Pride, Politics, and Humility in Augustine's City of God

Mary M. Keys

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781009201056
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Philosophy of Religion

This book is the first to interpret and reflect on Augustine's seminal argument concerning humility and pride, especially in politics and philosophy, in The City of God. Mary Keys shows how contemporary readers have much to gain from engaging Augustine's lengthy argument on behalf of virtuous humility. She also demonstrates how a deeper understanding of the classical and Christian philosophical-rhetorical modes of discourse in The City of God enables readers to appreciate and evaluate Augustine's nuanced case for humility in politics, philosophy, and religion. Comprised of a series of interpretive essays and commentaries following Augustine's own order of segments and themes in The City of God, Keys' volume unpacks the author's complex text and elucidates its challenge, meaning, and importance for contemporary readers. It also illuminates a central, yet easily underestimated theme with perennial relevance in a classic work of political thought and religion.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Note on the Text
• 1 Introduction: Augustine’s City of God on Humility and Pride
• 2 The City of God I–V: Political Pride against Natural Right
• 3 The City of God VI–VII: Nature, Convention, and Rome’s Civil Religion
• 4 The City of God VIII–X: Natural Theology, Philosophic Pride, and Divine Humility
• 5 The City of God XI–XII: Creation and the Metaphysics of Pride and Humility
• 6 The City of God XIII–XIV: Being-toward-Life, Being-toward-Death
• 7 The City of God XV–XVIII: Pride and Humility in History
• 8 The City of God XIX–XXII: Humility, Pride, Peace, and Participation
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index