ABSTRACT
It would be ridiculous but not entirely misleading to say that St. Augustine did not believe in death. To be more precise, Augustine held that for the Christian believer, freed from his sin by repentance and forgiven by God’s grace, death at the close of this life means entry into an everlasting life where the goodness of the life we know is enhanced and completed while its evils vanish. Augustine narrates a few more deaths, some taking place at an unspecified later date, including his son’s and Nebridius’, but as all die as Christians, they are treated as a matter of course or even as a cause of celebration, if further conversions were involved. Augustine’s endorsement of obedience to and participation in human government and law clarifies other passages in The City of God which might otherwise be ambiguous in their import for Christians.
