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The City of God

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The City of God

By: Saint Aurelius Augustinus
Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
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Written between AD 413 and 426, The City of God is one of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, a book vital to understanding modern Western society. Augustine originally intended it to be an apology for Christianity against the accusation that the Church was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire. Indeed, Augustine produced a great amount of evidence to prove that paganism was responsible for this event. However, by the time the work was finished, the book had taken on a larger theme: a cosmic interpretation of history in terms of the conflict between good (the City of God) and evil (the Earthly City). Augustine foresees that, through the will of God, the people of the City of God will eventually win immortality, while those of the Earthly City will suffer destruction.

(P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Christianity History Philosophy Nonfiction
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Critic reviews

“The human mind can understand truth only by thinking, as is clear from Augustine.”

(Saint Thomas Aquinas)

“The City of God is a monumental theology of history…his analysis is timeless and universal.”

(Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, author)

“A Masterpiece of Western culture.”

(Merriam Webster Encyclopedia of Literature)

“[Augustine’s] arguments against utopianism and his defense of the richness of Christian culture remain useful and strong. City of God is, as its final words proclaim itself to be, ‘a giant of a book.’”

(Amazon.com, editorial review)
All stars
Most relevant
Excellent text, well translated. The reader was difficult to get used to, though, & audibly corrected himself & yawned a few times...

Fascinating, but with a tired reader

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On the book... A huge amount of it is broadly irrelevant to modern thought and can be taken as given, such as the arguments against polytheism, but they are interesting (to a degree) none the less. Some of his scientific claims are hilarious, but the argumentation is fascinating. If you've not read it and you just want a run through it's a good choice, but it's not the sort of thing you do for pleasure...
Reading is good, as Bernard Mayes sounds as bored as some of the scribes must have been at the time and captures Augustine's long winded and (I imagine) bumbling style. The recording occasionally repeats itself and none of the editors seem to have noticed, but I can't say I blame them...
It's one of those things you should read if you're going to comment on theology, just don't expect the audio equivalent of a page turner...

It's The City of God. Dull but necessary...

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