ST. AUGUSTINE’S DE CIVITATE DEI

Catalog description

The purpose of this seminar is to study St. Augustine’s major theo-political treatise, De civitate Dei. Augustine describes this work as his mangnus opus et ardum . The aim of the City of God is to illumine the complex relation between the temporal order and the Christian faith. Augustine does so in the political context of the Roman Empire, but the claim is universal: Christianity constitutes a societas, a populus, a civitas, which radically transcends all and every political order. In the first ten books of De civitate Dei Augustine advances a polemical critique of Pagan religion and philosophy and in the subsequent twelve books he undertakes a defense of the City of God in relation to the earthl y city. De civitate Dei is the fountainhead of political theology in the Western tradition. Those enrolled as citizens of the heavenly city must grapple with the responsibilities and loves owed to the earthly ci ty in which they are pilgrims. With encyclopedic scope, Augustine engages with historical, political, philosophical, and theological themes from the vantage point of Christian revelation. In this seminar we will systemically read and discuss the twenty-two books of the City of God as well accompanying literature. A reading knowledge of Latin is recommended. The seminar will also engage with contemporary scholarship and debate that draws (and distinguish itself from) Augustine’s political theology.