St. Augustine’s City of God and the Concept of Man as Image of God
Work Context: St. Augustine’s Writings
The work of St. Augustine comprises a vast collection of treatises, books, sermons, and letters. His significant titles include the autobiographical Confessions and Retractions, philosophical dialogues such as On the Happy Life, On the Immortality of the Soul, and On Free Choice of the Will; apologetic works like The City of God and On True Religion; dogmatic treatises such as On Faith and Works, On the Presence of God, and On the Trinity; moral and pastoral discussions like On the Good of Marriage; monastic rules; and exegetical commentaries on books of the Old and New Testament. He also engaged in controversies against Manichaeism and Pelagianism.
The City of God
His influential work, The City of God, written between 413 and 427 AD, addresses accusations made by pagans against Christians following the sack of Rome. They claimed that the Christian God had failed to protect the city. This complex work offers various interpretations and consists of 22 books divided into chapters, providing an interpretation of the historical evolution of humankind based on philosophical and theological ideas.
Structure of The City of God:
- Books 1-4: Arguments against polytheism.
- Books 5-10: Arguments against the inevitability of evil.
- Books 11-22: Exposition of Augustine’s own theory, not limited to refuting others.
- Books 11-14: Origins of the two cities.
- Books 15-18: Development of both cities.
- Books 19-22: Presentation of their corresponding purposes.
The City of God presents a conception of society and a reflection on history. For Christianity, history is the stage where God appears to man and the drama of salvation unfolds. From Seneca and Martial, the confrontation between paganism and Christianity, two cities and two societies, was prepared and matured. This is primarily because Christians rejected the imperial society in favor of their spiritual and invisible society of believers. The two societies do not correspond to Satan and God but exist amidst humanity.
St. Augustine characterizes the earthly city as inhabited by those who love themselves to the point of contempt for God. This city is imperfect due to the fall and is governed by laws given by men. In the City of God, men love God to the point of contempt for themselves. Its law is from God, and everything is perfection. However, the City of God is not just a philosophy of history but a theology of history. The perfect ruler for Augustine is the Christian ruler. The theocentrism characteristic of medieval philosophical systems is presented in a nuanced way. God and humanity are seen as the authors of the history of salvation.
Augustine concludes that the Church is a more perfect society than the state. The Christian state should be led by love, and the Church surpasses the state because it is a perfect society. The work of St. Augustine has been associated with Plato’s ideal Republic and that of Cicero. While Plato and Augustine share a pessimistic view of man and society, Cicero is optimistic because he believes man is altruistic. Plato addresses a society of philosophers, Cicero a society of citizens, and Augustine a society of saints.
Man as the Image of God: The Problem of Platonic Participation
The problem of Platonic participation is the multiplicity in unity. Based on an argument from the third century, it influenced Neoplatonism, where authors like Plotinus presented the solution of emanation. In this view, from the one God comes the soul, which is the intermediate reality between matter (the multiple) and God. This corresponds to pantheism, where “everything is God.”
According to St. Augustine’s Christianity, creation is ex nihilo, meaning God created from nothing material. Man is a special creature, created in God’s image and likeness. This contrasts with Greek thought, where matter is eternal (arche). Parmenides argued that “being is and cannot not be,” implying no change or motion. In contrast, in creation, God is a necessary being who cannot not be, while other creatures are contingent beings that could not be.
Exemplarism, inspired by Stoicism and Neoplatonism, takes the Platonic theory of the intelligible world and places it within a monotheistic framework. In Christianity, Plato’s ideas are in the mind of God, who creates the world using these ideas as examples. God created things instantaneously, acting as seeds that germinate in time, a concept borrowed from Stoicism.
Augustine believes all men are born with original sin and a tendency towards evil, a consequence of Adam’s disobedience at the beginning of time. According to Augustine, humanity can only be saved from this penalty through baptism, which forgives the original sin inherited by every man. Grace is a supernatural aid given by God to man to practice good and achieve blessedness. Only through divine grace can man return to his original position before the fall. Grace illuminates the understanding and provides faith. Without grace, man is incapable of fulfilling the law.
Free will is the ability to choose between good and evil. However, it is grace that produces true freedom, which can only be achieved through God’s assistance. Free will is the ability not to sin and not to be enslaved by sin. The ultimate power of grace is demonstrated in Christ’s death on the cross, which grants freedom to all mankind.
The Trinity
Christianity believes in a Triune God, meaning God has a unique nature or essence but subsists in three persons from eternity. The first person is the Father, the second is the Son (God’s thought), and the third is the Holy Spirit (God’s love for his being and thought). This is a dogma, something that cannot be fully understood but is believed without condemnation.
The three persons of the Trinity correspond to human psychic powers: memory (I am), intelligence (I know), and will (I love). This suggests an image of God in man. However, this image is not known through physical senses or internal sensitivity (imagination and sensory memory) but through the inner sense or self, illuminated by divine light.
Skeptics (Academics) believe that no truth can be known for sure and that we are always deceived. According to St. Augustine, even if I am mistaken, the fact that I am mistaken (comparable to Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum”) proves that I exist, and I know that I exist.