Catholic Thought discussion

Summary

Subchapters
- Cain and Abel, the Earthly City and the Heavenly City
- Israel: the Earthly Image of the Heavenly City
- The Earthly City and the Heavenly City, Born of Nature and Born of Grace
- The Goods of the Earthly City and the Conflicts to Which They Give Rise
- Conflict between the Two Cities: the Flesh and the Spirit
- Cain’s Sacrifice and its Rejection
- The Presentation of the Two Cities in the Lines of Descent from Cain and Seth
- The Long Lives of the Ancients
- The Numerical Discrepancies between the Greek and Hebrew Versions
- The Issue of Sexual Maturity and the Lines of Descent
- The Issue of Polygamy and Kinship Relations
- The Lines of Descent from Cain and Seth down to the Flood
- The Two Cities as Represented in the Two Lines of Descent
- The Intermingling of the Two Cities: the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men
- The Flood, Noah, and the Ark
- The Flood: History and Allegory

Book XV takes up the formation of the two cities, starting with Cain, Abel, and Seth, the children of Adam and Eve. Cain represents the City of Man who murders his brother Abel, who represents the City of God. But the City of God is then taken up by the third brother, Seth, whose lineage leads down to Noah. Augustine seems to get sidetracked with a discussion on the line of descent from Seth, noting that the life expectancy for those early generations was much longer than that of his contemporaries. Augustine feels that the number of generations from Seth to Noah is significant in that it reflects God’s perfect numbering, revealing that Noah and his family were part of the City of God. Augustine seems to justify God’s destruction of the City of Man with Noah and his family being saved. The salvation of Noah and his family through the wood of the ship, Augustine argues, is a prefiguring of the salvation Christ brings through the wood of the cross.

It’s interesting how Augustine identifies Cain with the city of man and Abel and then Seth as with the city of God. Once he establishes the two cities, then he provides what I think is the theme of his entire tome:

Here, then, we have the two cities set before us, the one existing in the reality of this world, the other in the hope of God. They came forth, as it were, from the common door of mortality, which was opened in Adam, to pursue and complete their respective courses to their own distinct and destined ends. Then begins the chronological enumeration in which, after a recapitulation from Adam, the other generations are added, and from this condemned beginning in Adam, as from one lump consigned to a deserved condemnation,[110] God makes some vessels of wrath for dishonor and some vessels of mercy for honor.[111] To the former he renders what they deserve by way of punishment, and to the latter he grants what they do not deserve by way of grace.[112] And he does this so that, by this very comparison with the vessels of wrath, the heavenly city on pilgrimage here on earth may learn not to put its trust in its own freedom of will but rather may hope to call upon the name of the Lord God. For, although man’s nature was made good by God, who is good, it was also made mutable by God, who is immutable, because it was made out of nothing, and so the will in that nature can both turn away from the good to do evil, which happens by free choice, and turn away from the evil to do good, which does not happen without God’s help.

What’s also interesting in that passage is how Augustine identifies man’s free choice. There are a number of Calvinist Protestants that like Augustine because they seem to think supports a pre-destination outlook, and therefore man would have no free will, just as some of the original Calvinists maintained. But look carefully at that last sentence: “For, although man’s nature was made good by God, who is good, it was also made mutable by God, who is immutable, because it was made out of nothing, and so the will in that nature can both turn away from the good to do evil, which happens by free choice, and turn away from the evil to do good, which does not happen without God’s help.” He clearly stipulates that man has free choice.

Also notice how he repudiates Luther’s concept of man’s total depravity: “Mans nature was made good by God,” but it was also made mutable, and so he sins. Man can be both good and sinful. But it is not totally depraved.

Excellent, Manny.

St. Augustine tells the history of the world as the Christian Bible tells it. His history is quite complete and tells us where we are in the world. As an “Argument” note to my edition explains, St. Augustine writes about the growth and progress of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly in the next four books (XV-XVIII). He tells the story of the world as the Christian Bible gives it. Book XV explains the events from Genesis, Cain and Abel to Noah and the flood. As he goes through the crucial events of the Bible he is explaining how to read them—how to understand the theological concept exemplified by the event. The Cain and Abel story illustrates both Canin’s domination over his brother driven probably by pride and is shows also Cain’s improper attitude with his sacrifice and why God rejected it. St. Augustine describes Cain’s inappropriate mindset with God as “means of purchasing God’s help, not in healing (his) base desires, but in fulfilling them. And this is the way of the earthly city—to worship a god or gods so that, with their aid, that city may reign in victory and earthly peace, not by the council of charity, but with lust for mastery.”

Cain should have taken a lesson from his brother and not succumb to lust for domination over him. St. Augustine: “A man will have the mastery of his sin if he does not place if over himself by defending it, but makes it subject to himself by repenting of it. Otherwise, he will indeed be its slave and it will have mastery over him if he lends it his protection when it rises.”

If you look at chapters four and five of Genesis, you can see clearly there are two family lines put forth, that of Cain and that of Seth. I think Augustine is spot on to regard the family line of Cain as being of the City of Man and that of Seth of being of the City of God.