Evaluating our culture through the lens of Augustine’s City of God
When things seem to be falling apart, there’s always enough blame to go around. When Augustine wrote City of God, Christians were being blamed for the decline and fall of Rome. It was argued that Christian values had weakened Rome and caused cultural degeneration. Augustine responded—at length—to these accusations. He both dissected the pagan culture of Rome and offered a theological response to the political and cultural collapse and crisis that Christians and pagans were experiencing.
As in Augustine’s time, Christians now are wrestling with arguments about culture and the role of Christianity in strengthening or weakening the country. Some blame the country’s woes on the decline of Christianity. Some blame the country’s woes on the persistence of Christianity. Others find a problem in so-called “woke” Christianity.
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