Augustine Attacks

So I’m up to book XI of City of God and here’s what I appreciate about it: Augustine is on the offensive. In a way, the whole book is a defensive reaction to the charge that Christianity caused the sacking of Rome; however, instead of wringing his hands over this charge for 600 pages, Augustine assails the failings of other religions and philosophies. No one escapes – Roman syncretists (popular and erudite), astrologers, Stoics, Epicureans and even Neoplatonists. It’s not that conflict is always good, but what I see in Augustine’s rhetorical pugilism is a refusal to give up the ground that matters most. He’s willing to give up the Christian claim on the Roman Empire but not its authority on what actually is – the truth.

Incidentally, Augustine is a great guide through Antique thought. He names his opponents and summarizes their views before delivering his blow, so the books thus far have been almost equally devoted to describing classical religion and thought as giving a Christian apology. That Augustine stands so squarely at the center of Christian tradition makes his judgments especially insightful and trustworthy. Here’s a nugget that must be useful in present-day discourse: “None of the other philosophers has come so close to us [Christians] as the Platonists have, and, therefore, we may neglect the others.”

Or, what about this one:

Natural theology cannot be discussed with men in the street but only with philosophers, that is, as the name implies, with lovers of wisdom [my note: that is "philo-sophia"]. Since divine truth and scripture clearly teach us that God, the Creator of all things, is Wisdom, a true philosopher will be a lover of God.

Ooooo ... Kapow!