Author:
CHEN Yi, Ph. D. Candidate, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Peking University, China.
Abstract:
Historia de Duabus Civitatibus is a Catholic chronicle covering history from the time of Adam to 1146, composed by Otto, bishop of Freising. Comparing Augustine's The City of God and this Chronicle, it can be seen that Otto, inheriting Augustine's concept of "Two Cities," regards history on earth as a foreshadowing of the final events in history. By applying the concept of translatio imperii and the decline of secular power in the Book of Daniel to the interpretation of the confrontation between church and empire, Otto challenged the correspondence of "Roman Empire-the City of Earth" and "Church-the City of God." Otto conceives of the empire and the church as the two personae of the City of God, and holds that both the empire and the church on earth share secular attributes.
Keywords:
Otto of Freising, the Book of Daniel, eschatology, Investiture, kingdom and Church
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