I’ve been slogging through City of God by St. Augustine. It’s a classic, but it must have been deemed so by theologians and church historians because it’s wearing me out. Some of it is due to my lack of historical knowledge – the first half of the book is a anti-Roman rant (Rant makes it seem so unreasonable. Maybe polemic would be better :) ). I don’t know enough Roman history to get the maximum value out of it. The second half is his development of biblical history/theology. It’s been interesting, but it could be a lot shorter. This book is pushing 900 pages. If I was focused, I could walk through each section.
I’m not.
So what I’ll do is make a post of quotes from the book that I thought helpful or provocative. If you’re an Augustinian scholar, you’ll be appalled. I’m no such scholar so any input in the comments from someone who actually knows something would be greatly appreciated!
For now, if you’re not familiar with St. Augustine of Hippo’s life, check out Wikipedia (I haven’t checked it for accuracy – not that I’m qualified anyway) or, if you have more time, read his autobiography, Confessions. When I first started blogging I believe I posted on a couple of choice morsels from Confessions.
Next week we’ll begin violating the context of City of God as I throw out some half-baked thoughts on some lines that grabbed me throughout the tome.
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