Let’s Move Closer To The City of God

With the imminent arrival of Lent, an observance that American Catholics might consider during this time of introspection and penitence would be to acquire a bit of education about the faith. Two headlines from the past year seem to imply that many Catholic in the U.S. have little sense of what their church truly offers. The disconnect between what Christ tries to give to his people and what they perceive is not just a matter of personal belief, but one that has profound potential import for the world.

In late 2022, the Pew Center for the Study of Religion released an analysis that indicated that if membership attrition in Christian churches continued on its current trajectory, Christ’s followers would comprise a minority of the American population within 30 years. Unfortunately, the downward slope was more pronounced for Catholicism than almost any other major denomination. This finding coincided with another report by Pew that confirmed certain data put forth by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops which confirmed that the majority of American Catholics do not believe in transubstantiation of the eucharist, and more generally, that many have limited belief in the basic tenets of the faith.

There is something of a confluence of thought from very influential and important, but quite divergent figures, that the loss of religious faith is not just a matter of personal belief, but has societal implications when it occurs on a large scale as is apparently happening in the United States.  Conversely, certain of these individuals, like many of the Founding Fathers, posited that religious belief is necessary for functioning democracy or republic.

Observing the general decline in religious faith in the twentieth century, the great psychologist, Carl Jung, hypothesized that belief does not evaporate, but rather seeks its own level. If religious belief cannot be sustained, that faith is transferred elsewhere. In a commentary that would likely seem quite familiar to most Americans, Jung posited that political movements often become imbued with the faith that once resided in religion.  As such, it is a rather interesting corollary that as religious faith has declined in the U.S., political vitriol and messianism has increased. Looking at the matter on a broader spectrum, Jung also observed that a lack of religious faith resulted in an increase in psychological problems and neuroses.  As religious faith in the US has slowly moved to political movements, following Jung’s logic, it is perhaps unsurprising that fear and hatred have increased.

But what of the source of this transfer of belief? The roots of the problem are likely myriad, and many are beyond the ability of most lay Catholics to address.  But there is one potential cause on which the faithful can potentially act: the crisis of meaning.

Jung and many other psychologists, and ranks of philosophers, have stated that meaning is one of the most important elements of human life.  For Jung, meaning often could be found in religious belief.   Faith provided the sacred fire that illuminated existence and gave life purpose.  Jung had great reservations about the danger this fire potentially posed when it was extinguished in systems of belief that had ethical safeguards and was kindled in other arenas.

Part of the problem that Jung observed was the growing materialism America that he saw as deadening the soul and robbing life of meaning and purpose, and also draining away religious faith.  Other earlier figures, such as Arthur Schopenhauer went a step further in looking at the importance of meaning for humanity and posited that the pursuit of happiness instead of meaning was absurd, bordering on madness in its unachieveability and banality. From a very cold humor, Schopenhauer argued that only striving for meaning and purpose in life could give the individual true fulfillment.  While Schopenhauer was quite anti-Christian in his views, the arguments that he makes have strong Christian underpinnings and relevance, along with Jung’s, for the contemporary Church.

But perhaps a more orthodox perspective provides the clearest lens through which to view the current dilemma.  St. Augustine effectively addressed all of these issues in his theological masterpiece, The City of God.  Augustine wrote The City of God as a defense of Christianity against the charge that it was to blame for the fall of the Rome to the Visigoths in 410.

Living in  a highly pluralistic society, Augustine had to address many of the same issues as do contemporary religious leaders and theologians. But despite the widespread mis-interpretation of the title of his work, the City of God does not stand in opposition to the City of Man. Augustine metaphorically argued that the Earthly City was a diminished version of the City of God. Pagan Romans were not inherently evil, but generally strove for the greatest good that could be achieved by an unredeemed humanity, which he viewed as earthly peace.

This perspective sprung from Augustine’s interpretation of Genesis and the fall of mankind. Augustine viewed humanity’s turning from God in the Garden of Eden as an embrace of self instead of God.  But without God, the self, in Augustine’s words became ‘compacted,’ or diminished, not evil.  The Earthly City therefore represents the extent of this compacted human self.  The limits of what humanity could aspire to achieve in terms of good are evident to Augustine in the flawed nature of society, in imperfect justice and mercy and in the wanton materialism that permeated Rome.

