After reading St. Augustine’s City of God, the idea behind a Utopia is even more confusing to me than ever! There were a lot of things that I did not like about this reading starting with the fact that it was really difficult and that his idea had a lot of support, but it was so “wordy” that by the time that he had made his point, I may have missed them altogether. This reading as a whole was confusing because it was as if Augustine was calling for a heavenly utopia, but at the same time he was not implying a heavenly Utopia. I’m confused by this because to me, it seems as if he is trying to get everyone here on earth to work towards a heavenly Utopia without calling heaven a Utopia.
This is really odd and frustrating for me because he justifies why things in the human world are the way that they are using religious support as a Christian, but doesn’t want his readers to think that he is classifying heaven as a utopia but yet I feel as if that is what he believes heaven is. For me he seems to be talking in circles a little bit, or tip towing around how he really feels so to speak. His beliefs are clearly reflected in this piece but at the same time it’s like he doesn’t want his readers to know that and I think that is what makes this frustrating. In terms of what the reading means as a whole, referring to the idea that mankind needs to work towards a life that is better than the one we live in, I think that Augustine is right to want this but my thoughts on this reading as it pertains to the idea of a utopia is that because his ideas are so religion heavy, St. Augustine’s idea of a utopia will not work because not everyone believes in the reasons that he gives for why this world is not as great as it could be.
Hi Gwen,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this was a really challenging read. I even have the strong Judeo-Christian background that one would think would make this read easier, but it didn't help much. I think you're totally right when you say that a lot of the confusion comes from Augustine's wordiness, which caused a lot of problems for me, too.
I think one possible reason why Augustine may have "tiptoed" around exactly what he was trying to say because he didn't want to offend people. Have you ever tried to talk about a touchy subject with someone only to find yourself dancing around the truth? I think Augustine may have been in the same situation.
Good thoughts!
Hey Gwen, this posed as one of the more difficult readings for me also. St. Augustine, in my opinion did tend to make his points a bit unclear. When it comes to his idea of a heavenly utopia, I can’t seem to fathom how without being heavenly, it could truly be called a heavenly city? Puzzling, but I did like the fact that this reading did expose us to a new kind of utopia, I just wish there was more clarity associated with it. I like your view on this matter. -Jesus
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