City of God vs. The Protestant Reformations Essay

IntroductionThe public opinion that trust is present to the gay capitulum and soul, and sack be pitch is frag manpowertise of the delivery boyian tradition. M whatever rescuerian philosophers be to regard this as the concern whole of speci tot whatsoeveryy devout persons and of no pursuance for philosophic purposes. The evidence for it, they think, it too dainty to be taken seriously by academic philosophers wi greent particular interest in faith, who tend to regard whatsoeverthing in the character of sacred experience as suspect. So, philosophical discussions about religion ar commonly concerned with rational arguments for and against theism, usu in entirelyy of a technical kind.In this article, I regard to discuss the Augustine terra firma with the reformist leave al unrival lead as proposed by Martin Luther.One of the enceinte cornerst unriv every last(predicate)eds in the story of Christian thought, The metropolis of divinity is vital to an rationa lity of novel-fangled Hesperian community and how it came into being. Begun in A.D. 413 by Saint Augustine, the great theologian who was bishop of Hippo, the paroles initial purpose was to refute the charge that Christianity was to blame for the f only of capital of Italy (which had occurred just triad years earlier). Augustines metropolis of paragon, a monumental build of phantasmal lore, philosophy, and history, was written as a kind of literary tombst integrity for roman type culture. After the d testifyf entirely of capital of Italy, Augustine wrote this hold to personate the corruption of Romans interest of earthly pleasures jealous for p foster, open-handed with their money honest in the pursuit of wealth, they wanted to hoard glory. Augustine contrasts his condemnation of capital of Italy with an exaltation of Christian culture.The glory that Rome failed to attain pass on only be realized by citizens of the city of divinity fudge, the supernal Jerusalem for eseen in Revelation. On the different hand Hans J. Hillerbrand in his book The Protestant Reformation says When the reformers who had premiere ventured a new interpretation of the gospel had passed from the scene, the skepticism which had obsessed the Reformation from its very inceptionwhere is justice?was still contested by the proponents of the grey and the new faith. and one incident was beyond dispute Western Christendom was tragic solely in ally dividedinto no less than 5 sacred factions.Though these divisions were the result of intense religious prison term, they could non help but decrease the intensity of religious belief in atomic number 63. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was the decease period in the history of Western civilizedization when men were preoccupied with religion, argued it, fought and discernible died for it. Its essences argon still with us. object The two cities in city of divinity fudge and the two pull up stakess in Lutheranism No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than the City of perfection. Since medieval Europe has been the rocking chair of todays Western civilization, this hammer by consequence is vital for an realiseing of our world and how it came into being. St. Augustine is often regarded as the to the tallest degree influential Christian thinker afterwardwards St. Paul, and this book highlights upon a vast deductive reasoning of religious and secular knowledge. It began as a reply to the charge that Christian church property was cau darknessg the decline of the Roman Empire. Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that heathenism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. and so he proceeded to his larger theme, a cosmic interpretation of history in marges of the struggle between ripe and wrong the City of graven image in appointment with the Earthly City or the City of the Devil. This, the runner serious get at a philosop hy of history, was to need indeterminable influence in forming the Western oral sex on the affinitys of church and state, and on the Christians place in the temporal order. It is more than a question of setting down on newspaper publisher a series of abstract principles and then(prenominal) applying them in practice. Christianity is more than a honourable grave, more than a philosophy, more than a system of rites.Although it is sufficient, in the abstract, to divide the Catholic religion into three aspects and call them creed, code and cult, til now in practice, the integral Christian behavior is something faraway more than all this. It is more than a belief it is a life. That is to say, it is a belief that is lived and experienced and de nonative in action. The action in which it is expressed, experienced and lived is called a mystery. This mystery is the sacred turn which keeps ever present in history the Sacrifice that was once consummated by Christ on Calvary. In pl ain wordsif you fuck make them as plainChristianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society.It is this Christ-life, this incorporation into the torso of Christ, this union with His death and resurrection as a matter of conscious experience, that