Augustinian political theory revolves around The
Two Cities: the City of God—or transcendent heavenly
kingdom—and the City of Man—or all earthly govern-
ments (regardless of kind). The City of God is that eter-
nal realm ruled directly by God of perfect JUSTICE,
perfect peace, and perfect love. The City of Man is all
earthly states characterized by imperfect justice, imper-
fect peace, and incomplete love. Because of humanity’s
sinful nature, worldly governments will always be
marked by corruption, greed, and lust for power; its
values are ever wealth, domination, and prestige—
emerging from human sin and pride. The city of God is
marked by humility, poverty, lowliness, and love, as
exemplified by Christ. Sometimes, Augustine refers to
the City of Man as Babylon or Rome, and The City of
God as Jerusalem. Another way of defining these two
realms is by their respective loves: the love of
humankind (or HUMANISM) versus the love of God.
So Augustinian Christian political theory breaks
with classical Greek and Roman thought in refusing to
have confidence in anyearthy regime, party, leader, or
cause. All worldly attempts at reform are doomed by
human self-righteousness and pride; only faith in God
through Jesus Christ is satisfying. Because Jesus said
“the kingdom of God is within you”—indwelling
believers through the Holy Spirit—Christians reside in
both Kingdoms or Cities. Since the Resurrection of
Christ, the faithful live in the City of God, even on
earth, spiritually, while still living in the City of Man
temporarily. This “dual citizenship” of Christians
requires them to be obedient to rulers but to regard
God as their only true king and to see life on earth as a
transient pilgrimage preparing them for eternal life in
heaven.
The church connects the Two Cities and resides in
each: It has buildings and ministers and schools on
earth, but its true home is with God in heaven. It rep-
resents God on earth as the Holy Spirit lives within the
church and proclaims the truth of God’s love and for-
giveness through Christ to the world. The church, “the
body of Christ,” like Jesus when he walked the earth,
is “in, but not of” the world: It resides and works in
the world but adheres to heavenly values of humility,
meekness, love, and forgiveness. For Augustine, the
church must avoid the two temptations of (1) being
totally inthe world and corrupted by worldly power,
wealth, and prestige; and (2) being wholly outsidethe
world in purely mystical, spiritual contemplation. The
church is to urge the government to grow closer to
God’s perfect justice and peace without ever expecting
it to succeed by worldly reforms. Only when Christ
returns to rule directly will perfect justice and peace
reign in the world. Earthly political programs or move-
ments that promise perfection (like COMMUNISM) are a
deception because sinful humans can never completely
overcome their greed, selfishness, and oppression. Like
the slogan on U.S. coins, Augustine believed only “In
God We Trust.” Christians should work on their inter-
nal, spiritual perfection more than external, social per-
fection.
In his life as a bishop of the Catholic Church, St.
Augustine practiced what he preached. Although no
earthly government could ever be perfect, he encour-
aged Christians to serve in the government to achieve
the best possible state. Although such a Christian state
would never be the City of God, it would receive the
church’s counsel and become better. Bishop Augustine
frequently wrote to secular Roman rulers imploring
them to rule more justly and mercifully, seeing their
political careers as divine callings to be required as
given by God, in God’s service, and accountable to
God on Judgment Day. John Calvin got his idea of the
magistracy being a divine calling and “ministry” from
St. Augustine.
For example, Augustine as a bishop once wrote to a
Roman governor asking for leniency for some con-
victed murderers who had killed some Catholic
priests, appealing to Christ’s dictum of “not returning
evil for evil.” The Western church has continued this
role of advising, rebuking, and encouraging the state,
as in the American Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letters
on nuclear war or economic policy. In the PURITANtra-
dition in America, this took an even more direct form,
as the meeting house served for both public worship
and public meetings, and ministers often advised the
government.
From this perspective, St. Augustine developed a
theory of the hierarchy of authority. The most basic
authority, ordained of God, is parents, then local offi-
cials, then regional officials then national officials,
then the church, and finally God. If a person receives
conflicting orders from two authorities, that person,
for Augustine, should obey the higher authority. So, if
the government orders a citizen to do something con-
trary to God’s law and will (such as mass murder), he
should disobey the state and be obedient to God. This
may cause Christians to be persecuted by the govern-
ment (as they were in pagan Rome when they refused
to worship emperors), but martyrdom guarantees
heavenly glory. This idea of a higher law above theAugustine, St. 23