Session 1 - Who is St Augustine? When did he write the City of God? And Why?
[The handouts for this session are below.]
Listen online [here]!
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Adult Faith Formation Series:
The City of God, by St Augustine of Hypo
“Glorious things are said of thee, o City of God!”
(Psalm 86:3)
St
Augustine is the greatest thinker of the early Church. Unrivaled in his
theological insights, the bishop of the small diocese of Hypo in northern
Africa is without a doubt the most influential theologian of the first thousand
years of the Church. His greatest work, The City of God, is a
masterpiece of Christian apologetics (defense of the faith) and biblical
commentary.
However,
many are intimidated by The City of God due to its length and the
breadth of study, which ranges from ancient history and mythology to a theology
of history and biblical commentary. In
this series, Father Ryan will highlight the most important portions of the
book, and guide you through it in a way that will be easily followed and
understandable. We will spend at least sixteen sessions considering this book,
but all will be posted online, and it will not be necessary to attend every
session in order to benefit from the series.
In this
series, which will continue on and off over the next six months, we will discuss
a wide range of topics and questions such as:
If God
knows everything, even the future, how can our actions be truly free? Did God
really create the world in six twenty-four-hour days? Was there a time before
the creation of the world? Did people before the flood really live to be more
than 300 years old? Just how many animals did Noah bring on the ark? Do we have
to believe that every kind of land animal was preserved through the ark?
Writing
after the fall of Rome and destruction of that City, St Augustine seeks to give
hope to the Christian world as he leads us through the books of the Old
Testament to the coming of the Messiah.
Whether
you want to read the entire book, or simply read the sections that Father Ryan
highlights, or even if you don’t plan to read any of it but only want to
receive an overview of St Augustine’s work – this series will be easily adapted
to suit your interests!
Schedule
of Classes, meeting on Tuesdays at 7 PM to 8 PM:
Introduction
to The City of God
July 2nd, Who is St Augustine? When did he write The
City of God, and why?
July 9th, St Augustine’s theology and his influence on
the Catholic Faith
July 23rd,
Overview of the book, suggestions on how to read The City of God
July 30th,
Key concepts of St Augustine’s theology of history and reply to pagan worship
(Books I-X)
Key
Concepts of Books I – X
August 27th,
St Augustine’s argument that the pagan gods are actually demons
September
3rd, Why do bad things happen to good people, and good things to bad
people?
September
10th, Divine Providence: How can God know the future if man is truly
free?
Through
the nine Tuesdays of October and November, and possibly into December, we will
study the second part of The City of God (Books XI-XXII). This is the
real heart of the work and we will study it much more slowly and in an in-depth
fashion. Here, St Augustine will discuss what the true City of God is,
and guide us through a commentary of the Bible.
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The City of God
By St Augustine of Hippo
Session 1, Introduction to St Augustine and his time
The gods of the nations are demons. (Ps 95)
Glorious things are said of thee, o City of God! (Ps
86)
Note on
schedule: Four introductory sessions in July. 1. Who is St Augustine? 2. St
Augustine’s theology. 3. Overview of The City of God. 4. Key concepts of
Books I-X. [subject to revision]
I. Why
read The City of God?
From
“Memoria Press” teacher guide for The City of God: “Few books receive
more than one printing. A fortunate few may receive a second printing, and an
even fewer number receive multiple reprints. The reason for this is simple:
most books have a life-span of a few years at best, finding an audience for a
time, until a lack of interest or irrelevancy pushes them out of print. Then
there is a small number of books that achieve the elite status of classic.
… timeless classics to be studied as long as mankind populates the earth. But
even among the classics there are a few authors whose literary greatness shapes
the very course of civilization. To such a class belongs Augustine. … To study
the City of God is to study the source of some of Western society’s greatest
and most cherished beliefs. This is the source that serves as the fountainhead
of all that followed, and it is unlikely that it will ever be equaled.”
II.
Who was St Augustine?
A.
13 November 354 -- Born in Tagaste, modern day Souk-Ahras in north east
Algeria, North Africa. A roman citizen. Father (Patricius) was a pagan, mother
(St Monica) was a devout Catholic who gained her husbands conversion on his
death bed. Augustine’s baptism was deferred out of a misplaced idea that it
would be better to be baptized after reaching adulthood so that the sins of
youth could be washed away. He received an excellent education in ancient
learning and excelled as a superior student (sent to Carthage, best school in
region). We know more about St Augustine than any other early Church figure,
because of his work Confessions in which he gives us the story of his
life.
