Christian History Meets Constitutional History: John Courtney Murray's Augustinian Political Theology of the American Founding

Much has been written of John Courtney Murray's reception of Thomas Aquinas. Although not totally misplaced, this near-exclusive attention to Aquinas's role in Murray's thought has obscured the contributions of an equally important figure - Augustine of Hippo - to Murray's politi...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wieboldt, Dennis J. ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2024
In: Horizons
Year: 2024, Volume: 51, Issue: 1, Pages: 134-162
IxTheo Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBQ North America
Further subjects:B The City of God
B Thomism
B Augustine of Hippo
B Thomas Aquinas
B John Courtney Murray
B We Hold These Truths
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Much has been written of John Courtney Murray's reception of Thomas Aquinas. Although not totally misplaced, this near-exclusive attention to Aquinas's role in Murray's thought has obscured the contributions of an equally important figure - Augustine of Hippo - to Murray's political theology. This article thus offers a novel survey of Murray's seminal We Hold These Truths and reveals that Augustine's theory of Divine Providence, as articulated in The City of God, circumscribed Murray's Thomism. With the hope of reconciling differences between American Catholics and non-Catholics at mid-century, Murray relied upon two of the most influential theologians in western Christianity to assert that Divine Providence led the Founding Fathers to place the natural law and religious liberty at the foundation of the American republic.
ISSN:2050-8557
Contains:Enthalten in: Horizons
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/hor.2024.8