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.
To those who ask why man was not created sooner, Augustine replies that any finite time, no matter how long, is infinitesimal compared to eternity. Even if man had been created millions of years earlier, the question could still be asked why he was not created before that. Compared to the boundless eternity during which God abstained from creating, any span of time is as nothing. The first man himself could have asked this question on the day of his creation. Therefore, the controversy regarding the recent origin of man is based on a misunderstanding of the relationship between time and eternity.
Augustine refutes the specific theory of cyclical history, where the same events and individuals repeat endlessly. He argues that this contradicts the promise of eternal life and the unique sacrifice of Christ, who died once and rose again, dying no more. The saints shall be ever with the Lord. He interprets the words of Solomon, “There is no new thing under the sun,” as referring to the cycles of generations or the predestination of God, not to the recurrence of identical historical events. The path of the wicked is circular, but this refers to the error of their doctrine, not to a metaphysical cycle of time.
Augustine explains how the creation of man in time was effected without any change in God. God, though eternal, caused time to have a beginning. He created man not by a new resolution, but by His eternal and unchangeable design. The Psalmist declares that God multiplied the children of men according to the depth of His wisdom, a depth that man cannot comprehend. Augustine grapples with the question of whether God always had creatures over whom to exercise dominion, given that He is always Lord. He suggests that while no creature is co-eternal with the Creator, there may have always been some creature, though not the same ones, succeeding one another. He explores the relationship between time and the angels, noting that if time began with the motion of creatures, and the angels were created before time or along with it, they have existed in all time and thus can be said to have “always” existed, yet they are not co-eternal with the changeless eternity of God. However, Augustine ultimately refrains from making positive assertions on these obscure points, urging humility and obedience rather than hazardous speculation.
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.