The City of God

the most influential of Augustine of Hippo's works

De Civitate Dei, written in the aftermath of the

Goth's army sack of Rome in AD 410

has a wide-ranging score, embracing cosmology,

philosophy, psychology,  political thought, polemic,

Christian apologetics, theory of history, biblical

interpretation, and apocalyptic outlook.

Gerard O'Daly in Augustine's City of God (second

edition) Page 38 :

"Rather than seeing the City of God as

refutation of pagan objections to Christianity,

to be read directly by pagans, it is more in

keeping with what Augustine actually says

about his aims to think of the work's readers

as Christians or others closely concerned with

Christianity, who require fluent and convincing

rebuttal of pagan views, both for their own

satisfaction and as weapons to be used in

arguments with defenders of paganism"

The THEME of two cities in the Book of

Revelation : the "New Jerusalem" 

symbolizes the city of God / Civitate Dei

[ Latin for God's City / heavenly City ]

Revelation 3:12 "and I will write on him

the name of my God, and the name of

the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,

which comes down from my God out of

heaven."

Revelation 21:2 "And I saw the holy city,

new Jerusalem, coming down out of 

heaven, from God, prepared as a bride

adorned for her husband."

Revelation 21:10 "And in the Spirit he

carried me away to a great, high

mountain, and showed me the holy

city Jerusalem, coming down out of

heaven from God."

Earthly cities and rulers fall (e.g.

Jerusalem, Babylon) . . .

Tertullian famously develops the 

image of a Christian city (De Corona,

chapter 13') "But your orders and your

magistracies and the very name of 

your senate-house (Latin curia ) is the

Church of Christ.  You are enrolled as his

in the books of life.  There your crimson

robes are the Lord's blood. . .but you,

an alien in this word and a citizen of the city

on high, Jerusalem -- our community

(Latin municipatus), he said, is in heaven --

you have nothing to do with the delights

of this world, rather, you are obligated

not to rejoice in them."

Contra Celsum - work by Origen of Alexandria

"if you compare the council of the Church of

God with the council in each city, you will find

that some councillors of the Church are worthy

to hold office in a city which is God's, if there

is such a city anywhere in the universe" (Book 3, #30)

O'Daly, Gerard Augustine's City of God

A Reader's Guide (Oxford Univ. Press, 2020)

2nd edition ISBN 9780198841241