The Fighting Spirit of St. Augustine's City of God

It was a bracing experience reading Veronica Roberts Ogle's fine new study of Augustine's City of God during the run-up to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Augustine is the opposite of the milquetoast versions of Christianity that are so much with us these days. To a searching mind, he joined a fighting spirit. A heartfelt disciple of the Prince of Peace, he engaged in countless polemics. These included disputes with those who proffered truncated or distorted versions of the Christian faith and those who claimed to speak in the name of authoritative reason. His was a fighting faith that took on all comers.