Augustine’s City of God

16 FEBRUARY 2026 · 47 MINUTES · RELIGION & POLITICAL THEOLOGY

Written after the sack of Rome, Augustine’s City of God asks whether any earthly political order can embody final justice or claim sacred permanence.

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Episode summary

Augustine rejected the accusation that Christianity had caused Rome’s decline and recast history around two communities formed by rival loves. The earthly city is marked by pride and domination; the city of God by love directed towards a justice no temporal regime can complete.

Jack Thomson and Samuel Woodall discuss Roman virtue, sin, providence and Augustine’s scepticism about political perfection. The book’s influence stretches through medieval political theology and later debates about sovereignty, authority and the moral limits of the state.

Questions explored

• How does Augustine answer pagan explanations for Rome’s fall?
• What distinguishes the earthly city from the city of God?
• Can political institutions achieve genuine justice in a fallen world?
• Why has Augustine’s rejection of political perfection remained influential?

Participants

• Samuel Woodall: intellectual historian and co-host of Beyond the Text.
• Jack Thomson: philosopher and co-host of Beyond the Text.

Sources and further reading

• Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans.
• Augustine, Confessions.
• R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St Augustine (1970).

A complete transcript is available from the original Buzzsprout episode page where provided.