4 - Augustine and the theological turn

Summary

Introduction

We have now considered the contributions of two important voices to the conversation about how we might live together in a pluralist and diverse society, one represented by political liberalism and the other by agonistic political thought. We have learned from these voices and appreciated the theories they put forward, and yet as we tried to picture the solutions they offer we wondered if they were able to welcome diversity and bring together difference as sufficiently as they hope to. We sensed the need for another contribution to the conversation, another voice to help us think further about the relationship between unity and diversity in a pluralistic age. This other voice is an old voice, one that has been a part of such conversations in the past but in recent times has not been as much of a contributor. It is the voice of Christian theology. In this chapter, we supplement the ontological turn of recent political theory with a theological turn, as we listen to Augustine of Hippo's voice as representative of one Christian understanding of the nature of human being and reality. We will try to hearken back to what Augustine was saying in his own time and discern how that might augment our political imagination today.

The writings, letters, and sermons of Augustine reveal a picture of the nature of reality and human being that is vastly different from the pictures that emerge out of political liberalism or post-Nietzschean political thought.