually I’m tired