Reading Group

Augustine’s City of God

Fridays | 2.00-3.15pm | Elm Library

At once a philosopher and a theologian, Augustine has a strong claim to be the most influential Christian thinker after St. Paul. Regarded as an undisputed authority in the Latin Middle Ages, Augustine has continued to be a powerful influence on Christian tought, Catholic and Protestant alike, through the Reformation period up to the present day, and his influence extends beyond the Christian tradition, with thinkers such as varied as Hannah Arendt, Judith Sklar, and Ludwig Wittgenstein all drawing on Augustine as a valuable resource for thinking about a range of philosophical questions from the purpose and limits of politics through to the philosophy of language and freedom and responsibility.

This reading group will read substantial selections from Augustine’s City of God.

Reading Schedule (Tentative)
1/26 | No Reading (Introductory Session)
2/2 | Book I
2/16 | Book II
2/23 | Book V
3/1 | Book XI
3/29 | Book XV
4/12 | Book XIX
4/19 | Book XXII

This reading group is open to Yale students in any discipline. To sign up or for more information please contact Justin Hawkins.

I’ve renounced all the other things that mortal men think to be good and proposed to devote myself to searching for wisdom.

Augustine, Against the Academicians