Defending political Augustinianism: Brague and Taubes on the "divine" as a common conceptual space
Augustine holds that each society needs to be oriented to "God and the good." He invidiously compares the earthly city as receptive to the true God with the earthly city as opposed to the true God, and he resolutely holds that only an earthly city oriented to the true God can be genuinely...
| Published in: | Political theology |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2017]
|
| In: |
Political theology
|
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint 354-430
/ The Divine
/ Taubes, Jacob 1923-1987
/ Brague, Rémi 1947-
/ Natural law
|
| IxTheo Classification: | KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history NBC Doctrine of God |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Augustine holds that each society needs to be oriented to "God and the good." He invidiously compares the earthly city as receptive to the true God with the earthly city as opposed to the true God, and he resolutely holds that only an earthly city oriented to the true God can be genuinely described as just and legitimate. At first glance this "political Augustinianism" hardly seems very attractive to non-believers or defensible in the eyes of modern secular liberals, and yet in this article I wish to defend it and commend it universally, that is, to promote its benefits and critical insights beyond religious circles. I commend an emphasis on "the divine" (to theion), rather than on God (ho theos), as a bridge to God for believers but also, and more importantly in the West's present liberal pluralist context, as a common halting place where believers and non-believers alike can sense "the beyond" (Augustine's "God and the good") in their midst. I develop my argument that the "divine," thus understood, can provide us with a common conceptual space where we can abide, converse, and even agree: (i) by engaging with Jacob Taubes who powerfully criticises such an emphasis on the "divine," (ii) by considering "divine" natural law as a bridge and halting place between immanence and transcendence, and (iii) by reflecting upon the work of Rémi Brague who has recently given powerful support to the importance and utility in the present intellectual climate of the divine (to theion) as a bridge to God (ho theos). |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Das Heft ist als Doppelheft erschienen "Volume 18 Numbers 1-2 February-March 2017" |
| ISSN: | 1462-317X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2016.1262609 |