St. Augustine of Hippo: The Christian Transformation of Political Philosophy

206 Pages·2005·10.92 MB·English

by  Robert W. Dyson

St Augustine of Hippo
The Christian Transformation of Political Philosophy
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St Augustine of Hippo
The Christian Transformation
of Political Philosophy
Robert Dyson
continuum
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London New York
SE1 7NX NY 10038
Robert Dyson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
Copyright © Robert Dyson, 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 0-8264-8588-X
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, King's Lynn, Norfolk
In memory of
Wolfgang Marius von Leyden
(1911-2004)
Das Erste und Letzte was vom Genie
gefordert wird, ist Wahrheitsliebe
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Sin, Fre Wil and Grace: The Two Cities 8
Chapter 2: The State in a Sinful World 48
Chapter 3: Private Property and Slavery 89
Chapter 4: War and Peace 116
Chapter 5: Church and State 142
Summary 180
Bibliography 187
Index 193
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PREFACE
The purpose of this book is to offer, without hagiography, as com-
plete an account as possible of St Augustine's social and political
ideas; to do so with close reference to the primary sources; and to
say nothing that is not supported by those sources.
My greatest debt is to the teachers who introduced me as an un-
dergraduate to the literature of Patristic and medieval thought, and
who so often guided me subsequently: Gerald Bonner, Professor
H. S. Offler and Henry Tudor. Another friend and teacher, Wolf-
gang von Leyden, died while this book was being written. I am
grateful to Iris, James and Lucie von Leyden for permission to dedi-
cate it to his memory. I am indebted also to my colleagues at the
University of Durham for their help and encouragement, and to the
many students from whose conversation I have benefited. I thank
also the editorial staff at Continuum, and especially Philip de Bary,
for their technical advice and support.
Mentitur qui te totum legisse fatetur, aut quis cuncta tua lector
habere potest? St Isidore of Seville caused these words to be inscribed
over the bookcase in the library at Seville containing Augustine's
works. He lies who claims to have read all of them; who can possi-
bly have done so? I certainly make no claim to have done so. Also,
I have had to leave out a good deal from a work that was required
to remain within a strict word limit I have struck as judicious a bal-
ance as I could; but I am conscious of having dealt lightly with
Augustine's relation to the other Latin Fathers, and rather one-
sidedly with his influence on medieval political conceptions. Such
sins of omission are unavoidable; but responsibility for them is, of
course, entirely mine.