Any attempt to redefine Christianity for the 21st century and beyond has to begin by paying homage to St Augustine, the father of Christian orthodoxy. Augustine’s formative idea of the City of God, that supplied institutional Christianity with both its structural form and doctrinal substance, still is -- and always will be -- a necessary idea. But his conclusions built on that idea, as well as the resulting psychological, philosophical, and ethical way of life that followed, can become obsolete when examined in the light of contemporary scientific discovery. However, Augustinian sacrifice and commitment to belief that led to those conclusions, presented -- argumentatively -- in his monumental work aptly entitled ‘The City of God,’ never can become obsolete. By revisiting institutional Christianity, with equal sacrifice and commitment, we can redefine St Augustine’s idea of the City of God to give it -- and Christianity itself -- continuing life in the 21st century and the centuries to follow.

        Any revisiting of Augustinian Christianity has to start with the Garden of Eden story because any understanding of the Christian mythological structure depends on the believer’s interpretation of that creation myth. St Augustine’s City of God is a Yahwistic City built on the premise that accepts "God" in Eden as being the authentic, One True God superior to all other "gods." In contrast, the 21st century City of God is a Serpent City built on the premise that accepts the Serpent as the authentic God of the formative Eden story. The Serpent, then, resides in the individual, in the "psyche," and can be brought to life while that individual lives. Thus the Serpent City of God is an earthly city to whose creation all individuals can contribute. St Augustine’s institutionally defining work, ‘The City of God,’ offers a clear, coherent, and cogent expression of mythological promise -- as governed by his concept of time and by his scientific understanding of the world around him. The 21st century’s answer to Augustine’s rhetorical majesty can offer a similarly clear, coherent, and cogent expression of that promise -- as governed by our concept of time and by our scientific understanding of the world around us.

        Dr Carl Jung, in his distinguished work ‘The Undiscovered Self,’ commented that he was "convinced that it is not Christianity, but our conception of it, that has become antiquated in the face of the present world situation." Our "conception" of Christianity has been shaped by Augustinian conclusions logically presented in ‘The City of God.’ Our "antiquated" "conception" of Christianity can give way to a more applicable, contemporary "conception" if we view what Dr Jung called "the Christian symbol" as, he continues, "a living thing that carries within itself the seeds of further development."

        Christianity, as revealed in the Old and New Testament, offered St Augustine the certainty he was searching for in contrast to the more speculative thought associated with traditional philosophy from Plato to Porphyry. The sacred scriptures offered what Augustine saw as Divine Wisdom that had to be superior to any mere human wisdom. With that biblical authority providing him with necessary support, St Augustine was able to create a solid, logical argument built on the premise that accepted Yahweh -- the ‘God’ in Eden -- as The One True God and Creator of the Universe.

        The Yahwistic logic that followed, and that governed the moral and ethical conduct of the individuals subject to its influence, carried with it the weight of truth as long as its major premise could be accepted as being true itself. St Augustine’s thought, embraced by the established, imperially supported Orthodox Church of the fifth century, emerged as a philosophy of the masses. That philosophy, that mythological structure, outlined a noble purpose to life that, in turn, offered the obedient individual the reward of eternal citizenship in the Heavenly City of God. The disobedient individual faced the alternative to this reward -- an eternity of punishment in the equally majestic, subterranean Kingdom of Hell. Fear of that "Dark" Kingdom helped create an aura of obedience to a mythological structure which then provided for the moral, psychological, and philosophical certainty that characterized Augustine’s argument -- built on the acceptance of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden of Eden.

        To this day Augustine’s thought remains -- and will remain -- a powerful testament to logical validity. But the conception of time that governed his thought and the scientific understanding that accompanied it no longer can apply to any equally committed and equally sacrificial thought that may characterize our day. Augustine’s Yahwistic, original sin "Grand Design" remains logically valid, but examined in light of contemporary scientific exploration and discovery, it no longer carries with it the weight of truth. Augustine’s Yahwistic, original sin premise is not true when we view it in relation to our contemporary concept of time and the accompanying scientific understanding of the universe. Thus it is time to revisit Augustinian Christianity, in accord with contemporary science, to recapture the mythological structure that can provide for necessary moral, psychological, and philosophical certainty.

