The study of Augustine's political teachings has suffered from a history of misreadings, both ancient and modern. It is only in recent years that the traditional lines of 'Augustinian pessimism' have been opened to question. Scholars have begun to explore the broader lines of Augustine's political thought in his letters and sermons, and thus have been able to place his classic text, The City of God, in its proper context. The essays in this volume take stock of these recent developments and revisit old assumptions about the significance of Augustine of Hippo for political thought. They do so from many different perspectives, examining the anthropological and theological underpinnings of Augustine's thought, his critique of politics, his development of his own political thought, and some of the later manifestations or uses of his thought in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and today. This new vision is at once more bracing, more hopeful, and more diverse than earlier readings could have allowed.

John Doody is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Kevin L. Hughes is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. Kim Paffenroth is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Iona College.

Chapter 1 Dedicatory PrefaceChapter 2 IntroductionChapter 3 Human Nature and Virtue in Relation to PoliticsChapter 4 United Inwardly by Love: Augustine's Social OntologyChapter 5 Truthfulness as the Bond of SocietyChapter 6 Friendship as Personal, Social, and Theological Virtue in AugustineChapter 7 Freedom Beyond Our Choosing: Augustine on the Will and Its ObjectsChapter 8 Augustine's Theory and Critique of PoliticsChapter 9 Between the Two Cities: Political Action in Augustine of HippoChapter 10 Democracy and Its DemonsChapter 11 Local Politics: The Political Place of the Household in Augustine's City of GodChapter 12 Augustine and the Politics of MonasticismChapter 13 The Glory and Tragedy of PoliticsChapter 14 Augustinian Influence and PerspectivesChapter 15 Toward a Contemporary Augustinian Understanding of PoliticsChapter 16 Sexual Purity, the Faithful, and Religious Reform in Eleventh-Century Italy: Donatism RevisitedChapter 17 The Enchanted City of Man: The State and the Market in Augustinian PerspectiveChapter 18 Machiavelli's City of God: Civic Humanism and Augustinian Terror