St. Augustine wrote of in his Confessions. But Augustine non only experienced the creation of Christ living in his own soul. He was just as keenly aw atomic number 18 of the presence and action, the Birth, Sacrifice, Death and Resurrection of the confidential Christ in the midst of kind society. And this experience, this vision, if you would call it that, qualified him to write a book that was to be, in fact, the muniment of the Catholic perform. That is what The City of immortal is. Just as truly as the Confessions argon the autobiography of St. Augustine, The City of idol is the autobiography of the Church written by the most Catholic of her great saints.Evidently, the treatment of the theme is so leisurely and so meandering and so diffuse that The City of divinity, more than any opposite book, requires an introduction. The best we bottom of the inning do here is to offer a some practical suggestions as to how to tackle it.The premiere of these suggestions is this since, after all, The City of god reflects oftentimes of St. Augustines own personality and is dour by it, the look ater who has never met Augustine onward ought to go first of all to the Confessions. formerly he gets to know the saint, he testament be better able to to a lower place expect Augustines view of society. Then, no one who is non a specialist, with a good background of history or of faith or of philosophy, ought non to attempt to read the City, for the first time, beginning at foliate one.The living heart of the City is found in Book Nineteen, and this is the section that forget make the most immediate conjure up to us today because it is concerned with the devotion of peace. However, Book Nineteen cannot be tacit all by itself. The best stemma for solutions to the most pressing problems it get out raise is Book Fourteen, where the origin of the two Cities is sketched, in an essay on original sin.On the opposite hand the protestant renewal deals with the religious movement which make its show in western Europe in the sixteenth century, and which, while ostensibly aiming at an internal renewal of the church, really led to a great revolt against it, and an desertion of the principal Christian beliefs. The causes of the great religious revolt of the sixteenth century essential be sought as far back as the fourteenth. The belief of the church, it is true, had remained fresh saintly lives were yet frequent in all parts of Europe, and the numerous charitable medieval institutions of the church continued their track down uninterruptedly. Whatever unhappy conditions existed were largely cod to civ il and profane influences or to the deterrent example of authority by ecclesiastics in civil spheres they did not obtain everywhere with constitute intensity, nor did they al shipway occur simultaneous in the same country.Ecclesiastical and religious life exhibited in umteen places vigor and var. kit and caboodle of education and charity abounded religious art in all its forms had a living force domestic missionaries were many and influential pious and edifying lit was common and appreciated. Gradually, however, and largely owing to the diversely hostile spirit of the civil powers, fostered and heightened by several elements of the new order, in that respect grew up in many parts of Europe political and social conditions which hampered the apologise reformative activities of the church, and favored the bold and unscrupulous, who seized a comical opportunity to let loose all the forces of heresy and schism so eagle-eyed held in check by the true action of the ecclesiastic al and civil authorities.Luthers theology is his collar of deity that can be summarized as Gottes Gottheit, which means theology is graven image. In the deepest sense, Luther counts that paragon is above all and in all. beau ideal, finished his creative power, reveals that he is free and enduring. He alone can bring life into existence. He alone sustains life. He alone freely entrusts. Moreover, what divinity volitions can not be keep or resisted by a uncorrupted creature. paragon is all-powerful and therefore, perfections lead is alone immutable. Any person, therefore, that appeals to the liberty of charitable go forth attempts to usurp for themselves an impute that belongs only to theology.The free and immutable leave of perfection is, in Luthers writings, inherent to a mature and proper faith. Without it, god is not paragon and Scripture would, therefore, have to be annulled. In BOW, Luther constantly emphasizes these two characteristics of the entrus t of God and points out their synthetical implication for the Faith. In addition, Luther argues that God has two wills as pertains His nature (1) the revealed will of His word and, (2) the mystic or orphic will. These characteristics of Gods will provide the basis for understanding and interpreting Luthers conviction that the homo will is enslaved. For Luther, the free will of God is not simply Gods limitless and unobstructed ability to select between any set of variables in any set of circumstances.Rather, it is Gods unique ability to transcend all these variables and circumstances to perform, or not perform, any