Augustine and Ethics examines the topic of ethics in the life and works of Augustine of Hippo. Adopting a global perspective on ethics as a field of philosophical and theological investigation, this volume includes reflections on virtue and vice, love and sin, and the political outcomes to which certain ethical stances tend to give rise. For Augustine himself, ethics was never merely theoretical. Ethical concerns are concrete; and ethical solutions should be practical. Accordingly, this volume gives Augustinian ethical arguments realization by connecting them to modern anxieties about ministry, health care, diet, and incarceration. Divided into five sections, the essays collected here highlight the ongoing relevance of Augustine's work even in settings quite distinct from his own era and context. The first section lays down the groundwork for Augustinian ethics by examining the foundations of his thoughts on morality, self-formation, domination, and abuse. The next three sections are oriented around the themes of love, sin, and politics. The final section makes clear the consequences of Augustinian ethical thinking today, with a view to how pastors preach, how physicians heal, how prisoners suffer, and even how we should approach the ethics of eating.
Kim Paffenroth is professor of religious studies and the director of the Honors Program at Iona College. Sean Hannan is associate professor at MacEwan University.
Part I. The Foundations of Augustinian Ethics Chapter 1. Augustine's Early Ethics: A Reconsideration Thomas Clemmons Chapter 2. Thinking with Augustine: On Domination and Abuse Vincent Lloyd Chapter 3. Beauty, Morality, and the Promise of Happiness Sarah Stewart-Kroeker Chapter 4. The Heart of the Father in Augustine's Moral Thought Veronica Roberts Ogle Chapter 5. In Conspectu Dei: Journey in the Land of the Augustinian Conscience Ian Clausen Chapter 6. Interiority, Community, and Self-Formation: Augustine and Monica at Ostia Emily Stoelken Part II. The Ethics of Love Chapter 7. The Weight of Love: On the Limits of Autonomy in Augustine's Confessions Paul Camacho Chapter 8. 'More Than Simply Bystanders:' Augustine, Brene Brown, and the Role of Empathy in Accompanying Others Colleen Campbell Chapter 9. Augustine on the Privacy of Conscience and Love of God and Neighbor Ronald Haflidson Chapter 10. Love Between Desire and Will: An Investigation of Augustine's Concept of Love Assisted by Computational Methods Eva Elisabeth Houth Vrangbaek and Laigaard Nielbo Part III. The Ethics of Sin Chapter 11. Original Sin and Justice in Augustine of Hippo's Anti-Pelagian Writings (412-415 CE) Fabio Dalpra Chapter 12. Pia Impudentia: The Paradox of Ethics and Invisibility in Augustine Makiko Sato Chapter 13. Augustine on Original Sin and the Origin of the Soul: Ethical Implications Wendy Helleman Part IV. The Politics of Ethics Chapter 14. The Ethics of History: Augustine, Afro-Pessimism, and the 1619 Project Toni Alimi Chapter 15. Augustine, Pluralism, and Diversity Fr. Hans Feichtinger Chapter 16. The Image of God in the City of God Matthew Puffer Part V. Applied Augustinian Ethics Chapter 17. "The Truth Belongs to Christ:" Moral Idealism and Pastoral Reality in Augustine's Rejection of Lies Sr. Margaret Atkins Chapter 18. An Inarticulacy of Meaning: The Significance of Augustinian Restlessness for Modern Medicine Daniel Kim Chapter 19. Daring to Leave the Fallen World: Reflecting on Prison Abolition with Augustine Rebecca Makas Chapter 20. Eros, Eating, Attention: The Ethics of Incarnation in Augustine and Simone Weil Rachel Matheson and Travis Kroeker
"This exciting collection of essays brings together work by a new generation of scholars to explore Augustine's ideas about the moral life across a range of traditional and contemporary issues. The depth of knowledge, creativity, and independence of mind exhibited here augurs well for the future of scholarship on the redoubtable Bishop of Hippo. Highly recommended." -- Richard B. Miller, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Religion, Politics, and Ethics, University of Chicago
