Christina's Midterm Entries

City of God: Written by St. Augustine

 

            I have had the opportunity to study a lot of St. Augustine’s work and a reoccurring theme in each of his works I have read seems to be his dedication and awareness to the truth. The City of God seems to be broken into different parts. Essentially though, he is addressing the fall of the Roman Empire, which was believed to be the empire that would last forever in riches and wealth of mind.

            In the first four books Augustine is addressing the sin and vice that had forsaken the Roman Empire. He also addresses the fact that the empire did not last as long as it did because of the false Gods and idols that they worshiped, but because of God, the almighty Father.

            In book six he addresses the people that believe that false gods are to be worshipped for the sake of eternal life. He addresses the philosophy of the heathen writer Varro, denouncing the first two of his three divisions, mystical and natural. Almost directly after he disproves that the mystical and natural can lead you to eternal happiness he does the same with the natural. Augustine ends the first part of his work by saying that demons are evil and should not be worshiped and that only God can offer eternal blessedness. In conclusion, the first part of The City of God is when Augustine refutes the pagan claims that the Roman Empire fell because the majority of its people converted to Christianity and stopped worshipping the Pagan gods. However, Augustine proves their theory illogical because problems and disease still arose when they were worshipping the Pagan gods and the gods did nothing about it. Augustine concludes that perhaps the devastation that they suffered was not due to the lack of worship towards the gods but BECAUSE of their worship of the false gods.

            The second part of The City of God opens by addressing the history and destiny of the heavenly and earthly cities. He addresses their existence by directly referencing Genesis in the Bible. In this second part he parallels the history of the city of heaven with the city of the earth. Generally he explains that the happiness that is found in heaven can be found in the earthly kingdom as well. He also addresses the final judgment, explicitly mentioning that the ones who have done wrong on earth will face punishment. However, in the end, the good will be saved and have eternal happiness in heaven.

            I have read parts of The City of God previous to this assignment but by the end of this assignment I had a whole new appreciation for the way St. Augustine can articulate what the truth is and how the world and heaven are truly one in the same. Our devotion to Christ is what truly sustains us, not the worship of pagan gods and goddesses. I also appreciate how Augustine used sound logic to prove that the pagans were wrong in their beliefs and practices. The City of God, in the big picture, is what truly matters. Therefore, I think it is possible to say that anything in comparison to that is quite minute.

 

Work Cited: The City of God, St. Augustine

 

Constantine and The Cross: 1962 film and review

As I was researching articles for this assignment I stumbled upon a film based on the life of the emperor Constantine. After reading the review, which is pretty neutral (as you will see) I reflected on how the film and media businesses really do have a wealth of great opportunities in their palms. They have the ability to make movies about great men and women, tell the truth and promote goodness. I think this film may have done just that. The review noted that some of the scenes may have been unnecessarily gory, however I would challenge that and say that if gore is/was the truth, than it should not be hidden. After all, the Passion of Christ was an absolutely incredible film and I think if they removed the graphic parts of the movie, it would not be the same.

 

-         http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/87809/Constantine-and-the-Cross/overview

 

Tristan and Isolde

During the time of the Crusades there was also something called courtly love. Tristan and Isolde is a perfect example of this courtly love. Generally, a soldier or knight of some sort fell for a beautiful woman (married or single) and he would proceed to court her through song, mystery and so forth. In the story of Tristan and Isolde, Isolde is single when Tristan and her first meet, however that changes before they have the change to have a serious relationship. Isolde marries and they proceed to have an affair which they call love. It seems as though their relationship is sustained by being apart and then reuniting. It seems as though when they are apart the ecstasy of being together makes the final union all the more satisfying. I brought this up because I feel as though it is relevant to the crusades. The crusades had both positives and negatives and I feel as though the mentality associated with courtly love may have effected how they fought and proceeded in the crusades.

 

-         Work Cited: Notes from Dr. Arden’s Humanities Class.