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 briefly addresses irrational and lifeless creatures, stating that it is ridiculous to condemn their faults, as they received an existence fitting to them, often passing away to make room for others. This transitory order contributes to the beauty of the universe, even if mortals, involved in a fragment of it, cannot perceive the whole harmony. These creatures, in their proper places and according to their nature, glorify their Artificer. Even the nature of fire, though penal to the condemned, is beautiful and useful in its proper application. Thus, in all natures, God is glorified.
Returning to the angels, Augustine reiterates that the cause of the blessedness of the good is their cleaving to Him who supremely is, while the misery of the wicked stems from turning to themselves, who have a lesser existence. This vice is pride, the beginning of sin. By preferring themselves to God, they diminished their own being. Augustine then investigates the efficient cause of the evil will. He argues that there is none, for if a thing caused the evil will, that thing must either have a will or not. If it has a good will, it cannot cause evil; if it has a bad will, one must ask what caused that will, leading to an infinite regress. If one posits that the evil will always existed, it must have existed in some nature, which it would have injured; but it could not injure an evil nature, only a good one. If one suggests that a thing without a will caused the evil will, that thing is a good nature, and good cannot be the efficient cause of evil. Augustine illustrates this with the example of two men viewing the same beautiful object; one consents to an illicit desire, the other does not. The object is not the cause, nor is the flesh or temperament, for these are identical. The cause is the will itself. Therefore, the will is not made evil by something else but becomes evil by its own defection.
The original text of this work is in the public domain. This page focuses on a guided summary article, reading notes, selected quotes, and visual learning materials for educational purposes.