Synopsis

A critical essay on St. Augustine's social and political thought.

In describing Augustine, the author captures the essence of the man in these words: "Genius he had in full measure... he is the master of the phrase or the sentence that embodies a penetrating insight, a flash of lightning that illuminates the entire sky; he is the rhetorician, the epigrammist, the polemicist, but not the patient, logical systematic philosopher."

Political Science Quarterly

Professor Deane has been remarkably successful in keeping different facets of Augustine's multi-dimensional thought in view...[he] significantly contributes both to historical understanding of Augustine's political thinking and to appreciation of its permanent relevance to the moral dilemmas of politics