Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine's <I>City of God</I>

Abstract

In this volume, Veronica Roberts Ogle offers a new reading of Augustine's political thought as it is presented in City of God. Focusing on the relationship between politics and the earthly city, she argues that a precise understanding of Augustine's vision can only be reached through a careful consideration of the work's rhetorical strategy and sacramental worldview. Ogle draws on Christian theology and political thought, moral philosophy, and semiotic theory to make her argument. Laying out Augustine's understanding of the earthly city, she proceeds by tracing out his rhetorical strategy and concludes by articulating his sacramental vision and the place of politics within it. Ogle thus suggests a new way of determining the status of politics in Augustine's thought. Her study clarifies seemingly contradictory passages in his text, highlights the nuance of his position, and captures the unity of his vision as presented in City of God.

Re‐Creation and Preservation: Augustine and Hobbes on Pride and Fallen Politics

“…As Veronica Roberts Ogle puts it, Augustine conceives of nature as having its own “integrity,” such that “unlike the moderns, his version [of nature] is hardly anarchic. Instead, it is marked by a divinely appointed order” (2021, 160). Further, God recognizes creation as “very good,” not due to an arbitrary fancy that could be otherwise, but because creation is an orderly whole brought to a certain perfection: “many things, all good in themselves, are only found satisfying when they come together and fit into a universal whole,” with “universal” taking its name from “unity” ( Gn.…”

“…Keys relatedly argues that for Augustine the virtue of humility opens the pathway to a recovery of “the true order of justice” (2013, 111). Ogle, in a similar vein as this essay, uses a language of “anticreation” and “healing.” She describes pride and the fall as “a kind of anticreation, a falling away from reality” (2021, 30) and politics' “restoration of peace” as “a way of participating in God's healing work” (166)—a healing work that politics alone cannot accomplish (171).…”

“…A growing literature in religious ethics and political theory has argued instead for a rather more perfectionist Augustine that emphasizes civic virtue and a political life centered on hope and love (Lamb 2018; Gregory 2008; and von Heyking 2001). Some authors have explicitly drawn the conceptual link between Augustinian humility and such a positive political vision (Ogle 2021; Keys 2013).…”

“…Combatting pride, then, involves humility grounded in properly ordered love toward God and neighbor. 7 Much recent work on Augustine's political thought has rightly treated humility as one of its central themes (Ogle 2021;Keys 2013).…”