Research Paper on:
Augustine, Aquinas and Luther/Role of Government

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
whether it should be limited or absolute in its secular power. Augustine Augustine in his text City of God expresses a very pessimistic opinion of both government and  law, as it he seems to have viewed these institutions are necessary evils that relied on coercive authority for their continued existence. The point that Augustine emphasizes repeatedly in his  text is that the only reason that governments are required due to humanitys fallen state, as he writes that God "did not intend that his rational creature, who was made  in his image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creature-not over man, but man over the beasts" (Augustine). In other words, Augustine sees the imposition of government  over the everyday activity of human affairs as both a punishment and a corrective for sin and the fall of humanity from grace, which occurred in Eden and resulted in  the expulsion of Adam and Eve, which is a fate that humanity brought upon itself. As this implies, for Augustine, the political human beings is necessarily synonymous with a fallen,  sinful human being. Within this framework, he sees government and political coercion as indispensable to achieving and maintaining social order, as government and law are necessary in order to restrain  those who would do evil. Augustine couched his ideas on government within his concept of two cities, an earthly city and a city of God. These two concepts were Augustines  way of characterizing people whose main interests, values and beliefs were temporal and the Christians who subscribed to the values and teachings of the Church. He argues that both groups,  thought very different, could agree that "peace is a good so great, that even in this earthly and mortal life there is no word we hear with such pleasure, nothing