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.
The Blessedness of the Angels
True blessedness requires two elements: uninterrupted enjoyment of the unchangeable good (God), and certain knowledge that this enjoyment will be eternal. The fallen angels lacked this certainty from the moment of their fall. But did they ever partake of true blessedness before their sin? Augustine argues that if they had equal knowledge and certainty with the holy angels, they would have remained blessed eternally. Since they fell, they must have lacked that full assurance.
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