Augustine's City of God A Reader's Guide

by O'Daly, Gerard

• ISBN13: 9780198263548
• ISBN10: 0198263546
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-10
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

The City of God is the most influential of Augustine's works, which played a decisive role in the formation of the Christian West. This book is the first comprehensive modern guide to it in any language. The City of God's scope embodies cosmology, psychology, political thought, anti-pagan polemic, Christian apologetic, theory of history, biblical interpretation and apocalyptic themes. This book is, therefore, at once about a single masterpiece and at the same time surveys Augustine's developingviews through the whole range of his thought. The book is written in the form of a detailed, running commentary on each part of the work. Further chapters elucidate the early fifth century political, social, historical, and literary background, the work's sources, and its place in Augustine'swritings. The book should prove of value to Augustine's wide readership among students of late antiquity, theologians, philosophers, medievalists, Renaissance scholars, and historians of Art and iconography.

Table of Contents

Abbreviated Titles: General	viii
Abbreviated Titles of Augustine's and Other Writings	x
Cities Real and Desired	1	(26)
The Making of the Book	27	(12)
The Apologetic Tradition	39	(14)
The Theme of the Two Cities	53	(14)
The Structure of the Work	67	(7)
`Where Were the Gods?': Books 1--5	74	(27)
Varro, Platonists, and Demons: Books 6--10	101	(34)
Creation, the Fall, and the Regime of the Passions: Books 11--14	135	(25)
The History of the Two Cities: Books 15--18	160	(36)
Final Destinations: Books 19--22	196	(38)
Influences and Sources	234	(31)
The Place of the City of God in Augustine's Writings	265	(16)
Appendices
A. The Title De Civitate Dei	273	(2)
B. Manuscripts and Editions	275	(2)
C. `Breviculus', `Capitula', and `Canon'	277	(2)
D. The Chronology in City 18. 54	279	(2)
Bibliography	281	(28)
Index of Selected Passages Cited	309	(9)
General Index	318