For the positivist political scientist, focused on polls, percentages, and prognostications, Augustine’s sprawling masterpiece—City of God (De civitate Dei)—is apt to seem a morass of mythology and otherworldly speculation. For the first 90 minute session, we will focus on two stories of the fall, the dual invention of sin, and Augustine’s struggle not to have to concede to the impossibility of perfection, here or above. For the second session, we will turn more directly to political matters and especially to the “twilight” perspective that Augustine takes us all inescapably to have on true peace.