The Essential City of God: A Reader and Commentary

by Gregory W. Lee

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2025

Overview

This one-stop resource offers introductory essays and critical commentary on Augustine’s City of God. The book makes Augustine’s thought accessible, explains his ideas clearly, and prompts further reading.

Augustine is the most influential thinker in Western Christianity, and City of God is arguably his greatest work. However, its length and complexity make its argument difficult to follow, even for specialists.

This one-stop resource offers introductory essays, essential selections from City of God, and critical commentary on the text, enabling readers to study Augustine for themselves. It makes Augustine’s thought accessible, explains his ideas clearly, and prompts further reading.

Constructed and composed with the classroom in mind, this volume introduces Augustine’s text by abridging and explaining the primary source material. These selections focus on Augustine's social and political thought while indicating the larger contours of his work.

This book retrieves ancient wisdom for the modern world, presenting an enduring vision for faithfulness and hope in times of social instability.

Key Features

• Makes Augustine’s thought accessible, explains his ideas clearly, and prompts further reading
• Introduces Augustine’s text by abridging and explaining the primary source material
• Retrieves ancient wisdom for the modern world, presenting an enduring vision for faithfulness and hope in times of social instability

Product Details

• Title: The Essential City of God: A Reader and Commentary
• Author: Gregory W. Lee
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2025
• Pages: 464
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Resource ID: LLS:SSNTLCTYGRDRCMM
• Resource Type: Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-07-03T14:34:56Z

About Gregory W. Lee

Gregory W. Lee (Ph.D., Duke University) is assistant professor of theology at Wheaton College. His academic interests focus on the appropriation of early Christian writers for contemporary theological reflection. His forthcoming book, \"Today When You Hear His Voice\": Scripture, the Covenants, and the People of God, explores the dynamics of scriptural authority in Augustine, Calvin and the epistle to the Hebrews. His next major project will focus on Augustine's understanding of ecclesial sin and its implications for church division and the church-world relationship. He and his wife live in the North Lawndale area of Chicago, where they attend Lawndale Christian Community Church.