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Sto caricando le informazioni... Commentary on Augustine City of God, Books 1-5di Gillian Clark
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He who claims to have written an exhaustive commentary on the City of God (civ.) is lying—or so we could roughly quote the famous words of Isidore of Seville. Twenty-two books—almost 1,000 pages in a recent translation—packed with oftentimes sage, sometimes strange remarks on almost any topic ranging from creation, sex and biology to fate and divination, history and politics, wonders, angels, and the afterlife; books for which, given their scope, the label “apologetic writing” proves to be a Procrustes bed. Therefore, it speaks to the honesty of Gillian Clark, emerita of the University of Bristol with a lifetime of scholarly engagement with Augustine and his times behind her, to clearly point out the limits of such an undertaking when presenting her own commentary on what Augustine himself called his “great and arduous work” (civ. 1 pr.). The present volume, the first of what hopefully will be a whole series, is dedicated to the Books 1–5, a disposition supported by Augustine himself in civ. as well as in his later Retractions. Less obvious is the way to engage with this massive text.
Augustine began City of God, De Civitate Dei, to answer complaints that Christians were to blame for the troubles of Rome and its empire because they would not sacrifice to the gods. In August 411 Alaric the Goth led barbarian warriors into the city. Refugees crossed to Africa, Augustine's homeland, where he was bishop of Hippo. This English-language commentary discusses Books 1-5, in which Augustine argued that Rome suffered worse disasters before Christianity was known; that empire depends on injustice; and that everything depends on the will of the true God, not on the many gods of Roman tradition. He had taught classical Latin literature and rhetoric, and used material and techniques which were familiar to educated Romans. He exploited authors they found authoritative: Sallust on Roman history, Cicero on Roman government, Virgil on Rome's imperial mission, the scholar Varro on Roman religious tradition. He discussed power and glory, pleasure and virtue; war and suicide, rape and celibacy; the purpose of suffering; fate and choice. He made a commitment to debate with philosophers on worshipping many gods for the sake of life after death, and to move from refuting false beliefs to expounding Christian teachings on the 'two cities'. The earthly city is the community of all who love themselves rather than God; the city of God is the community of all who love God rather than themselves. City of God took 22 books, which were influential--and often misunderstood--in later centuries. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)239.3Religions Christian doctrinal theology Apologetics + Evidences + Polemics Against the heathenClassificazione LCVotoMedia: Nessun voto.Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |