Book

Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.

The city of God / translated by Marcus Dods ; with an introduction by Thomas Merton.

New York : Modern Library, [1950]

xv, 892 pages ; 21 cm

Saint Augustine is often regardarded as the most influential Christian thinker after Saint Paul, and City of God is his materpiece, a cast synthesis of religious and secular knowledge. It began as a reply to the charge that Christian otherworldiness was causing the decline of the Roman Empire. Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Then he proceeded to his larger theme, a cosmic interpretation of in terms of the struggle between good and evilL the City of God in conflict with the Earthly City or the City of the Devil. This, the first serious attempt at a philosophy of history, was to have incalculable influence in forming the Western mind on the relations of church and state, and on the Christianʹs place in the temporal order. -- Description from http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (Dec. 10, 2012).

The Modern library of the world's best books. Modern library giants [74]

Modern Library giants ; G74.

Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800.

Apologetics -- Early works to 1800.

Dods, Marcus, 1834-1909, translator.

De civitate Dei. English

"Books IV, XVII, and XVIII translated by the Rev. George Wilson ... Books V, VI, VII, and VIII by the Rev. J.J. Smith."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the sack of Rome by the Goths to the Christian religion and its prohibition of the worship of the gods -- Review of the calamities suffered by the Romans before the time of Christ, showing that their gods had plunged them into corruption and vice -- External calamities of Rome -- That empire was given to Rome not by the gods, but by the one true god -- Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans -- Of Varro's threefold division of theology, and of the inability of the gods to contribute anything to the happiness of the future life -- Of the "select gods" of the civil theology, and that eternal life is not obtained by worshipping them -- Some account of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and a refutation of the doctrine of Apuleius that the demons should be worshipped as mediators between the gods and men -- Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good and others evil -- Porphyry's doctrine of redemption -- Augustine passes to the second part of the work, in which the origin, progress and destinies of the earthly and heavenly cities are discussed -- Speculations regarding the creation of the world -- Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil -- That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin -- Of the punishment and results of man's first sin, and of the propagation of man without lust -- Progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history -- History of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel -- History of the city of God from the times of the prophets to Christ -- Parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world -- Review of the philosophical opinions regarding the supreme good, and a comparison of these opinions with the Christian belief regarding happiness -- Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments -- Of the eternal punishment of the wicked in hell, and of the various objections urged against it -- Of eternal happiness of the saints, the resurrection of the body, and the miracles of the early church.

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