2018 Reprint of 1951 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. Abridged by F.R. Montgomery Hitchcock. This handy edition of Augustine's classic is intended to provide easy access to this otherwise formidable treatise. The editor selects the most important passages in the work, then links these passages with comments demonstrating the overall argument Augustine intended to make. St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defense of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends the best political experiences of the world and offers citizenship that will last for eternity, is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.