Books that Matter: The City of God by Charles T. Mathewes

Books that Matter: The City of God Reviews

• 
  David Huff

  I took the plunge, with a reading group, and tackled Augustine's masterpiece, "The City of God" last year. After plugging away from May to October, I finished it, and definitely treasured the experience. I thought about writing a review, but it felt about as daunting as the prospect of climbing Mount Everest might feel, so I thought better of it. Maybe someday, after I read it a second time :-)
  
  In the meantime, this Books That Matter course on the City of God was a nice epilogue, and a very helpful review, after having read Augustine. The course is taught by Charles Mathewes, a Professor of Religious Studies at the Unversity of Virginia, who did a fine job presenting a chapter by chapter overview of many of Augustine's ideas and arguments. He takes a philosophical bent along the way, and offers interesting insights to ponder and think through. My rating could easily have been 4 1/2 stars; I guess with a vast book like the City of God, one could always find a topic or two they'd like to have heard discussed in more depth.
  
  I would recommend this course and, while some teachings of this type may be good preparation for studying a classic work, this one would probably be more meaningful after having read the City of God.
• 
  Julie Davis

  This class did what I never thought possible - make me want to read The City of God.
  
  Professor Mathewes is insightful, giving this ancient work an understandable context and connecting it to modern life. He's got an accessible lecturing style and an elegant turn of phrase that helps open up the material. What is more he makes a compelling case for why The City of God is relevant for understanding not only the ancient, but our modern world. Highest recommendation.
• 
  William Adam Reed

  This 24 lecture course is one that must be attended to closely. I listened to some of the lectures while driving in my car. I found that outside distractions on the road made it easy for me to miss a critical point in what Professor Mathewes was saying. I found it was easier when I listened while I was taking a walk without the distractions. This is a fairly dense course, which is what I was looking for because I want to understand Augustine's thought more thoroughly. Professor Mathewes's speaking is clear, without verbal distractions, and his voice is engaging.
  
  The first few lectures are background on Augustine as a person and the political landscape is covered in which Augustine wrote. Then the rest of the lectures are a deep dive into "The City of God" going through mostly 1-2 books per lecture. My favorite lectures came towards the end of the course, especially the lectures on heaven, hell, and the topic of original sin. Since this is a fairly dense subject matter, I would strongly recommend spending time with the course book that goes with the lectures to get the best understanding out of the course.
  
  I will be returning to this course in the future as "The City of God" is a rich bed of knowledge and I would like to continue to ponder its meaning.
• 
  Gary Beauregard Bottomley

  I watched this as I was concurrently reading the book.
  
  The lecture would set the stage to what I was reading and both together made for a better learning experience.
  
  I highly recommend this lecture and the book. The one thing I would comment negatively about the lecture is sometimes Augustine would go into woo-woo with his reliance on numerology such as when he says something absurd like six is holy because its factors are 2 and 3 and 1 and they add to six and that makes the creation of the world even more special, he really did have a lot of numerology nonsense. Also, in the City of God Augustine never met a miracle he didn’t like even some that were happening around 400 CE and this lecturer doesn’t make a comment on the woo-woo nature of that. Both the numerology and the miracles as given are prevalent and this lecturer did not mention them.
• 
  Cameron Rhoads

  Listened to on Audible. I don’t like Augustine (356-430 C.E.). I study him because I know he’s important in church history, but I don’t like him. He invented Original Sin (peccatum originale) based on a mistranslation of Romans 5:12; he believed that male semen was the vehicle through which Original Sin was transmitted; he knew neither Hebrew nor Greek, languages absolutely essential for understanding the nuances of the Bible; he believed babies had to be exsufflated of the Devil and baptized as infants so they wouldn’t go to hell; that humanity was a massa damnata (condemned mass); he believed in persecution of heretics by the sword; he was provincial, insulated, and bombast. This Great Course is 24 lectures on Augustine’s biggest work that he wrote over a 13-year period (413-426 C.E.). The lecturer Charles Matthewes overall does a good job, but at times he can be pompous and overblown.
• 
  Ruth

  Wonderful course! Very inspiring and enticing me to read the actual book 'city of God'. (so far I've not been very successful at that, but with such an inspiring introduction I will keep trying, there must be more to it than I've been able to get out until now)
  
  This course draws out basic themes from the 'city of God' and explains what Augustin said on them and why he would choose the particular wording and style. I found this very helpful, because it explains some of the things that really irritated me in the beginning of the book.
  
