The City of God stands as Augustine's masterwork of theological defense and construction, written over thirteen years in response to accusations that Christianity brought ruin upon Rome. This first volume contains the first ten books of sustained refutation—demolishing pagan claims that traditional worship secured either temporal prosperity or eternal happiness—followed by the beginning of his positive vision in Books Eleven through Thirteen, where he traces the origin of two societal orders to the primordial division among the angels. What emerges is not merely an apology for Christianity but a philosophy of history that subordinate the fate of empires to the hidden providence of the one true God, whose sovereignty extends from creation through the fall to the final judgment.
Augustine marvels at the clemency of God, who has spared these ungrateful people that they might have opportunity to repent. They escaped the sword by calling themselves Christians or by fleeing to the churches of the martyrs, yet they continue to murmur against God. Augustine reminds them that Romulus and Remus opened an asylum for criminals to increase the population of their new city; the barbarians have shown similar mercy, not to increase the number of their enemies but to spare them for Christ’s sake.
The book concludes with a profound meditation on the mystery of the two cities. The City of God and the earthly city are intermingled in this present world, and will remain so until the final judgment separates them. Among the enemies of the church are hidden those who are destined to become fellow-citizens of the heavenly city; the church must bear with them in hope, knowing that today’s enemy may be tomorrow’s convert. Within the visible church, bound by the sacraments, are some who will not inherit eternal life, some who are not yet recognized as false, and others who openly join the enemies of God in murmuring against him. These may be seen thronging the churches one day and crowding the theaters the next. Yet the church does not despair of their salvation, for God is able to bring even his enemies into the fold.
Augustine announces his intention to continue the work by recounting the disasters that befell Rome before the Christian era, demonstrating that the pagan gods did not preserve the city from calamity. He will show how the true God granted empire to Rome for his own purposes, and how the false gods deceived and injured their worshippers. Finally, he will address those who claim to worship the gods for the sake of eternal life, engaging the philosophers in debate on the nature of the soul and the true worship of the one God. Thus the first book ends with a preview of the vast argument to come, an argument that will set forth the rise, progress, and end of the two cities, to the glory of the City of God.
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