In a 1997 articles in the Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics , John Bowlin critiques the accounts of the “contradictions” or “tensions” between Augustine’s overall political theology and his advocacy of coercing Donatists into the church. Bowlin takes on RL . . . . Continue Reading »
Early on in Politics & the Order of Love , Eric Gregory comments, in response to anti-liberal Augustinians like Milbank and Hauerwas, that “theological orthodoxy and political liberalism are not alternative answers to the same question.” Analyzing Gregory’s work in the Journal . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine from a sermon on the two tablets: “the Decalogue pertains to the two precepts, that is, those of love for God and neighbor. Three strings belong to the first precept because God is Trinity. While to the other precept, that is, love for the neighbor, there are seven strings: how one . . . . Continue Reading »
One of Gregory’s contributions is to show the central relevance of Augustine’s distinction of use and enjoyment to political thought. He notes early on that “Arendt recognizes that Augustine’s greatest question may not be that he became a question to himself. Rather, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Eric Gregory offers this wise counsel: “Words do not work the same way in normative theorizing as they do in historical inquiry. It is enough that ‘Donatist,’ ‘Pelagian,’ and “Manichean’ exist as live options in moral, political, and religious discourse - . . . . Continue Reading »
Eric Gregory’s Politics & the Order of Love is challenging, witty, beautifully written. He interrogates various versions of political Augustinianism, especially Augustinianism in relation to liberal order - the Augustinian realism of Niebuhr, a Rawlsian Augustinian procedural liberalism, . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s often noted, but during this Advent the point struck home with particular force: John begins his gospel with the incarnational gospel that the “Word became flesh and tabernacled ( skenoo ) among us.” God the Word descends from heaven to pitch His tent with men. But that . . . . Continue Reading »
When Israel gathers to hear the book of Moses read, the people begin to weep. Nehemiah exhorts them, “This day is holy to Yahweh your God; do not mourn or weep.” Ezra then reads the law, the Levites explain it, and the people go out for a “great rejoicing,” because . . . . Continue Reading »
Figgis notes that all the great questions of political theory from the late middle ages to Locke and beyond were first formulated with reference to the church: “Whatever we may think now, there is no doubt that such words as king, republic, aristocracy, and the maxims of the civil law, were . . . . Continue Reading »
Figgis again, speaking of the theory of the conciliarist movement: “Speculation on the possible power of the Council, as the true depositary of sovereignty within the Church, drove the thinkers to treat the Church definitely as one of a class, political societies. If it cannot be said that . . . . Continue Reading »
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