In a 2009 essay in Political Theology , Jamie Smith notes the difference between libertarian freedom and the Augustinian notion of freedom to pursue and do the Good. He puts the matter starkly: Quoting David Burrell, he argues that libertarian freedom “demands ‘that a free agent . . . . Continue Reading »
1. On Jon Huntsman: If Ramesh Ponnuru is right and that Huntsman’s tax plan adds up to a tax increase on middle-class families with children then I think his candidacy is fatally flawed. I just don’t see how you sell middle-class tax increase + high earner tax cut . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Dodaro’s take on Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine confirms Bowlin’s criticisms of Markus. Late in his book, Dodaro summarizes Augustine’s correspondence with Macedonius, vicar of Africa, written in 413/14. Starting from an appeal for clemency for . . . . Continue Reading »
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 »
1. Unlike Peter, I don’t think that Gingrich’s flip-flops and sell outs have been fully priced in by Republican primary voters. Don’t get me wrong. Many voters are very sympathetic to Gingrich and like what he has said (and especially his style) in debates. . . . . 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’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 »
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: “when all reservations have been made, there can be little doubt that it is right to treat the growth of political ideas, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as a branch of ecclesiastical history. With a few exceptions religion or the interests of some religious body . . . . Continue Reading »
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