        Without revisiting Augustinian Christianity, whether individually or collectively, we are left with moral, psychological, and philosophical uncertainty where, at best, everything is "relative." And the mythological order that accompanied the once-established certainty is reduced to chaos, which is the natural result of the inevitable disintegration of Augustine’s "Grand Design" built on his Yahwistic, original sin foundation. That major premise carries with it the weight of truth only if the incidents described in the Eden story are historically and scientifically accurate, in the manner St Augustine accepted them. To accept them as such in his era, and probably even as late as Neil Armstrong’s and Buzz Aldrin’s landing on the moon in July of 1969, is understandable and even convincing. But that same acceptance, given our contemporary, scientific understanding of time and the universe, is neither understandable nor convincing today when we have stepped across the threshold of the 21st century.

        To retreat into that acceptance in the face of visible moral, psychological, and philosophical chaos is to retreat into a past that cannot, and should not, be recaptured. Such a retreat into obsolescence, no matter how impressive the numbers, is more destructive than creative. It is to turn that which once was true into a lie because we cannot "live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning," as Dr Jung concludes in his study of the ‘Stages of Life.’ To revisit Augustinian Christianity, to discover the Serpent as the authentic God of Eden and to reason from that premise -- free from the constraints of original sin -- is to follow the more creative path in the face of the life-threatening chaos that characterizes our day. By following that path we can discover the moral, psychological, and philosophical certainty that is compatible with our contemporary understanding of time and its accompanying, scientific explanation of the creation of mankind and of the universe itself.

        The 21st-century answer to fifth-century Augustinian Christianity, now reflective of the majesty that was, should present a clear and cogent vision of the majesty that could be. In that regard the 21st-century answer should represent the fulfillment of Dante’s statement of faith that he expressed to St Peter at the gates of Paradise in his ‘Divine Comedy.’ When St Peter asked him about the meaning of faith, Dante replied: "Faith is the substance of the things we hope for and an argument for the things unseen." Examined in that light, Augustinian Christianity is a statement of faith commensurate with the scientific knowledge of his time -- held together, until the mid-20th century, by the imposing force of the Church. The 21st-century answer to Augustine’s fifth-century orthodoxy should offer a similar statement of faith -- only it has to be commensurate with the wondrous scientific knowledge of our day that only can become more wondrous in the days to come. As a statement of faith, Christianity for the 21st century has to be reinforced, rather than refuted, by that scientific knowledge.

        Christianity for the 21st century, in redefining Augustine’s idea of institutional supremacy, can only present a clear vision of the promise that could be. It cannot present a clear vision of the promise that will be. Christianity for the 21st century and beyond leaves it up to the individual, inspired by love and not motivated by fear, to live in fulfillment of its creative vision. It is a vision of faith built on the Serpent premise, and the volumes of "creative mythology" representing the literary heritage of Western Civilization, from Homeric Greece to Faulknerian America, constitute its sacred scripture. The moral, psychological, and philosophical certainty presented in Christianity for the 21st century is that expressed repeatedly in "the Hero with a thousand faces" -- with Christ being one of them. And that body of "creative mythology," in contrast to the "traditional mythology" of the orthodox authority, provides Christianity for the 21st century with the authority it needs to match that of its Augustinian counterpart born in the fifth century.

        The Augustinian epoch of the Christian era of Western Civilization is over. To revisit Augustinian Christianity is to meet the challenge that ending presents. As mythologist Joseph Campbell declares in ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’: "Only birth can defeat death." Revisiting the Garden of Eden story, and the original sin mythology built upon it, can lead to that birth. It can lead to the birth of a contemporary "Serpent Christianity" -- as opposed to the "antiquated" "Yahwistic Christianity" -- that, consciously realized, can offer the 21st century and beyond a clear, coherent, and cogent vision of the mythological promise that awaits us all.