Classical Christianity and the Political Order Reflections on the Theologico-Political Problem

by Fortin, Father Ernest L.; Benestad, Brian J.; Mahoney, Daniel J.

• ISBN13: 9780847682775
• ISBN10: 0847682773
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-07
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In Volume Two of Ernest Fortin: Collected Essays, Fortin deals with the relationship between religion and civil society in a Christian context: that of an essentially nonpolitical but by no means entirely otherwordly religion, many of whose teachings were thought to be fundamentally at odds with the duties of citizenship. Sections focus upon Augustine and Aquinas, on Christianity and politics; natural law, natural rights, and social justice; and Leo Strauss and the revival of classical political philosophy. Fortin's treatment of these and related themes betrays a keen awareness of one of the significant intellectual events of our time: the recovery of political philosophy as a legitimate academic discipline.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Augustine and Aquinas on Christianity and Politics
The Political Thought of St. Augustine	p. 1
Political Idealism and Christianity in the Thought of St. Augustine	p. 31
The Political Implications of St. Augustine's Theory of Conscience	p. 65
Augustine and Roman Civil Religion: Some Critical Reflections	p. 85
Augustine, Spinoza, and the Hermeneutical Problem	p. 107
Augustine's City of God and the Modern Historical Consciousness	p. 117
Augustine and the Problem of Modernity	p. 137
The Political Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas	p. 151
Politics and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Aristotelian Revolution	p. 177
Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and the Problem of Natural Law	p. 199
Natural Law and Individual Rights
Natural Law and Social Justice	p. 223
On the Presumed Medieval Origin of Individual Rights	p. 243
The New Rights Theory and the Natural Law	p. 265
Leo Strauss and the Revival of Classical Political Philosophy
Rational Theologians and Irrational Philosophers: A Straussian Perspective	p. 287
Faith and Reason in Contemporary Perspective: Apropos of a Recent Book	p. 297
Between the Lines: Was Leo Strauss a Secret Enemy of Morality?	p. 317
Straussian Reflections on the Strauss-Voegelin Correspondence	p. 329
Nietzsche and the Crisis of Nihilism	p. 337
Selected Reviews
Christianity and Political Philosophy	p. 355
A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory	p. 360
La Croissance solidaire des droits de l'homme	p. 362
Chretiens marxistes et theologie de la liberation and Eglise de France, prends garde de perdre la foi	p. 366
On Synthesizing Marxism and Christianity	p. 369
The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine	p. 371
Select Bibliography	p. 375
Index	p. 387
About the Author	p. 401
About the Editor	p. 402
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