Saint Augustine: The City of God, Books XVII–XXII
Overview
Perhaps one of the most profound treatises on Christianity and government, the City of God envisions Christianity as a spiritual force, which should preoccupy itself with the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, rather than the earthly municipal and state affairs. The Fathers of the Church Series has divided this ancient classic into three convenient volumes.
In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
For more of Augustine, check out the Fathers of the Church: St. Augustine (30 vols.).
Product Details
- Title: The City of God, Books XVII–XXII
- Author: Augustine of Hippo
- Translators: Gerald G. Walsh
- Series: Fathers of the Church
- Publisher: Catholic University of America Press
- Publication Date: 1954
- Pages: 561
- Topic: Early Church
About Augustine of Hippo
Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) is often simply referred to as St. Augustine or Augustine Bishop of Hippo (the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba in Algeria). He is the preeminent Doctor of the Church according to Roman Catholicism, and is considered by Evangelical Protestants to be in the tradition of the Apostle Paul as the theological fountainhead of the Reformation teaching on salvation and grace.
Top Highlights
“If I am asked what stand the City of God would take on the issues raised and, first, what this City thinks of the supreme good and ultimate evil, the answer would be: She holds that eternal life is the supreme good and eternal death the supreme evil, and that we should live rightly in order to obtain the one and avoid the other.” (Page 194)
“The other interpretation makes the ‘thousand years’ stand for all the years of the Christian era, a perfect number being used to indicate the ‘fullness of time.’5 For the number one thousand is the cube of ten.” (Page 266)
“During the ‘thousand years’ when the Devil is bound, the saints also reign for a ‘thousand years’1 and, doubtless, the two periods are identical and mean the span between Christ’s first and second coming. For, not only in that future kingdom to which Christ referred in the words, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you,’2 but even now those saints reign with Him in some authentic though vastly inferior fashion to whom He said: ‘Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.’3 Otherwise, the Church in her temporal stage could not be spoken of as the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven.” (Pages 274–275)
“The reason, therefore, why the Devil is bound and cast into the abyss is to prevent his deceiving the nations that now make up the Church as he used to deceive and possess them before they became the Church. The text does not say that he may not deceive this man or that man, but only ‘that he should deceive the nations’ (meaning, without doubt, the Church) ‘no more until the thousand years should be finished.’ The ‘thousand years’ may mean either what remains of the thousand years that make up the ‘sixth day’ or the entire course of time this world has still to go.” (Pages 268–269)
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Dr. Gordon Arthur
1/9/2019
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