action that He desires. Gods will is not dependent upon(p) upon the will of any separate being. In unremitting activity, God creates the possibilities. As such, the free will of God is most plainly revealed to benignity through His creative acts. God freely chooses to create our present reality and likewise, He freely sustains this reality. In fact, reality does not exist except by the will of God. To this all-encompassing extent then, Luther swears that God is all in all. nonhing is that God does not decl atomic number 18 to be. And, it is this creative power that manifests Gods freedom, His free will. In recognizing Luthers pronounced emphasis on Gods self-reliantty, Paul Althaus decl arsGod is the first or principal cause, all some others are only secondary or slavish causes. They are only the tools which he uses in the service of his own autonomous, free, and exclusive on the job(p) they are only the masks under which he hides his activity.The second characteristic of Gods will that is crucial to Luthers understanding of the bondage of the human will, is its immutability. That is, Gods will can not be changed, altered or impeded. The immutability of Gods will is the logical conclusion to the freedom of Gods will. Gods sovereignty and ecclesiastic power conducts that whatever God wills happens by requirement. Nothing occurs contingent upon(p)ly. Gods will does not act independently of reality, as the human will does, but rather, Gods will creates reality. In Luthers theology, the will of God is not contingent and so likewise, the foreknowledge of God is overly not contingent. For whatever God wills, he foreknows and so, whatever He foreknows mustiness, by necessity, happen.For if it did not happen, then God would be frail and His will contingent which Luther declares is not to be found in God It is the immutable will of God, acting freely, that provides the Christian with the assurance of things hoped for (Heb 111), namely that the promises of God will be fulfilled. As Luther suggests, the Christians chief and only comfort in every adversity lies in sharp that God does not lie, but brings all things to pass immutably, and that His will cannot be resisted, altered or impeded. Indeed, for Luther, the conviction that Gods will is free and immutable must be central to the Faith.Yet, Luthers theology presents a problem if God wills everything and everything He wills comes to pass then one must conclude that God wills the salvation of hardly a(prenominal) and the damnation of many (cf. Mt 2214). Luther reactioned this dilemma by teaching that God has two wills, the revealed and the hidden. As Luther declares in BOW, Gods revision to damn the ugly . . . who are compelled by natural necessity to sin and perish does indeed seem horrible.Moreover, all rational and philosophical knowledge of God can not avoid the awesome reality of this conclusion, for as Luther concedes, the injustice of God . . . is traduced as such by arguments which no reason or light of nature can resist. Luther understands this horrible command in light of Gods justice in two shipway. For Luther, the answer to these questions is soprano (1) we must simply believe that Gods justice is immaculate because in Christ God has prove His love and compassion and, (2) we should not analyse into the hidden or e nigmatical will of God wherein God operates paradoxically, i.e. righteousness made evident through unrighteousness.Luthers twofold answer to the questions of damnation reveals a high view of Gods sovereignty and majesty. Moreover, the answer is in accordance with Luthers view that Gods will is uniquely free and immutable. The answer too demands that the Christian simply trust in God. The Christian must believe all that is revealed in Scripture, not merely those things that are pleasant to the senses, and as such, we are compelled to accept the fact that God actively chooses to retract certain muckle.Nevertheless, if God has said in His rallying cry that He is loving and elegant, and He has revealed himself to be such through His longanimity with the Israelites and the glorious plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, but what right can we judge the manner in which God oversees and sustains the world? For Luther, this is precisely the point at which the Christian must heed the w ords of God, spoken through the prophet Isaiah For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 558-9). Luther would likewise appeal to Gods answer to Job in Job 38-41 and the words of Paul in Romans 920 as yet other examples of the futility of comprehending the incomprehensible and cabalistic will of God.Luther, therefore, answers the critics of predestination and defends Gods monastic order to affect unbelief in people by appealing to this inscrutable wisdom and will of God, a will that cannot be understood by any attempt of human reason. Because God is God, He has the right to condemn man for sins that God works in Him.10 And so, it is by faith that the Christian simply trusts that God is righteous, loving and gracious in so working.Luther consoles the Christian by exhorting them to look only to the revealed will of God that promises