Between Presumption and Despair
Augustine's Hope for the Commonwealth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3601710 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Lamb (0000-0001-9165-5229, Wake Forest University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 112 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1036-1049 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003055418000345 |
| OpenAlex | W2885456856 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 36 |
Many political theorists dismiss Augustine as a pessimist about politics, assuming his "otherworldly" account of love precludes hope for this-worldly politics. This article challenges this pessimism by applying recent research on Augustine's "order of love" to reconstruct his implicit order of hope. Analyzing neglected sermons, letters, and treatises, I argue that Augustine encourages hope for temporal goods as long as that hope is rightly ordered and avoids the corresponding vices of presumption and despair. I then identify "civic peace" as a common object of hope that diverse citizens can share. By recovering hope as a virtue and reframing civic peace as a positive form of civic friendship, I argue that Augustine commends a hope for the commonwealth that avoids both presumption and despair. I conclude by analyzing how Augustine's vision of the commonwealth can inform contemporary political theory and practice
Commonwealth · Economics · Epistemology · Friendship · Law and economics · Order (exchange · Pessimism · Political science · Politics · Presumption · Social science · Sociology · Virtue · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
Hope in a Democratic Age
Democracy in America
The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine
Public Things
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy
Giving Injustice Its Due
Justice as Fairness
Philosophy and Public Affairs
The Therapy of Desire
Self/Power/Other
Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism
Christianity and the Secular
Adam Smith as Theologian
Christianity and Contemporary Politics
Radical Hope
The Human Condition
The Human Condition
Democracy in America
Theology and Social Theory
Aquinas and the Virtues of Hope
Poor Economics
Early Christian Political Philosophy
Upheavals of Thought
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2022 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |