Augustine of Hippo and The City of God: Comprehensive Study Notes
Biography and Intellectual Background of Augustine (354–430)
Birth and Early Life: Augustine was born in in modern-day Algeria. He was educated at Carthage and became a professional teacher of rhetoric.
Intellectual Influences: His thought was shaped significantly by the works of Plato and Cicero, among other classical figures.
Conversion and Career: In , he converted to Christianity. He eventually rose to the position of Bishop of Hippo Regius, located in Algeria.
Death and Historical Context: He died in , at a time when the Vandals were actively besieging the city of Hippo Regius.
Historical Significance: Augustine is considered the most important political and theological thinker between antiquity (ancient Greece and Rome) and the Middle Ages (represented by figures such as Thomas Aquinas).
Theological Contributions: He established the Western Christian understanding of fundamental concepts such as: * Sin * Grace * The Fall * Salvation
Linear Understanding of History: Augustine moved away from the cyclical view of history held by ancient historians (who viewed time as repeating like the seasons). Instead, he proposed a linear progression: *
The City of God: Historical Context and Thesis
The Sack of Rome (): The Visigoths sacked Rome in , an event so catastrophic that contemporary Romans found it unimaginable.
The Pagan Charge: Romans blamed Christianity for the disaster, arguing that Rome had lost its divine protection because it abandoned its traditional gods in favor of the Christian God.
Augustine’s Response: The City of God (consisting of books) was written specifically to rebut this pagan charge.
The Core Thesis: Augustine posits that there are two cities defined by their fundamental commitments and loves: * The City of God: Founded on the love of God. * The City of Man (The Earthly City): Founded on the love of self.
Definition of "City": For Augustine, a "city" is not a literal physical location or town, but a community defined by its most fundamental commitments and what it collectively loves.
Book XIX: The Critique of Philosophical Happiness
Philosophical Chaos: Augustine notes that philosophers have expressed a vast variety of opinions regarding the "ends of goods and of evils" in their attempt to discover what makes a man happy. He describes the landscape as effectively containing hundreds of sects with no agreement on the definition of happiness.
Ancient Views of the Ultimate Good: * Aristotle: Virtuous activity. * Stoics: Virtue. * Epicureans: Pleasure. * Skeptics: Suspension of judgment.
General Ancient Conclusion: Happiness is living well, covering the goods of the soul (highest) and the body (lower).
Augustine’s Critique of Earthly Goods: He argues that objects of nature cannot be possessed securely in this life because they are always subject to "unforeseen accidents." The body of even the wise man is not exempt from: * Pain that dispels pleasure. * Disquietude that banishes repose. * Amputation or decay of members. * Deformity, weakness, lassitude, and sleepiness/sluggishness.
The Nature of Virtue and Human Misery
Virtue as Internal Warfare: Augustine defines virtue not as a state of completion, but as a perpetual war against internal vices.
Temperance (σωφροσύνη): This virtue is specifically tasked with bridling carnal lusts and preventing the spirit from consenting to wicked deeds.
The Inattainability of the Supreme Good in Current Life: The supreme good is a state where the flesh does not lust against the spirit and no vice exists. Since this is impossible in the present life, the goal is simply to use God's help to refuse consent to sin.
Critique of Stoic Pride: Augustine ridicules the "stupid pride" of philosophers who claim a wise man is happy even when he is blind, deaf, dumb, or racked with pains. He argues that if a life is so miserable that it seeks death to end it, it cannot truly be called happy.
Misery vs. Brevity: The fact that a miserable life is brief does not make it a happy one; if that same life were eternal, the philosophers themselves would pronounce it miserable.
Salvation, Hope, and the Eternal City
The Greatest End: Philosophers cannot agree on the greatest end because it is not natural; it is eternal life. This is only possible through salvation—a concept the ancients lacked.
Virtue as a Tool: Prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are merely tools for waging war against vice and disorder within ourselves.
Hypothetical Immortality on Earth: Augustine suggests that if a person were immortal but remained a mere human in the world as it is, it would not be happiness but "misery upon misery."
The Role of Hope: Human beings are saved by hope. Eternal happiness exists in the next life, in a place beyond Earth. Christians are called to endure the miseries of Earth while waiting for ultimate happiness and final judgment.
The Interaction of the Two Cities in Society
Two Types of Families: * Families not living by faith: Seek peace in the earthly advantages of this life. * Families living by faith: Look for promised eternal blessings. They use earthly advantages as "pilgrims," treating them as aids to endure the burdens of the corruptible body rather than allowing them to divert the soul from God.
The Purpose of the Earthly City: It seeks an "earthly peace" characterized by a well-ordered concord of civic obedience and rule—a combination of men's wills to attain things helpful to this life.
The Heavenly City as Pilgrim: While sojourning on earth, the Heavenly City makes use of earthly peace by necessity. It gathers citizens from all nations and languages, ignoring diversities in laws or manners as long as they tend toward the end of earthly peace.
Naturally in Conflict: The cities conflict because the Earthly City introduces material gods (idols), while the Heavenly City rejects them as impediments to true teaching. Thus, a citizen of the Heavenly City is a "wanderer" or "stateless" pilgrim.
Definitions of People and Politics
Definition of a "People": Augustine defines a people as "an assemblage of reasonable beings bound together by a common agreement as to the objects of their love."
Defining Character: To understand the character of any people, one must observe what they love.
Critique of Modernity: Modern concepts (e.g., fear of violent death, defense of property) suggest that modern communities are fundamentally aimed at the Earthly City, not the Heavenly one.
Virtues as Vices: Augustine claims that if the soul and reason do not obey God, they have no proper authority over the body. Therefore, virtues used to restrain the body to obtain earthly desires are "rather vices than virtues" because they lack reference to God.
The Peace of Babylon: Christians can enjoy and benefit from the stability and material peace brought by earthly cities. However, they cannot be "at home" in this world, which is inherently wicked because it is temporary and fails to satisfy the human yearning for eternity.
Comparison with Other Political Thinkers
Three Fundamental Questions of Politics: 1. What problem is politics trying to solve? For Augustine: Sin. Politics prevents chaos and violence but cannot produce happiness. 2. What kind of human being does political order assume? A fallen but rational creature with misordered loves. 3. What must politics do to make the world livable? Secure and preserve earthly peace so Christians can live until they are redeemed.
Augustine vs. Aquinas: * Aquinas: Optimistic; believes humans can achieve real political goods through reason and natural law. Political participation helps achieve moral perfection. * Augustine: Pessimistic; argues the Fall changed everything. Politics will never be fully just, and virtue is inherently unstable.
Augustine vs. Moderns (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke): * Relation to Machiavelli: Augustine actually agrees with Machiavelli that political life involves deception, domination, and coercion. * The Distinction: While Machiavelli sees this as the best we can hope for, Augustine sees it as a tragic consequence of the world being "Fallen." * Modern Focus: Modernity is seen as singularly focused on the Earthly City at the expense of the Heavenly City.