Freed from original sin, the City of God is the perfection of harmony between God and human beings. In his book, Augustine then finally dispels the idea of the Roman Empire being the earthly establishment of God's kingdom. It was simply too imperfect. Hence, he promoted the separation of Church and state as entities with two distinct purposes on earth.

Because of this separation, Augustine holds that Christians cannot feel fully at home in any society. Because these societies are imperfect, they are but temporary homes for Christians. Because they are imperfect, no society has the purpose of eternal salvation. Furthermore, Christian hope does not rely on any form of society or political program.

Human imperfection for Augustine meant that the Gospel was a permanently unsettling force to prevent total Christian identification with the social order. For these reasons, the heavenly Jerusalem as described by Augustine cannot exist on earth....
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