Augustine and the Limits of Politics by Jean Bethke Elshtain (English) Hardcover

Description: Augustine and the Limits of Politics by Jean Bethke Elshtain An analysis of the thought and work of Augustine, the ancient thinker. This study presents Augustines arguments against the pridefulness of philosophy, thereby linking him to later currents in modern thought, including Wittgenstein and Freud. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Jean Bethke Elshtain brings Augustines thought into the contemporary political arena and presents an Augustine who created a complex moral map that offers space for loyalty, love, and care, as well as a chastened form of civic virtue. The result is a controversial book about one of the worlds greatest and most complex thinkers whose thought continues to haunt all of Western political philosophy. What is our business "within this common mortal life?" Augustine asks and bids us to ask ourselves. What can Augustine possibly have to say about the conditions that characterize our contemporary society and appear to put democracy in crisis? Who is Augustine for us now and what do his words have to do with political theory? These are the underlying questions that animate Jean Bethke Elshtains fascinating engagement with the thought and work of Augustine, the ancient thinker who gave no political theory per se and refused to offer up a positive utopia. In exploring the questions, Why Augustine, why now? Elshtain brings Augustines thought into the contemporary political arena and presents an Augustine who created a complex moral map that offers space for loyalty, love, and care, as well as a chastened form of civic virtue. The result is a controversial book about one of the worlds greatest and most complex thinkers, one whose thought continues to haunt all of Western political philosophy. In making Augustines thought relevant to the contemporary world Elshtain discusses how, for Augustine, wisdom comes from experiencing fully the ambiguity and division that characterized the human condition after the fall, and how human beings are fated to narrate their lives within temporality and to work at gathering together a self and forging a coherent identity. This is the central feature of what Augustine called our business "within this mortal life," and he insisted that any politics that disdains this business, this caring for the quotidian, is a dangerous or misguided or misplaced politics. Elshtain argues that Augustines great works display a canny and scrupulous attunement to the here and now and the very real limits therein. She discusses other aspects of Augustines thought as well, including his insistence that no human city can be modeled on the heavenly city, and further elaborates on Hannah Arendts deep indebtedness to Augustines understanding of evil. Elshtain also presents Augustines arguments against the pridefulness of philosophy, thereby linking him to later currents in modern thought, including Wittgenstein and Freud. Author Biography Jean Bethke Elshtain (1941-2013) was the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her books included Democracy on Trial (1995) and Real Politics: At the Center of Everyday Life (1997). Review "Augustine and the Limits of Politics should be required reading for undegraduates, graduates and scholars interested in Augustine, the current identity debate, or the theory and ethics of war and peace."--Journal of Religion and Culture "Professor Elshtain has written an engaged, impassioned and highly personal book chronicling her own engagements with the writings of St. Augustine, and her own attempts to apply Augustines political, social and ethical thought so as to make sense of present-day crises and anxieties."--International Studies in Philosophy "[This] is a book that does much to rectify the kind of continuous injustice done Augustine by the modern secular world. People who have only a passing acquaintance with Augustine, and judge him mainly by prevailing attitudes, can learn much from Augustine and the Limits of Politics. . . . It is an intelligent, warm, and well-informed discussion."--American Political Science Review "[Her] book is engagingly and charmingly written, and gently provokes the reader to take another look at Augustine."--Dialogue "This very engaging, very philosophical, and yet very personal book reintroduces Augustine to the heart of modern political philosophy. . . . All readers seriously interested in Augustine and responsive to him will welcome Elshtains book as a refreshing breeze."--Theological Studies "Elstains hope is to reach those, especially among political philosophers and theologians, who have rejected Augustinian philosophy because of what has become the unjust but widespread tradition that he is a pessimist, a misogynist, a narcissist, and irrelevant to contemporary problems. With passion, Elshtain argues that the time is ripe for a reconsideration of Augustines Confessions and City of God."--Review of Metaphysics "In Augustine and the Limits of Politics (1995), Elshtain engages in dialogue with a fourth- and fifth-century Christian theologian to explore issues of limitation and human evil in the political realm."--Religious Studies Review "Augustine provides us, as Elshtain puts it, a complex moral map that offers space for loyalty and love and care, as well as for a chastened form of civic virtue (p. 91). This is not a guidebook to Utopia but a solid critical discipline for negotiating the affairs of the day."--Academic Press "Elshtain attains rare achievement of a work that is both creatively erudite, and streamlined. An almost fat-free volume, Augustine and the Limits of Politics is inter-disciplinary enough to recommend itself to a broad range of people, from political philosophers, to historians of thought, to theologians."--Journal of Religion and Culture Prizes Winner of Christianity Today Book Award (Top 25) 1997 Long Description Now with a new foreword by Patrick J. Deneen. Jean Bethke Elshtain brings Augustines thought into the contemporary political arena and presents an Augustine who created a complex moral map that offers space for loyalty, love, and care, as well as a chastened form of civic virtue. The result is a controversial book about one of the worlds greatest and most complex thinkers whose thought continues to haunt all of Western political philosophy. What is our business "within this common mortal life?" Augustine asks and bids us to ask ourselves. What can Augustine possibly have to say about the conditions that characterize our contemporary society and appear to put democracy in crisis? Who is Augustine for us now and what do his words have to do with political theory? These are the underlying questions that animate Jean Bethke Elshtains fascinating engagement with the thought and work of Augustine, the ancient thinker who gave no political theory per se and refused to offer up a positive utopia. In exploring the questions, Why Augustine, why now? Elshtain argues that Augustines great works display a canny and scrupulous attunement to the here and now and the very real limits therein. She discusses other aspects of Augustines thought as well, including his insistence that no human city can be modeled on the heavenly city, and further elaborates on Hannah Arendts deep indebtedness to Augustines understanding of evil. Elshtain also presents Augustines arguments against the pridefulness of philosophy, thereby linking him to later currents in modern thought, including Wittgenstein and Freud. Review Quote "This very engaging, very philosophical, and yet very personal book reintroduces Augustine to the heart of modern political philosophy. . . . All readers seriously interested in Augustine and responsive to him will welcome Elshtains book as a refreshing breeze." -- Theological Studies Details ISBN0268006458 Author Jean Bethke Elshtain Pages 144 Publisher University of Notre Dame Press Series Frank M.Covey, Jr., Loyola Lectures in Political Analysis S. Year 1996 ISBN-10 0268006458 ISBN-13 9780268006457 Format Hardcover Publication Date 1996-02-15 Imprint University of Notre Dame Press Place of Publication Notre Dame IN Country of Publication United States DEWEY 189.2 Birth 1941 Language English Media Book DOI 10.1604/9780268006457 Audience Professional and Scholarly UK Release Date 1996-02-15 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:126564344;

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