Lessons from Hippo: Reading Augustine's City of God for Times of Crisis, week 4

The History of the Two Cities (bks. 15-18)

“And this is the characteristic of the earthly city, that it worships God or gods who may aid it in reigning victoriously and peacefully on earth not through love of doing good, but through lust of rule [libido dominandi]. The good use the world that they may enjoy God: the wicked, on the contrary, that they may enjoy the world would fain use God.”

The two cities are traced from Cain & Abel and continue throughout this era between the two comings of Christ “until they must be separated by the last judgment, and each must receive her own end, of which there is no end.”

Assignment for next week: What would be an “unconstrained good” in our society? That is, good things that we pursue to too great an extent such that they become “divinizing desires”: we put them ahead of God &/or other values and thus our loves become disordered.