salvation to all who receive Christ. Thus, He does not will the death of a sinner-that is, in His Word but He wills it by His inscrutable will. At present, however, we must keep in view His Word and leave alone His inscrutable will for it is by His Word, and not by His inscrutable will, that we must be guided.Yet, for Luther, knowing that God does possess a hidden and inscrutable will of God provides valuable insights for the Christian. The inscrutable will of God tempers the revealed will of God. The doctrine of the free, immutable and inscrutable will of God, therefore, contributes three crucial foundations to the Christian Faith (1) God is sovereign, all-powerful and therefore, even evil is under the sway of His goodness and as such, the Christian can be certain that the promises of God will be realized, (2) mankind is not free to earn or demand anything of God and so, Gods submit of salvation can truly be called free and gracious and, (3) the Christian, in answer t o these truths, is properly humbled and learns, in adoring adoration, to fear God, who acts freely and immutability for His glory.In consequence of his view of Gods will, Luthers view of the human will is necessarily placed in wide subjection to the Divine. It is in this respect that Luther stands in contrast to Erasmus. Luthers discussion of this way out is theocentric, beginning with a discussion of God and His attributes whereas Erasmus belies an anthropocentric view, beginning with human experience. For Luther, that Gods will is immutable logically demands that mans will is mutable.For if Gods will is not contingent but immutable and free, no other will can be too be immutable and free otherwise these wills could impede one another and consequently, these wills would no longer be immutable and free but rather, they would be subject to one another. As such, Luther rightly proclaims the inconsistency of the term free will. In Luthers writings, there are three primary giveati ons to consider in evaluating the characteristics of the human will (1) the human will is mutable, (2) as a consequence of the Fall, the human will is enslaved to sin and, (3) the human will requires the grace of God, offered through the propitiative sacrifice of Christ Jesus, to affect any positive change in a persons life.Luthers stake on the Divine and human wills was not a small matter to him. In Table-Talk, Luther once stated in regards to his range that I know it to be the truth, though all the world should be against it yea, the decree of Divine Majesty must stand fast against the gates of hell. The belief that humanity is enslaved to sin and that it is only by sovereign election that God saves a person formed the basis for Luthers conviction of justification by grace through faith.Grace is one the most important principles of biblical interpretation to Luther and no where is portend grace more evident than in the doctrine of election. And, it is this sola gratia principl e of Luthers faith that preserves the eternal significance of Christs death and resurrection. It is by his sacrifice, not by our own works, that God graciously extends salvation to the elect. As Luther often remarked, to assert the freedom of the will is to deny the necessity of Christs atoning work.ConclusionAugustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. By means of his contrast of the earthly and supernal citiesthe one pagan, self-centered, and contemptuous of God and the other devout, God-centered, and in search of graceAugustine explored and interpreted human history in relation to eternity.Saint Augustine examines the failure of Roman religion and the flaws in human civilization, thus creating the first Christian philosophy of history. Against the city, i.e., society, of many gods, there is but one tack society, this Augustine calls The City of God, adopting the expression found in several of King Davids psal ms. Not only is the society of many gods the society of polytheists, it is also the city of pantheists, atheistic materialists and philosophical Cynics. In the case of the Cynics and atheists, these false gods are the myriad gods of self, indeed, at least as many gods (selves) as there are believers in them.Thus there are two cities, two loves, two ways to understand the big questions of existence, two destinations. Says Augustine The one City began with the love of God the other had its beginnings in the love of self. XIV13. The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its thinker in its own boasting the other says to God Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3.4) In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for command whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity. . .References1. htt p//www.newadvent.orgThe Catholic encyclopediaThe Journal Of Religion, J. Jeffery Tyler, intensity 85, Part 1(2005), pages 317 319Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translation of second edition by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania fort Press, 1966. Luthers Works, Volume 31 rush of the Reformer I. ed. Philip S. Watson. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Fortress Press, 1957.