B.
Became a Manichaean heretic, accepting a form of dualism – believing that a
good God made the soul and the spiritual world, but an evil god made the body
and material world. Also fell into many sins of the flesh, fathering a child
with his mistress with whom he lived out of wedlock for some fifteen
years. Monica remained fervent in prayer
for the conversion of her son.
C.
Tole, lege! Augustine’s conversion is gained in 386 and he is baptized in 387.
Monica lived to see her son and grandson baptized, but died (387) before
Augustine was ordained a priest (391) and bishop (396) – he served in Hippo for
thirty-four years until his death (28 August 430). Hippo Regius is modern day
Annaba (north eastern Algeria).
D.
St Augustine died in the midst of a siege against the city of Hippo. The city
fell to the Vandals which led to much suffering and a revival of Arianism in
the city.
E.
As bishop, wrote against Manichaeism, against Donatism, against Pelagianism,
and against Arianism. Hippo is a small, out of the way Diocese, but St Augustine
was the most important theologian of the early Church!
III.
The historical context of the Fathers of the Church. Patristics, from pater
“father”
A.
Who are the “Fathers of the Church”? The
greatest saint theologians of the early Church. They must qualify in certain
respects: Orthodoxy of teaching, holiness of life, and antiquity –
additionally, cited as an authority by the Church herself and by other Fathers,
Councils, Popes, etc.
B.
Some famous Fathers include: Sts Ignatius, Irenaeus, Justin, Cyprian, Jerome,
Augustine, John Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil the Great, etc.
C.
The universal agreement of the Fathers holds great authority and is a sure
guide in the interpretation of Scripture and witness of doctrine.
D.
This early age of the Church was a unique time: The formation of the Canon of
Scripture, of the Creeds, of the Liturgy, of norms of Church life and
administration (the primacy of Rome, the calling of Ecumenical Councils, etc).
IV. The
Fall of Rome, AD 410 - “The City which had taken the world was herself taken.”
A. We can
scarcely understand how devastating the fall of Rome to the outwardly Christian
Visigoth King Aleric was. First time in 800 years, the sack of Rome stood for
the end of the age of the ancient world. “The womb of the world had become her
tomb.”
B. St
Augustine and St Jerome as well as many other contemporary writers comment on
the destruction of the City with much dismay. It is clear that this event
rocked the Christian world as well as the pagan – the unthinkable had happened,
and a sadness fills the world.
C. Yet,
in the sacking of the City, a wonderful mercy was shown: The soldiers granted
sanctuary to both Christians and pagans who fled to the Catholic churches! And
many who called on the name of Christ were spared death, and worse!
D. The
sack of Rome is the historical event which inspired St Augustine to write of
the city of men which will pass away and the City of God which endures forever.
V. Brief
notes and suggestions on reading The City of God
A. Size
of the work: The work is made up of 22 books, each consisting of about 30
chapters (up to even 54 chapters) which are generally about one or two pages
long. Thus, the total work (in our “Modern Library” edition) is nearly 900
pages.
B.
General Outline:
Part I,
Books 1-10. A defense of Christianity and a polemical critique of pagan
religion (Books 1-5, against pagan religion; Books 6-10, against pagan
philosophy).
Part II,
Books 11-22. The City of God traced from Genesis to Revelation, and the Final
Judgment (Books 11-14, the Creation and the Fall; Books 15-18, Old Testament
prophecies about Jesus and his testimony about Himself in the Gospels; Books
19-22, The Final Judgement).
We can
approach these two parts (Books I-X and XI-XXII) almost as two distinct works.
We will focus much more intensely upon the second part of the work, in which St
Augustine presents the Catholic view of Scripture and of human history.
C.
Recommended chapters for special focus, from Books I-X
Book I:
Chapters 1-14, 35-36
Book II:
Chapters 2-14
Book III:
Chapters 1, 31-32
Book IV:
Chapters 1-3, 18-34
Book V:
Chapters 1-11
Book VI:
Chapter 12
Book VII:
Chapter 30-33
Book
VIII: Chapter 27
Book IX:
Chapters 14-23
Book X:
Chapters 4-20
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