The City of God (De Civitate dei): Vol. 7 Part I - Books

"This is a magnificent new translation, sure to be welcomed by readers of Augustine old and new. It is certainly worthy of a place among the great translations of this work, offering an eminently readable and accurate rendition. One forgets one is reading a translation -- isn't that the goal of all great translating? Highly recommended." John Cavadini, Professor of Theology and Director of the Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame "This lucid translation of Augustine's complicated Latin text, complemented by an expert introduction and helpful notes, is a remarkable achievement indeed. A new jewel in the crown of an already famous series that is highly appreciated worldwide." Johannes van Oort, Editor of Vigiliae Christianae; Author of Jerusalem and Babylon (1991; paperback: Leiden-Boston 2012) "City of God is read by theologians and philosophers, classicists and historians of ideas. All will be grateful to William Babcock for his new subheadings and summaries, which trace the articulations of Augustine's carefully connected argument. Babcock's long reflection and deep understanding, expressed in his outstanding Introduction, shape every sentence of this clear and thoughtful translation." Gillian Clark, Professor Emerita, University of Bristol; Co-editor, Oxford Early Christian Studies "The monumental City of God has astonishingly relevant things to say to an age of postmodernism, secularism, multiculturalism and globalisation. This affordable new translation with useful notes will make this masterpiece accessible to the 21st century reader. " Karla Pollmann, Professor of Classics, University of St. Andrews

Aurelius Augustinus (354-430) was born and raised in Roman North Africa. His mother Monica provided a Catholic upbringing in his modest home town of Thagaste. However, Augustine preferred the liberties available to young men of his time and place. He also excelled at school. As a student at Carthage he joined the Manichean religious sect. After teaching rhetoric at Carthage and then Rome, he rose to become the official spokesperson for the Roman Emperor in Milan.

Amidst a crisis of faith and doubt, Augustine read the writings of Neo-Platonic philosophers and listened to the preaching of Bishop Ambrose of Milan. Resigning from imperial service, the 32 year old Augustine began an intensive study of scripture. He was baptized by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil in April of 387. A year later he returned to Africa and within several years was ordained to serve the diocese of Hippo (present day Annaba, Algeria), as priest and then bishop.

Charged with the pastoral care of his people, and confronted by the major doctrinal controversies in the early Church, Augustine employed his significant rhetorical skills and his genius for writing to compose some of the foundational texts of Christian theology in the Latin West. These include his Confessions, Teaching Christianity, The City of God, The Trinity, Expositions of the Psalms-to name just a few of his many books. We also have almost 300 of his letters to a wide variety of correspondents, and 400 of his sermons.

Augustine criticized the rejection of the Hebrew Scriptures by his former Manichean co-religionists; argued against the exclusionary ecclesiology of the Donatist Christians; confronted Arian Christianity with a deeply Catholic Christology; and, until the end of his life defended the supremacy of divine grace against what he understood to be the self-justification preached by the followers of the British monk Pelagius. His interpretation of original sin and its effects on humanity grew out of his personal and pastoral experience of the human pain and suffering wrought by ignorance and by disordered, destructive choices.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Augustine's writings remained influential and extended the influence of Platonic philosophy in Western Christendom. Even after the 13th century rise of Aristotelian philosophy in the writing of Thomas Aquinas, Augustinian thought persisted in various Medieval schools, and in the writings of Martin Luther, who had been a member of the Order of Saint Augustine.

Augustine's thought was influential at the Second Vatican Council. He remains a conversation partner for philosophers and religious thinkers of many persuasions. The latest, complete translations of his works in English are published by New City Press in partnership with The Augustinian Heritage Institute.

CONTENTS BOOK XI page 1 Faith, the Mediator, and the Authority of Scripture - 3; Creation, Time, and the Immutability of God - 4; The Days of Creation and the Forms of Knowledge - 7; The Creation of the Angels - 9; The Divine Simplicity - 11; The Angelic Fall - 12; The Case of the Devil - 15; The Separation of the Holy Angels from the Fallen Angels - 18; The Goodness of God and the Goodness of Creation - 19; Traces of the Trinity in Creation - 24; The Holy Angels and Their Knowledge - 30; Alternative Views of the Creation of the Angels - 32; Conclusion - 35 BOOK XII page 36 The Difference between the Good and the Evil Angels: not Nature but Fault - 37; The Cause of the First Evil Will - 41; The Cause of the Good Will of the Good Angels - 45; The Origin of Humankind - 46; The "Date" of Man's Creation - 48; Against Theories of World Cycles - 50; Eternity and Time - 51; Time, Infinity, and the Divine Knowledge - 55; Ultimate Happiness: the Refutation of the Theory of World Cycles - 58; God's Creation of the Human Race from One Man - 62; God the Sole Creator - 63; Humanity's Social Character - 66 BOOK XIII page 68 The Meanings of Death - 69; Death as Punishment - 70; The Death of the Saints - 73; "Before Death," "after Death," and "in Death" - 74; The Threat of Death - 78; The Body and Ultimate Blessedness - 80; The Issue of the Eternity of the Body - 82; Happiness and the Body - 83; Against the View that the Earthly Body Cannot Be in Heaven - 83; Self-Contradictions in the Platonic View of the Body - 85; The Body in Paradise - 87; Spiritual Interpretations of Paradise - 88; The Resurrected Body - 89; The Animal Body and the Spiritual Body - 90; The Breath Breathed into Man's Face - 93; The Greek Terms Pneuma and Pnoe - 94; The Question of Human Sexuality before the Fall - 97 BOOK XIV page 98 Living according to the Flesh and Living according to the Spirit - 100; The Meaning of "Flesh" - 101; Living according to Man, or Self, and Living according to God - 103; The Flesh, or the Body, Is not Evil - 104; The Will, the Passions, and Love - 105; The Passions in the City of God - 110; The Emotions and the Future Life - 112; Emotion in the First Human Beings - 115; The First Evil Will - 116; The Human Fall - 117; The Evil Will Precedes the Evil Act - 119; Humility and Pride - 120; The Punishment of Sin - 121; Lust, Human Sexuality, and the Sense of Shame - 123; Human Procreation Prior to the Fall - 128; Sexuality before the Fall - 130; The Happiness of Paradise - 133; Man's Sin and God's Foreknowledge - 135; Two Loves Have Made Two Cities - 136 BOOK XV page 138 Cain and Abel, the Earthly City and the Heavenly City - 139; Israel: the Earthly Image of the Heavenly City - 140; The Earthly City and the Heavenly City, Born of Nature and Born of Grace - 141; The Goods of the Earthly City and the Conflicts to Which They Give Rise - 142; Conflict between the Two Cities: the Flesh and the Spirit - 143; Cain's Sacrifice and its Rejection - 145; The Presentation of the Two Cities in the Lines of Descent from Cain and Seth - 148; The Long Lives of the Ancients - 150; The Numerical Discrepancies between the Greek and Hebrew Versions - 151; The Issue of Sexual Maturity and the Lines of Descent - 159; The Issue of Polygamy and Kinship Relations - 162; The Lines of Descent from Cain and Seth down to the Flood - 164; The Two Cities as Represented in the Two Lines of Descent - 171; The Intermingling of the Two Cities: the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men - 172; The Flood, Noah, and the Ark - 177; The Flood: History and Allegory - 180 BOOK XVI page 184 The Prophetic Significance of Noah and His Sons - 184; The Generations of the Sons of Noah - 188; The Tower of Confusion and the Diversity of Human Languages -