city of god · augustine

Augustine of Hippo wrote City of God between 413 and 426, after the sack of Rome, to answer the charge that Christianity had weakened the empire. In twenty-two books it dismantles pagan religion and philosophy and sets out the whole of history as the story of two cities, one built on love of self and one on love of God, that will be separated only at the end.

Augustine of Hippo, City of God, translated by Henry Bettenson (Penguin Books, 2004). Read over three sessions, Freshman Spring at Torrey Honors: Books I, V and VIII; Books XI, XII, XIV and XV.1-8; Books XIX, XXI and XXII.