AUGUSTINE AND

EARLY CHRISTIANITY
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
• Rome turned into a monarchy from traditional republicanism.
• The power of people and the senate was transferred to Augustus (Octavius
Caesar) the first emperor of the Roman Empire (27BC-14)
• Roman Empire from 180 when Commodus became emperor to 476 when the
last emperor was deposed a period of violence and injustice.
• Three centuries after Marcus Aurelius were a time of decline and
destruction.
• A state increasingly becoming autocratic; increasing taxation to support the empire;
raising money by debasing the coinage; continual civil war; establishment of private
armies.
• Between 284-337, all pretenses of constitutional polity were abandoned;
the will of the emperor became unquestionable; the idea of Roman
citizenship disappeared, they remained subjects.
• Reforms for the centralization of the administration. The Empire was divided
into two as Eastern and Western Roman Empires under two emperors (395).
• Reorganization of the army the military was entirely separated from
politics; they were employees of the emperor (professional army).
• Economic reforms  Taxation system was revised; each political unit was
held responsible for a certain amount of taxes.
• If there was deficit, the councilors had to pay to meet the quotas.
• Hereditary system  children of councilors had to be councilors children of
farmers were bound to the land to be farmers too. The same for others
(tradesmen and artisans)
• These measures made the situation worse.
RISE OF CHRISTIANITY
• Decline of the political, economic, and social life in the Empire was also
paralleled with a decline in the quality and quantity of cultural activities.
• Mystery cults important rivals to the old religion.
• They were oriented around the concept of a world other than this one.
• They were intensely personal, no reference to society or state.
• Belief in savior-God.

• Neoplatonism
• Plotinus  3rd century teacher of Neoplatonism; influenced Augustine and many
medieval thinkers.
• Various degrees of reality  at the very top, fully real and wholly unconditioned
and unknowable ‘The One.’ It is beyond being.
• The nature was a shadowy realm far removed from the source of being, the One.
• The One cannot be described in human terms or comprehended by human reason.
 • The One  source of everything; any reality is a part of it. It is in everything.
• The individual achieves his salvation by ascending various metaphysical levels; going
from the material world through the world of soul and divine  final ecstasy of
reunion with the One.
• Judaism: another Eastern religion that came within the boundaries of the Roman
Empire.
• Not very influential it was too nationalistic (Jewish society); it offered neither
personal salvation nor immortality; it was not philosophical enough to appeal to the
Greeks.

• Teachings of Jesus and a small group of Jewish followers  were interpreted to offer
individuals regardless of nationality and Jesus was portrayed as a person in some sense
divine who had victory over death.
• It was able to successfully compete with mystery cults throughout the Roman
Empire.
• Its spread was not rapid in the first two centuries. Early Christians were
generally unpopular; they refused to participate in the worship of the emperor,
they were monotheist.
• Christianity was outlawed because of its opposition to emperor-worshipping.
• The early church at first attracted the poor and uneducated. Early Christians
were allowed to live in peace as long as they did not openly subvert the
government.
• To subvert the government was not their intention. They had no interest in
positive political activity. They wished to be left alone, uninvolvement was
their goal.
• There was no systematic persecution of Christians until 250. In 313, Christianity
was officially tolerated by Emperor Constantine.
 • The population of Christians was about one-tenth in the Empire.
• Christianity experienced the greatest growth after 313.
• 4th century the belief that the Roman authority was divinely ordained by
the Christian God to rule the world and last forever.

To what extent could the church now maintain its traditional stance of
aloofness toward the political order?
The Theology of St. Augustine
• He is the first great theologian in the Christian tradition.
• He was born in 354 in North Africa. He was born to a Christian mother, but he
accepted Christianity at the age of 34.
• In 391, he became a priest.
• His most important books are Confessions and the City of God.
• God is the absolute real.
• If anything at all exists, something must necessarily exist (God)
• He is eternal, always existed and will exist, nothing threatens his existence.
• He is immutable; he’s perfect, no reason to change him and there is nothing
outside him which can change him.
• He is omnipotence; he has power over anything. God created the world out of
nothing.
• Great contrast between God’s perfectness and the world he created.
• Famines, earthquakes, floods, etc.
• Man is doomed to pain and suffering.
• He is morally corrupted he necessarily sins. He is attracted by the needs of
the body instead of demands of the soul.
• Augustine expected that suffering and and sin will increase as the world moved toward
the Last Judgment.
• The start of sin  Adam (in the garden of Eden).
• We as descendants of Adam, we are doomed to sin.
• God has mercy. He will save some of his creatures. He will restore the souls of
those whom he has singled out for the city of God.
Two Cities
• Fundamental distinction btw two invisible realms or kingdoms: heavenly city and
the earthly city.
• Heavenly city (City of God)
• Inhabitants are those who served God.
• Invisible membership, only God knows who are the members of this city. But
there are some signs of citizenship of a higher kingdom.
• There is absolute justice.
• Citizens seek infinite peace, which is never approached in worldly matters.
• They have their ultimate home in heaven.
• The ordeals of earthly existence cannot touch their soul. They accept disasters as
punishments for sins or as tests for their faith.
• They do not take anything of the world seriously.
 • Earthly City (City of Satan)
• Inhabitants are those souls who serve Satan.
• It is the world itself. Man seek satisfaction of the physical or intellectual pleasures this
world can afford. He is ambitious.
• It has visible membership. Souls of this world.
• The peace, success, security they seek are nor ultimate.
• They seek power, revenge, glory, money, flesh.
• They invest in their own corruption.
The church and the state
• The individual must be a member of the church in order to be saved.
• The church is the visible embodiment of the city of God. It spells out and
interprets the articles of faith, preserves the man for the eternal life with God.
• The state is the means by which men exercise dominance over each other 
imitation of God.
• Men no longer live in their fallen condition. They are subjected to government and it
is a punishment for sin.
• Power is usually in the hands of those who seek it and those who belong to
the earthly city.
• Not much can be expected from an institution by fallen men.
• Augustine taught disobedience to government when it commands actions
which Christian conscience cannot forgive.
• The Christian is subjected to a higher authority and he will obey the lower
ones only when there is no conflict between them. Christians’ heavenly
citizenship is more important than anything else.
• Passive disobedience; never revolution.
• Government is part of the divine plan, it must be respected; it is punishment for
the sins.
• Property, slavery are not in accordance with natural or divine law. They resulted
from the fall of man. They are also part of God’s plan.
• Tyranny, injustice, and slavery are all evil. But it is the man who brought them by
his sins.
• Obey the government! It is a blessing in disguise!
• Good Christian does not expect to find an easy life in the earthly city. A Christian
may be a slave but it does not bother him. He may not be free of his master, but
he may be free of sin and may have a higher position in the true kingdom.
• Government is not only a punishment it is also a remedy.
• It brings order and comfort to lives of all. It makes people more compliant.  once
again, God has brought good out of evil.

• It is also quite possible that the value of government may be even greater. The ruler
may be Christian.