Augustine De Civitate Dei The City Of God Book X

This edition of St Augustine's City of God is the only one in English to provide a text and translation as well as a detailed commentary of this most influential document in the history of western Christianity.

This volume continues P. G. Walsh's admired translation with commentary of Augustine's City of God. Books I-XIV which have been published in eight earlier volumes between 2003 and 2016, and this ninth volume in the collection looks at books XV and XVI. After completing the first ten books of De Civitate Dei, in which Augustine sought to refute the claim that pagan deities had ensured that Rome enjoyed unbroken success and prosperity in this life and guaranteed its citizens a blessed life after death, Augustine devoted the remaining twelve books to discuss the origins, development and destiny of the two cities of Babylon and Jerusalem, with the predominant emphasis on the city of God. This is the only edition of these books in English which provides not only a text but also a detailed commentary on one of the most influential documents in the history of western Christianity.

This volume addresses the complex and conflicted vision in Augustine's City of God, as a heavenly city on earthly pilgrimage.

In Books I-V of De Civitate Dei , Augustine rejects the claim that worship of the pagan gods had brought success in this life, and in Books VI-X, the prospect of a happy afterlife. In Books XI-XII, the seventh volume in Peter Walsh's series, Augustine turns from attack to defence, for at this point he initiates his apology for the Christian faith. Books XI and XII document the initial phase of the rise of the two cities, the city of God and the city of this world, beginning with the creation of the world and the human race. In Book XI, Augustine rejects the theories of Aristotle, Plato and the Epicureans on the creation of the universe and addresses the creation of angels, Satan, the role of the holy Trinity and the importance of numberology in the Genesis account. In Book XII Augustine is chiefly concerned with refuting standard objections to the Christian tradition, returning to discussion of the Creation, including his calculation, based on the scriptures, that the world was created less than 6,000 years ago. This is the only edition of these books in English that provides not only a text but also a detailed commentary on one of the most influential documents in the history of western Christianity.