Augustine’s philosophy of history describes a process that affects the entire human race. It is a universal history made up of a series of successive events that advance towards an end through divine providence.
He also describes the different moments of history: first, creation, followed by the fall caused by original sin, in which the devil introduces degradation into the world: God offers paradise, but the individual chooses to misuse his freedom by disobeying him. This is followed by the announcement of revelation, and the incarnation of the son of God. The last stage is achieved by the redemption of the individual by the Church, which is the sixth of the ages of the human being.
Unlike the cyclical conception of time and history characteristic of Greek philosophy, Augustine bases his representation of history on a literal, progressive and finalistic conception of time. History has had a beginning and will end at the Final Judgement, and is divided into six ages, inspired by the six days that God used to carry out the creation: the Six Ages of the World, delimited by the creation of the world, the universal flood, the life of Abraham, the reign of David (or the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Solomon), the captivity in Babylon and, finally, the birth of Christ, which inaugurates the sixth age. This last one continues until the second coming of the Messiah to judge men at the end of time. Humanity has begun a new stage, in which the Messiah has come, and has given the hope of resurrection: with Christ, the old human ends, and spiritual renewal begins in the new human. The consummation of history would be to reach the end without end: eternal life, in which peace will reign, and there will be no more fighting. No one will rule over anyone else, and internal struggles will end. His thesis is that since the coming of Christ we have been living in the last age, but only God knows its duration.
St. Augustine tries to show that human freedom must be reconciled with the intervention of God, who does not coerce the individual, but helps him. The action of the individual is exercised freely, framing individual morality within a community morality. The historical process of the human being can be explained by the dialectical struggle, the conflict, between the two cities of the world, which will eventually reach harmony.
Augustine taught that the sin of Adam and Eve was an act of folly followed by pride and disobedience to God. The first couple disobeyed God, who had told them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 2:17). The tree was a symbol of the order of creation. Self-centeredness caused Adam and Eve to eat from it, so they did not recognize or respect the world as it was created by God, with its hierarchy of beings and values.
They would not have fallen into pride and unwisdom, had not Satan sown in their senses “the root of evil.” Their nature was wounded by concupiscence or libido, which affected human intelligence and will, as well as affections and desires, including sexual desire. Augustine used Cicero’s Stoic concept of the passions to interpret Paul’s doctrine of original sin and redemption.
Some authors perceive Augustine’s doctrine as directed against human sexuality and attribute his insistence on continence and devotion to God as a result of Augustine’s need to reject his own highly sensual nature as described in the Confessions. Augustine stated that “for many, abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.”
His system of grace and predestination prevailed for many centuries, though not without strong opposition, and underwent, through scholastic elaboration, substantial changes to save free will; and finally reappeared in the conception of spiritual life modeled by Luther and the other teachers of the Reformation.
“Where there is no true justice there can be no people according to Cicero’s definition.” The City of God.
The City of God is one of Augustine’s most important books. It is primarily a theological work but also one of profound philosophy. The first part of the book seeks to refute pagan accusations that the Church and Christianity were to blame for the decline of the Roman Empire and more particularly for the sack of Rome. It predicts the triumph of a Christian state supported by the Church and defends the theory that history has meaning, that is, that there is divine Providence for nations and for individuals.
As the book progresses, it becomes a vast cosmic drama of creation, fall, revelation, incarnation and eternal destiny. According to Augustine, views of class and nationality were trivial compared to the classification that really matters: whether one belongs to the “people of God.”
From creation, the “earthly city” (Civitas terrea), turned toward selfishness, coexists in history; and the “city of God” (Civitas Dei), which is realized in the love of God and the practice of virtues, especially charity and justice. Neither Rome nor any State is a divine or eternal reality, and if it does not seek justice it becomes a great robbery. The city of God, which is not identified with the Church of the present world, is the goal towards which humanity is heading and is destined for the just.
The Augustinian division into two cities (and two citizenships) will have a decisive influence on the history of the medieval West, marked by what has been called “political Augustinianism.” The Christian who feels called to be an inhabitant of the city of God and who orders his life in accordance with the love of God cannot avoid being at the same time a citizen of a specific people. Whatever this people may be, it will never be able to fully identify itself with the ideal city of God, which is why the Christian will remain structurally divided between two citizenships: one of a strictly political character, which is the one that links him to a specific city or state; and another that cannot but be partially political, but which is also largely spiritual.
« True justice does not exist except in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ ».
The theory of the two cities sets out how the Christian must live: he must keep his sights set on the ultimate goal of full heavenly citizenship, but without forgetting, at the same time, to give meaning to his passage through this earthly life, since history does not seem to have to come to an immediate end.
Theologically, The City of God is a very important work according to its vision of the history of salvation and for having given body to the key doctrines of Christianity such as creation, original sin, the grace of God, resurrection, heaven and hell.
Philosophically, by showing how philosophy serves as a value for constructing an exhaustive vision of Christianity, as well as by providing a general framework within which most of the political philosophy in the Christian West was done with a utopian vision,[35] so that it influenced Christian writers such as Bossuet, Fénelon, De Maistre, Donoso Cortés etc. had fallen into his power, because when the king asked him why he infested the sea, the pirate answered with bold freedom: for the same reason Augustinian Theodicy.
