The Two Cities in Augustine’s Political Philosophy

Abstract

One model for interpreting St Augustine's Two Cities is to identify the Earthly City with the state and the City of God with the institutional church. The political interpretation placed on the idea of the Two Cities will affect the reading one gives to the robber band and commonwealth passages. That Augustine should prefer the earlier of Rome over the later empire is, unlike the basic distinction between the earthly republic and the heavenly, not grounded on theological considerations. It is a political preference, and a regard for the grounds of the preference is crucial where we are concerned with his political philosophy. The concept of the Two Cities on its own, although it provides the superstructure of Augustine's political doctrines, does not give us all the essential details of Augustine's political philosophy. It is important to note that Augustine nowhere makes an explicit distinction between heathen and Christian states.