274 AUGUSTINE
Of Augustine’s many other works,The City of Godis by far the most influen-
tial. During the fourth century, Christianity had become the state religion of the
Roman Empire; in 410, Rome fell to the Visigoths, and the eternal city was
sacked for the first time. Naturally, many considered the sack of Rome a punish-
ment for the betrayal of the old Roman religion. Augustine wrote The City of God
to answer this charge and in so doing he developed yet another first: the first
Western philosophy of history. Rather than a cycle of repeated events, Augustine
described history as being linear—from creation to consummation and final judg-
ment. As history moves from beginning to end, we can observe two cities: the
City of God, consisting of those who love God; and the City of Man, those who
love self rather than God. The first selection, from Book XI, presents Augustine’s
final argument against the skeptics. Augustine’s insistence that he knowshe exists
anticipates Descartes’s argument twelve centuries later.
The second selection, from Book XII, explains the origin of evil and of the City
of Man. Augustine begins by insisting, against the Manichaeans, that there is no
being capable of opposing God: God is all-powerful. But, despite the presence of
evil, God is also all-good and everything God created is good. Evil arises when a
moral agent (angel or human) wills to love a lesser good (self) rather than the high-
est good (God). There is no evil “thing” to choose—there is only evil choosing.
This leads to the question of what caused the will to choose evilly—a question
Augustine says cannot be answered. Both selections have been ably translated by
Gerald G. Walsh, Daniel J. Honan, and Grace Monahan.
Augustine’s impact has been enormous. Medieval Catholic philosophers, such
as Anselm and Thomas Aquinas, as well as Protestant reformers, such as Martin
Luther and John Calvin, wanted to be Augustine’s heirs. Many contemporary
Christian thinkers still appeal to Augustine’s ideas, such as his defense of grace and
his explanation of evil. But Augustine’s influence has not been limited to theolo-
gians and philosophers of religion. Ludwig Wittgenstein began his Philosophical
Investigationsby examining Augustine’s theory of language, and Bertrand Russell
claimed Augustine’s theory of time superior even to that of Kant. Echoes of
Augustine’s understanding of history as the unfolding of divine purpose can be
heard in the writings of Hegel, whereas Augustine’s idea that some kind of faith
must precede fruitful understanding has been adapted by thinkers in such fields as
the sociology of knowledge and philosophy of science.
The best general account of Augustine’s philosophy remains Étienne Gilson,The
Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine,translated by L.E.M. Lynch (New York:
Random House, 1960); Peter Brown,Augustine of Hippo: A Biography(Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1967), provides an excellent biography. For brief
introductions to Augustine’s life and thought, see Henry Chadwick’s pair of books,
Augustineand Augustine: A Very Short Introduction(Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1986 and 2001). For more extensive discussions of Augustine’s thought, see
Robert E. Meagher,An Introduction to Augustine(New York: New York University
Press, 1978); Christopher Kirwan,Augustine(London: Routledge, 1989); and
Benedict J. Groeschel,Augustine: Major Writings(New York: Crossroads, 1995).
J.N. Figgis,The Political Aspects of St. Augustine’sCity of God (London:
Longmans, Green, 1921); Ronald H. Nash,The Light of the Mind: St. Augustine’s