In as much as mankind had turned from God and lived a diminished existence in the Earthly City because of its decision, by turning again to God through Christ, humanity can return to the City of God, or its true, undiminished nature as intended by God.  Thus dying to oneself, in the terms of St. Paul, becomes a finding of the true self that is so much greater in God.  Nothing is lost and everything is gained.  In the City of God, humanity reaches what God always intended it to be, something perfected and its true self.

But what do these allegories and metaphors of an ancient saint mean for American Catholics in 2023?  When taken with the observations and theories of Jung and Schopenhauer, they potentially mean quite a lot.

Returning to the headlines of 2022 about the state of Catholicism in the United States, and its current trajectory, it appears that many Catholics are mostly living in the proverbial Earthly City of St. Augustine, or, unfortunately, in a diminished or compacted state.  With diminished belief, as evidenced by the relatively lukewarm embrace of major tenets of the faith, there can only be a compacted life.

Following the logic of Jung, the faith that no longer exists in Catholicism now resides elsewhere: perhaps in politics, other causes or just the simple amassing of creature comforts.  While Augustine does not see these pursuits as inherently evil, they are at best diminished and clearly not truly fulfilling, as evidenced by the relative dissatisfaction that most Americans have with their lives and the larger culture in general.  Schopenhauer would likely see such pursuits at best as flawed and at worst complete delusional.  But perhaps it is Jung who takes the dimmer and more realistic view.  He saw the ominous potential of the pursuit of meaning in banal places. When the sacred fire of faith is removed from the temple and brought to the civic square, Jung feared that it had the potential to burn down the entire city.

As the United States enters the new year, there is a vitriol in the public discourse that borders on being hysterical.  Politicians and entire segments of society are deemed and believed to be inherently and irredeemably evil, and violence and bloodshed in support of political positions seems more and more acceptable.  Taking a page from Augustine, the current ethos in much of American society could arguably be seen as Manichean, given the current emphasis on absolute good and evil and the struggle between these forces on an earthly plain, rather than Christian with its faith in God as the ultimate power.

The ramifications of this seeping of faith out of the Church and toward non-religious creeds is increasingly apparent in the United States.  But its impact on the rest of the world, given America’s preeminent position remains to be felt and could be disastrous should the growing political and national messianism in the U.S. be projected on different areas of the globe.

So what is an ordinary American Catholic to do?  One of the best responses would be to find meaning again in his or her faith.  As Augustine makes clear, this does not entail giving up, but rather fulfilling.  It is about restoration oneself to what God always wanted us to be.  In allowing God to perfect us, we find true meaning and real peace that can then be brought to the world.

In seeking his own migration to the City of God, Augustine focused greatly on the redemption that God offers in Christ through his atonement for sin.  This realization gave true peace and was transformative for the saint.  Attaining virtue was less important and came with this transformation.  Perhaps this realization of his own sinfulness and redemption, and his faith in God as the ultimate and eternal, allowed Augustine to take such sanguine view of his pagan neighbors and to have true peace in times of tremendous turmoil.  The same quiet strength is desperately needed in the United States today.

Augustine faced a society that was infinitely more hostile to the Christian faith than is the contemporary American culture, yet he could see diminished good in it and thereby was able to help transform it.  In many ways, he is a saint for the modern age and the study of his works this Lent are one way that Catholics in the United States might be able to find meaning and purpose again in their faith.  While a complete read of City of God during Lent would be an admirable undertaking and could even be considered penitential given its length, there is no shortage of edifying material on the Internet that will provide a good understanding of Augustine’s theology.  Some of the best free sources are the lectures by David Theroux.

Lent is a beautiful opportunity to move a bit closer to the City of God.  It is forty days to prepare for the celebration of  our redemption and transformation. It is an invitation to journey away from the elements of our being that are diminished, compacted and broken and toward something more glorious; toward what God always wanted us to be, a reflection of his own love and perfection.