Description
A crumbling empire, failing institutions, an aggressive social climate, and a church insure about its future and anxious about the presence of God and the direction of history: this is the context in which St. Augustine wrote his massive The City of God. Retracing the Biblical narrative from creation to eschaton, and engaging topics as diverse as the origin of sin and evil, free will and divine omniscience, the role of states and governments, and the ultimate good and the end of history, Augustine wanted to offer a new direction to his contemporaries, but simultaneously developed a vision on the church and its place in history that throughout the centuries again and again in times of crisis has inspired theologians, philosophers, and politicians. This course introduces students to Augustine’s argument, tracing both its classic nature and its contemporary applications.