St. Augustine’s Philosophy of “the City of God” and its Relevance on the Morality of Education in Africa

Augustine wrote about the of City of God to encourage Christians living in the Roman Empire by offering them a Christian and eternal perspective of history. He focused on the message that, even if the Roman Empire fell; the city of God would not. Even if they became displaced and exiled in the earthly city, they would never lose their citizenship in heaven. The study applied desktop review methodology to get relevant literature. The goal of this paper was to examine Augustine’s understanding his philosophy of history – ‘City of God’ and its relevance in moral education. The paper presents introduction and background of St. Augustine’s philosophy, the analogy of two cities according to St. Augustine, the concept of disordered love according to St. Augustine, African traditional education system, conceptual analysis of education focusing on the philosophy of St. Augustine, and conclusion and recommendation. This study concluded that, currently, African education system has relaxed in imparting morality and values among learners. Unlike many corporations which have emerged and collapsed, most educational institutions are still thriving in many parts of the world including Africa (Otara, 2012). The study recommends that, education processes must be done in a manner that is morally acceptable. Education programmes should bring about a positive change in the state of the mind of the recipient which must be directed at achieving a desirable goal (Peters, 2010). African ministries of education and other stakeholders should prepare learners capable of exploiting talents and develop culture to love work. The study also recommends that, education stakeholders should help learners to think creatively and solve problems, and integrate civic and moral education in their education curriculum. Keyword: St. Augustine, City of God, Education, Africa