“What was Augustine’s view of Christianity’s role in history?”
St Augustine taught many sermons on the important aspects of Christianity. He believed that all people should follow Christianity because it is the way to salvation. Augustine discussed two main parts in Christianity. He discussed the fact that there is the city of God, and the city of man. He said that the city of man was all people who lived on earth and that the city of God were people that lived on earth and worshiped god. He believed that the city of people would come and go, but the city of people would live for ever. A common misconception is that the cities that were talked about were heaven and Earth. This is not the case. The deeper and deeper you read, you will discover that these cities are groups of people. The and holy people, and the people who are not holy.
However, what has to be realized is that the city of man is all people who walk the earth. However city of god are faith people. A square can be a rectangle, but a rectangle cannot be a square. Augustine believed that all people who were part of the city of God should not become large in this world. They should not build temples, as they will be able to build bigger better castles and empires in the kingdom of heaven. An example he used was the fall of Rome. They tried to go large in this world, instead of waiting until heaven where it could be for ever, and because of that, Rome fell apart. Augustine believed that Rome was not part of the city of God, and therefore did not have god to protect it. Many people blamed Christians for Romes fall. They said that they turned Rome soft and mushy. However, Augustine defended Christianity stating that Rome would have stayed together if they had followed the words of God and Christ.
As can be seen, Augustine truly believed that God had an impact on everything that happens. He believed that without God, people just couldn’t survive. That is true in the world today. Without god in life, you are missing the biggest part of life. God and Jesus are life ans Salvation. He is the way to happiness and love. Augustine explains throughout his passages. Although, his passages are hard to understand at times. His examples and metaphors could be confusing to some. In fact, As I read his sermon, I had to reread some things quite a few times. However, I am glad I did. Rereading let understand the metaphors in different ways. They could be interpreted anyway imaginable.
Augustine knew that God was part of everything in life. He knew that Christianity was the biggest part of history. Most importantly, he knew that people needed to reject modernism and embrace God. He believed that modern life was nothing to God, and that God was the way to salvation. He believed that Life wasn’t life without God.
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