City of God - Augustine - XIX - Book 10 concluded

Required reading
City of God by Augustine (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) -  Continue Book Ten by reading Chapters 26 to 32.

My summary
To conclude Book Ten, Augustine continues attacking the inconsistencies of the Platonists, particularly Porphyry.

Firstly he again looks at the inconsistency of worshipping the true God alongside demons.

Secondly Augustine shows that the Platonists despise Christ's incarnation yet are inconsistent in their rejection of the physical for the spiritual: 'For you allege on the authority of Plato, that the world is a living being, and a being of utter blessedness, and this being you hold to be eternal. How then can it enjoy unceasing happiness, without being ever released from its body, if it is true that escape from the body is necessary for the happiness of the soul?'

Thirdly, a rejection is given of a form of reincarnation that the Platonists advocate.

Fourthly, Augustine critiques the assertion that man who has an eternal future also has an eternal past.  He shows that Plato himself contradicts the Platonist teaching on this matter.

Finally, we look at how Porphyry did 'not believe that divine providence could have left mankind without such a universal way for the liberation of the soul', yet he failed to see that Christianity was the way by which all nations could be saved.

This concluded Part 1 of the book and Augustine gave a nice summary of Part 1 which is probably good to include here on the blog: 'And therefore, in these ten books, though not meeting, I dare say, the expectation of some, yet I have, as the true God and Lord has vouchsafed to aid me, satisfied the desire of certain persons, by refuting the objections of the ungodly, who prefer their own gods to the Founder of the holy city, about which we undertook to speak.  Of these ten books, the first five were directed against those who think we should worship the gods for the sake of the blessings of this life, and the second five against those who think we should worship them for the sake of the life which is to be after death.  And now, in fulfillment of the promise I made in the first book, I shall go on to say, as God shall aid me, what I think needs to be said regarding the origin, history, and deserved ends of the two cities, which, as already remarked, are in this world commingled and implicated with one another.'

What grabbed me
I enjoyed the appeal that Augustine made to Porphyry even though he was dead: 'If only you had recognized the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  If only you had been able to see his incarnation, in which he took a human soul and body, as the supreme instance of grace!  But what can I do?  I know that it is to no avail that I speak to a dead man, to no avail, that is, as far as you are concerned.  But there are people who hold you in high regard, who are attached to you by reason of some kind of a love of wisdom, or a superstitious interest in those magic arts which you should never have studied, and they are the audience to whom my colloquy with you is really directed, and it may be that for them is not in vain.'

Augustine is not out to simply win an argument, but to win people to the truth.  It was so good to see his pastoral heart there amongst the refutations.

Next week's reading
Begin Part II by starting Book 11 and reading Chapters 1 to 17.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.