  There are also a few lectures on the overall structure of the book, and how it influenced later generations.
• 
  Horace

  I listened to these lectures as a companion to listening to Augustine's The City of God. Extremely helpful. I would listen to a chapter of Augustine and then listen to the corresponding lecture of Mathewes, appreciating how much I needed it to understand what I had missed by listening to Augustine. This is highly recommended. Audible also provides a 500+ page transcript of Mathewes's lectures, which can be used as a reference.
• 
  Dennis Murphy

  Books that Matter: The City of God by Charles T. Mathewes is a worthwhile companion to the text in question. Mathewes is clearly in reverence for his subject, and the gravity in which he speaks about Augustine and perhaps his most famous and enduring text is palpable. This is a course that is well worth taking, and Mathewes walks through the both the context and the man of Augustine, walking through his book with as much care as he can provide within his constraints. He likens it to the Virgil's Aeneid and to Plato's Republic, and this is not entirely undeserved. Often have I heard the phrase that all of Western civilization is a footnote to Plato, but here I find the same phrase made as a footnote to Augustine. Augustine, for his part, is more understanding and earthly than his reputation. I admit, I found myself falling into a familiar stereotyping of the saint, even though I should know better by now. The course is good, though I believe I might have enjoyed it more if I was reading The City of God alongside it. Perhaps, in a less busy future, I'll give that a chance.
• 
  Hank Pharis

  This is a good overview of Augustine's magnum opus. It is his philosophy of history and his response to the collapse of Rome. As great as it is I still prefer the Confessions.
  
  (Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
• 
  Robert Federline

  The City of God is one of the most influential pieces ever written. It speaks to Religion and Politics and Sociology. It is a work of history and about history, while predicting and pointing to the future.
  
  The Great Courses are a marvelous way to get started with powerful and daunting works such as this overlong masterpiece of philosophy and thinking. It grants multiple perspectives on this work which is one of the defining pieces of western thought. This work is important in establishing frameworks for both governments and the Church. The City of God was a masterful piece when written, and time and distance have not dulled its impact.
  
  The Great Course gives you a useful perspective of this daunting scholarship and helps to make the reading and understanding of the mind of St. Augustine more manageable and more possible.
  
  I have never been disappointed with a single one of the Great Courses.
• 
  Ken Burkhalter

  Mathewes presents a superior overview of the man, his time, his love of truth, and his work. It is an extraordinary journey he takes us on, one well worth the time invested. I read this in parallel with N.T. Wright's biography of Paul. Though separated by time as they were, I often felt as if Augustine was functioning as Paul's mouthpiece.
  
  The book is Augustine's capstone and this survey course serves it well. So well, in fact, that I will be looking for a modern translation to fill those evenings when I just simply want to be close to the time and its depth.
  
  Highly recommended for those who want to understand the true underpinnings of faith.
• 
  Nick Heim

  Needed this to finish the City of God after book 10. I was a little out of my depth and struggling to understand what Augustine was getting at.
  
  It's an excellent way to bridge the gap or get an expert opinion on the text. However, the lecturer cautions against reading or digesting other people's interpretation of a work multiple times. So I guess I'd better get around to finishing the damn book
• 
  Briana Grenert

  Read the transcript book!
• 
  Elizabeth

  A helpful companion to The City of God, giving historical context and insight
• 
  Drew

  Quite through and enjoyable.
• 
  Steven Miller

  >
• 
  Jeremy Sandy

  Charles Mattewes really brought home Augustine city of God. Made it very clear. Excellent stuff
• 
  Phil

  Very thorough and enlightening review of a book that I have been struggling with for 20 years. Absolutely fundamental to modern thought, its protoform and the lectures place it in context well.
• 
  Juan Rivera

  When I was young I remember reading the Theological Sum of St. Thomas Aquinas and discussed with a friend who had read the Confessions of St. Augustine multiple issues of these doctors of the church.
  
  Today with the course: "Books That Matter: The City of God" published by The Great Courses narrated by Professor Charles Mathewes; I learned about St. Augustine much more.
  
  His book is a compendium of the thought of this writer. I left the Catholic faith long ago but I found some interesting topics:
  
  - The life of Rome before the Christian faith, the values ​​so different that they had and that today seem wild because we are inmersed in the Christian education that our parents gave us.
  - His description of evil and the devil, the reasons why they exist.
  - His reflections on hell, and as he says that hell is better and eternal damnation, than to cease to exist.
  
  Anyway, today I read some of these things I can not but laugh, because I also believed them.