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Augustine's City of God : A Reader's Guide

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O Daly's masterful survey of Augustine's colossal work, the City of God, is in itself the foremost study of its kind, covering as it does the twenty-two books of the City of God, with a fine cornucopia of scholarly and insightful analyses, summaries and sweeping commentary. Principle themes to the City of God are highlighted and the profound wealth of philosophical, theological, historical, biblical and apocalyptic thought inherent to the text is elucidated and discussed in a terse, clear-cut fashion [also illuminated is the contextual setting and the cultural and literary stimuli which led to the City of God's composition]. Therefore, this reader's guide is not only the most scholarly treatment on the City of God available, but it is also the best and most accommodating means of approaching this most extraordinary text. In a word, Gerard O' Daly has given us the ultimate companion to Bishop Augustine's City of God; and this volume should be standard reading in institutions where the City of God is studied; also, it should go hand-in-hand with any full-scale research conducted upon the text. [See also O Daly's work, The Poetry of Boethius, which is an artful critique on the poetry found in Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy.]

Snide Christian smears begin on the very first page of this book and remain loud, clear and persistent throughout.

O'Daly discusses the persecution of Christians before Constantine with an amazing absence of adjectives; only after Christianity is no longer persecuted does the author find his full voice, characterizing the treatment of pagans as 'hostile' and 'virulent' (we learn that Gratian refused the title of pontifex maximus and stopped government subsidies of paganism - oh, the humanity.)

We also find out from O'Daly that in the year 312, Christianity has no 'organized leader' - conveniently ignoring evidence of the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome from numerous sources of the Early Church. O'Daly asserts (without citation) that in the time of Constantine, Christians used government, 'though indirectly', to their own ends: so after suffering for three centuries at the hands of the empire, Christians are now guilty of trying to influence the government which finally has given them a sympathetic ear - as if they were the first and last constituency to ever lobby on their own behalf.

What academic work about this period would be complete without the over-worn anti-Catholic flabbergast over Constantine's conversion? The same academics that love to reconstruct whole civilizations from a single terra-cotta water pot find Constantine's conversion 'puzzling': why would *anyone* want to be a Christian? Modern scholars just can't figure that one out. The idea that he had a vision and that subsequent events led him to a sincere conversion of heart - as all the evidence points to - doesn't cut it for these types.

Next a truly nasty charge is hurled at the foundations of the Catholic Church, and a good many Protestant Churches: Constantine's presence at the Council of Nicaea gave it an 'aura of orthodoxy' though its views were not 'universally accepted.' So forget all that "I believe" stuff, Catholics. You've been hoodwinked by 1700 year-old political maneuvering. Orthodoxy, according to O'Daly's calculus, is based not on revealed Truth, but popular vote.

Rich senators and influential land owners who saw their power leaking away to the Church tried to prop-up paganism and blame Christianity for the fall of Rome. O'Daly takes a definite side, and you've got one guess which way the modernist academic shades. Typical ivory tower blather and revisionism citing hundreds of previous anti-Catholic academics to give it - how does he put in the book? Oh, yeah, an 'aura' of historicity.

Finally, we find out that St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Alexandria are rabid anti-Semites - so much so that when Christians are murdered at the hands of Jews, O'Daly lays the blame on the Christians - not the Jewish murderers. Then the reader reaches page 7. Yep, all of the above is in the first 6 pages. But the reader can turn to any page and within a paragraph or two, nasty, virulent Christians can be found brutally attacking innocent down-to-earth pagans.

Save your money and take a pass on this book. You don't need this anti-Catholic academic as a guide - you can prepare fairly well to appreciate The City of God on your own. First, steep yourself in The Bible. Then read The Confessions, a good history of Rome and a history of it's fall.

Next, read the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and some good histories on the Early Church like Julian the Apostate, The Age of Martyrs, The Christian Centuries, and Warren Carroll's great History Of Christendom.

You will not be as learned as a college professor, and it will take more time to prepare this way, but the reward is that you won't have a liberal, anti-Catholic know-it-all blathering in your ear during what is already a challenging trip through the thought of one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church.