Harbingers of opulence and prophets of doom—ranging from Joachim of Fiore to Joseph Smith or Karl Marx—have existed since time immemorial. Saint Augustine’s magnum opus, The City of God, is a sober reminder that those who promise heaven can only bring forth hell.
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What Is a Utopia?
The term “utopia” was coined by Saint Thomas More in his 1516 book of the same name in order to describe a perfect society that mankind should strive to build. In More’s ideal world, private property is a mere relic of a barbarous past, resources are shared commonly, rulers care about the well-being of the people, and human fraternity is sovereign. More dreamed of a world rid of all economic and social woes.
Nevertheless, More acknowledged that creating his utopia would be a daunting task that could not possibly be done overnight. And even though his work was a call to action for individuals to pursue a more equitable society in spite of the utopia’s unattainability, it would be ludicrous beyond words to blame More for the atrocities of the Soviet Union.
In a similar vein, thinkers who would later be known as “utopian socialists” have also sketched a society purged of injustice and earthly ills. Such stalwarts of an ideal heaven on Earth would include Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen, to name a few. The calamitous outcome of their ideas is a completely different topic (see, for instance, how the Israeli socialist communes, also known as kibbutzim, had trouble surviving and were forced to adopt various degrees of private ownership).
Roma Aeterna?
Augustine was not enticed by dreams of an earthly paradise. His life was marked by the social unrest of a declining Roman Empire. Barbarians at the gates, economic challenges, rampant degeneracy—lo and behold, Rome, the eternal city, is on the verge of collapse.
Augustine wrote The City of God as a response to the pagans who tried to cast Christianity in a shameful light. Pagans have blamed the decline of Rome on the spread of Christianity and the abandonment of the traditional pagan religion. But Augustine took such accusations with a grain of salt. Christianity had nothing to do with the decline of Rome since Christianity focuses on mystical concerns that transcend vulgar politics.
The doctrine of original sin pervades Augustine’s thought. Augustine saw mankind as corrupt and heavily flawed. In a word, fallen. The sin of Adam and Eve will forever permeate human societies. Failure ought to be expected at any time, and attempts to create an earthly paradise are therefore bound to be vain. Civilizations die, empires collapse, and time marches on, crushing everything in its path. Only sin and wretchedness remain.
In a similar fashion, 20th century political philosopher Eric Voegelin repudiated utopian fantasies, claiming that they are imbued with a false sense of “gnosis,” or hidden knowledge, that utopians presume to possess exclusively.
A Clash of Two Cities
That being said, what does the title of Augustine’s seminal book mean? Augustine contrasted two cities that are diametrically opposed: the Earthly City (civitas terrena) and the City of God (civitas Dei). The first city is plagued by sin, fleshly desire, carnal pleasures, materialism, hedonism, and moral corruption. The second city, the city of God, is a spiritual realm that transcends physical boundaries and geographical frontiers, where virtue would reign and where good would finally triumph over evil.
There is, however, a caveat. Men can never build the City of God alone, nor should they believe themselves capable of doing so. They are condemned to dwell in the Earthly City. The quest for a perfect society is therefore illusory insofar as we live in the vile civitas terrena.
The Road to Utopia Leads to Serfdom
Serious political implications can be drawn from Augustine’s idea. It offers a solid explanation as to why governments are inexorably prone to corruption. Man is inherently flawed, and his wicked nature gives rise to a desire to dominate (“libido dominandi”).
Such skepticism towards authority would be voiced for centuries. In the 19th century, French economist Frédéric Bastiat asked lucidly: “If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of the organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or are they made of a finer clay than the rest of us?”
Likewise, Lord Acton, a prominent British Catholic thinker, warned that power tends to corrupt and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. And that is the fatal flaw with utopian schemes, especially those that involve a central government and a brotherhood of men living happily together. Does this ring a bell?