Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide - Softcover

O'Daly, Gerard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199270813 ISBN 13: 9780199270811

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 2004

Synopsis

Augustine's City of God 'Augustine's City of God', written in the aftermath of the Gothic sack of Rome in AD 410, is one of the key works in the formation of Western culture. This book provides a detailed running commentary on the text, with chapters on the political, social, literary, and religious background. Full description

About this title

Review

Review from previous edition O'Daly's knowledge of Augustine bibliography is stunningly wide-ranging, always well-judged, and immensely helpful in guiding the reader to informed further research in any one of the multitude of themes and ideas which cluster together in the City of God. (Carol Harrison, Journal of Theological Studies)

O'Daly intends to provide a detailed yet accessible reading of Augstine's vast and complex masterpiece, directed at a wide group of readers who are not necessarily specialists. By taking up this task O'Daly fills indeed a gap in scholarship that was long overdue, and he is a scholar most apt for this task. (Karla F. L. Pollmann, Church History)

With its sober judgement based on expert knowledge and diligent scholarship, this guide will be an indispensable tool for everybody interested in the City. (Karla F. L. Pollmann, Church History)

Synopsis

The City of God is the most influential of Augustine's works, which played a decisive role in the formation of the Christian West. This book is the first comprehensive modern guide to it in any language. The City of God's scope embodies cosmology, psychology, political thought, anti-pagan polemic, Christian apologetic, theory of history, biblical interpretation, and apocalyptic themes. This book is, therefore, at once about a single masterpiece and at the same time surveys Augustine's developing views through the whole range of his thought. The book is written in the form of a detailed running commentary on each part of the work. Further chapters elucidate the early fifth-century political, social, historical, and literary background, the work's sources, and its place in Augustine's writings.The book should prove of value to Augustine's wide readership among students of late antiquity, theologians, philosophers, medievalists, Renaissance scholars, and historians of art and iconography.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0199270813
• ISBN 13: 9780199270811
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 338