Appian Way Press

Augustine, in his work The City of God, responded to pagans who blamed Christianity for the sack of Rome by directly refuting these accusations and offering a comprehensive philosophy of history. He "set forth so clearly the power of Christian wisdom and how it is connected to the well-being of states, that he seems not only to have defended the Christians of his own time but to have triumphantly refuted the false accusations against Christianity forever."

Augustine looked at the "ruins of Rome’s greatness" and challenged "all honest men to decide whether, given such clear reasons for Rome’s fall, there is any room to blame it on the spread of Christianity." He argued that human history and destiny are not fully tied to the history of any earthly power, even one as vast as the Roman Empire. Instead, he presented a vision of two rival communities: the eternal city of God and the doomed city of the world. He taught that "from the beginning, the city of God, or the community of God’s people, has existed alongside the kingdoms of this world and their glory," quietly growing.

He aimed to expose the true causes of Rome's decline, contrasting the "magnificent vision of the city of God" with the falling "old social order." Augustine highlighted the city of God's "higher morality, true teaching, and heavenly origin" as guarantees of its success. Conversely, he exposed "the foolish or contradictory ideas of pagan philosophers and the unstable morals of the people," implicitly presenting these as the genuine reasons for the collapse of earthly powers. His hope, as reflected in The City of God, was entirely focused on the world to come, viewing the earthly world as hopelessly corrupt.