Augustine City Of God Essay

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In the “City of God”, Christian theologian Augustine presents the four key elements of his philosophy; the church, the state, the City of Heaven, and the City of the World. Relating the church and the state, he has conveyed the idea that they are two independent societies on an equal platform. Both are good, yet their natures are different. This supports the opinion of Christian philosopher Robert Markus, who believes that Augustine’s political theology is based upon the idea of “a positive valuation of the secular realm and its independence from religion”.
In support of this idea, Augustine stated “The earthly city, which does not live by faith, seeks an earthly peace, and the end it proposes in the well-ordered concord of civic obedience …show more content…

However, Augustine says “Even the heavenly city, therefore, while in its state of pilgrimage, avails itself of the peace of earth, and, so far as it can without injuring faith and godliness, desires and maintains a common agreement among men regarding the acquisition of the necessaries of life, and makes this earthly peace bear upon the peace of heaven; for this alone can be truly called and esteemed the peace of the reasonable creatures, consisting as it does in the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God.” (369). Hence he believes that the church benefits from the peace that is created by rulers of the earthly city, yet without affecting the Christian faith of citizens of the heavenly city. The two cities exist in parallel, without one being higher than the …show more content…

He argues that Augustine’s writings show that the two societies exist in unity and are dependent upon one another. However, according to Augustine, “The wise men of the one city, living according to man, have sought for profit to their own bodies or souls, or both, and those who have known God “glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise”-that is, glorying in their own wisdom, and being possessed by pride”…..But in the other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, “that God may be all in all”” (364). Members of the state have denied God’s love, pursuing self-interest, while members of the church have viewed God as the object of their love, pursuing eternal goodness. Believing that they exist independently because of their distinctive fundamentals, Augustine concludes that the two are good for their own purposes, but do not exist in harmony with each

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