the city of god de civitate dei augustine of hippo

With the view to a representative research, De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine, the most famous Christian treatise dealing with the state, civic rights, state religion, authority etc. Some traces of this tradition can be observed in the most influental sources of the Christian Patristic period, although the very intention of morals has changed: res publica, a common/communal duty, was replaced by the adoration of God. The central one was the duty to the City. These are the virtues of the citizen, namely virtus, fides and pietas - which distinguish the Roman citizen as a brave warrior, honest magistrate and pious pater familias.

The topic of this paper is the continuity of major religious, moral and ethical concepts of Roman culture in following periods. Overall, this article tries to emphasize the necessity of considering the Christian framework of medieval society to a precise comprehension of its traces, along with an indispensable dialectic between discourses and social practices to the analysis of historical reality. After that, a comparison is made between the main ideas underlined by Pedro de Barcelos, and other social practices essential to aristocracy cohesion and social reproduction. Grounded in these perspectives, some general ideas of Saint Augustine are highlighted, along with their importance in Pedro de Barcelos discourse. Firstly, a proposal on how reading and interpreting the importance of patristic texts is established to that purpose, considering thegeneral value of a concept such as ecclesia is of paramount importance.

A specific focus is granted to the comparison of some ideas contained in the prologue with patristic writings, especially a fundamentaltext (De Civitate Dei)of an author as important as Saint Augustine in shaping medieval conceptions and representations. Is article proposes some interpretative hypothesis regarding the prologue of the Livro de Linhagens do conde D.

The city of god de civitate dei augustine of hippo