Abstract
Around the time that Augustine was ordained, imperial policy passed a series of edicts closing temples and forbidding pagan sacrifices. The effect was a growing dislike of the Church. The fall of Rome in 410 provoked a discussion and debate about whether Christianity was at fault for the imminent collapse of the Roman empire. ‘City of God’ considers Augustine's views on events around this time as expressed in his work City of God. In this, he rejected Roman imperialism, Stoic self-sufficiency, and Neoplatonic self-purgation as expressions of pride. The ultimate tension of humanity, he believed, was between passion and reason. Great powers rise and fall in history, and the reasons why are unclear.
