The City of God and American Greatness: Keeping an Eternal Perspective in Turbulent Times

Faculty Contribution

Timothy Yonts Instructor of Ethics College of Arts & Sciences, Liberty University

The City of God and American Greatness: Keeping an Eternal Perspective in Turbulent Times

In 410 A.D., the City of Rome fell. “The City which had taken the whole world,” wrote St. Jerome, “was itself taken.”1 Nicknamed the “Eternal city,” Rome was seen as the spiritual center of the Empire. When it fell, it had a destabilizing effect on the rest of the ancient world. Many Romans attributed Rome’s fall to Christianity, but for many Christians, there was a general fear that this moment would initiate another wave of persecution. Many of them wondered whether the sack of Rome was the end of the world as they knew it. It was during this time that St. Augustine published his seminal work, The City of God (413 A.D.). Like many church fathers before him, Augustine set out to explain that Christianity was not to blame for Rome’s demise.2 Rome did not fall because it had become Christian. Rather, Augustine argues, it fell because it had not become Christian enough.3 Moreover, Rome was not the Eternal City. No earthly kingdom could be the Eternal City. The only truly eternal city was the City of God, and this reality — this city — was the object of Christian hope.

This article will explore the concepts of hope, peace, and home in the City of God as an application for American Christians in the current age. Augustine’s point was that Christian hope lies in the future, and therefore, no Christian should be surprised or dismayed when earthly kingdoms fall. This principle applies not only to Romans but to Christians of every age and empire. As America faces a new decade in the 21st century, Christians living in America would do well to remember Augustine’s advice.

A Waning American Empire?

Although this article was written prior to the 2020 election, it has been written to provide helpful reflections no matter the outcome. With any election cycle, American Christians face a doublesided temptation: to believe that America’s best days are ahead or to despair that she is driving off a cliff. The fortunes of this great nation have always been an open question, but as we enter the third decade of the 21st century, sentiments of fear, uncertainty, and doubt loom heavy in the minds of many American Christians.

The first twenty years of this century have produced a great deal of domestic and international upheaval. Domestically, the rise of a once benign secularism4 has seemingly transmuted into a triumphant and nearly totalitarian ideology at odds with many communities of faith.5 Internationally, America’s leadership seems to be in constant flux.6 Military conflicts, proxy wars, and challenges to American dominance are in no short supply. Global financial downturns seem to occur with increasing frequency. Amid these problems, Christians may find themselves (if only by analogy) feeling like their Roman predecessors who faced unprecedented challenges at the turn of the 5th century with endless war, economic uncertainty, and national insecurity. The experiences of Roman Christians may seem distant for saints living in modern America, but their spiritual reality is the same. Just as Augustine’s City of God offered hope and peace to his contemporaries, so too, it offers guidance for our present situation. Just as Rome was not the Eternal City, neither is the United States. Just as Roman Christians were reminded not to fear as their beloved city fell, American Christians also must not fear in the uncertainty of America’s future.

A Tale of Two Cities

In his seminal work, Augustine seeks to explain how two spiritual cities — the City of Man and the City of God — relate to one another and to earth’s kingdoms. Throughout human history, the kingdoms of this world either provide momentary peace for the City of God, or they join the City of Man to make war against the saints. Augustine reminds us that whatever their disposition these empires are temporary — they rise and they fall — but the City of God endures. The City of God endures because, unlike earthly empires,

it transcends both time and space. Unlike earthly empires, it cannot be conquered. Its consummation is the goal toward which God is directing all of human history. By using this framework of divine providence, Augustine admonishes Christians of every era and every empire to persevere as citizens of the City of God, not merely as citizens of the Earth. Augustine’s perspective offers Christians of every age — whether they live during the Pax Romana or during the Pax Americana — a way to view the world through the eyes of heavenly citizens.

The United States of America may not be Rome, but the hope of Christians in both kingdoms remains the same. Even though we are not Romans living in antiquity, even though America has yet been conquered, and even though our situation is incalculably different than 5th century Rome, our experiences as believers are not terribly foreign to our Roman predecessors. What was spiritually true for Roman Christians is also true for American Christians. I contend that based on this shared spiritual experience, Augustine’s City provides at least three principles of reflection for contemporary American believers.

1. Our hope lies at the end of history, not in our present moment.

A central theme in Augustine is the doctrine of divine providence, the view that God is consciously directing all of history toward a goal for which the saints can hope. For Augustine, this historical direction gives meaning to human existence. All historical events derive their meaning and purpose from the singular goal of history; namely, the consummation of the City of God.7 Earthly kingdoms are only temporary chapters in the unfolding of God’s history. This idea is not foreign to the contemporary Christians, but it may be easily forgotten if we place our confidence in the current status of American greatness or if we despair at the prospect of an impending American decline. Rest assured, Augustine reminds us: history has a goal, but that goal is not American greatness; it is the City of God. All earthly empires will melt away at this coming Kingdom.

So, it is with this historical perspective that we should understand our place in history. America will eventually fall. Its destruction is a historical and theological inevitability. The United States may well dominate the global stage for another thousand years, but what if it does not? What if we witness the long decline of the American empire? Can we accept this reality as God’s providence? Are we willing to accept it? If our fear or joy is shaped by the prospects of our earthly kingdom, we have misplaced our hope in the temporary houses of the City of Man, not in the eternal dwelling of the City of God.

2. Our peace comes from a spiritual city, not from earthly kingdoms.

It is important to recognize that Augustine views earthly governments as instrumentally good for the City of God insofar as they facilitate peace in society (Romans 13:1-7). However, since earthly governments are formed by citizens of both the City of Man and the City of God, they can only be instruments of temporal peace — a fleeting and fragile peace. True, lasting peace belongs only to the City of God, which Christ will secure in the Last Day.8 In the meantime, the City of Man makes war with the City of God. The values which give rise to earthly kingdoms — greed, conquest, lust — belong to the City of Man and contradict the values of the City of God. The City of God finds itself inevitably at odds with the culture and governments of the City of Man.

The same is true of American Christians. In the short history of the United States, religious liberty has been a bedrock Constitutional right, but the relative peace we have enjoyed may not last. If it does not, the rise of religious persecution should not surprise the people of God (2 Timothy 3:12). Religious liberty has provided an incredible opportunity to live quiet and peaceful lives, but it is not an entitlement without which we should despair. Religious liberty is worth defending, but if we lose it, we will not have lost our source of true peace in the City of God.

3. Our home is in heaven, not in this world

Citizens of the City of God are sojourners amid the foreign kingdoms of the earth. The City of Man loves earthly goods and earthly kingdoms, but the City of God loves God Himself. These two loves are in direct conflict. Thus, when properly aligned, the love of God should produce feelings of homelessness and longing in the hearts of believers. It should produce a sense of alienation from worldly systems and a desire for a home beyond this life. If the saints begin to feel at home in the world, it is a sign that something has gone wrong with their love.

A longing for another world does not preclude patriotism, however. To the contrary, Augustine says saints should pray for peace and tranquility and even to defend it militarily.9 However, amid their temporal