As they work their way through the seminal figures of Western history, introductory courses on Philosophy continue to include Augustine of Hippo, sandwiching him between Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, who each lived from seven-to-eight-hundred years from him in either chronological direction. One of the principal difficulties in engaging with Augustine on some of the classical loci of philosophy, however, is that he does not always have works dedicated to these topics. On these matters, one must glean his position from other works. Augustine’s position on political philosophy is one such subject. Thankfully, Robert A. Markus’ Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St. Augustine, Revised Edition (New York: Cambridge, 2007) goes a long way towards filling this vacuum.
Donatism
R. A. Markus, Saeculum VI — Coge Intrare
We have now summarized chapters one, two, three, four, and five of Robert A. Markus’ Saeculum.
We turn now to chapter six — not the final chapter of the book (there is one more, and several appendices), but the final one dealing with purely historical matters, and the last we shall cover for the foreseeable future.
R. A. Markus, Saeculum V — Afer Scribens Afris
R. A. Markus, Saeculum III — Civitas Terrena
In the previous post we covered chapter two of Robert A. Markus’ book, Saeculum (having earlier summarized chapter one).
We now turn to chapter three.
R. A. Markus, Saeculum II — Tempora Christiana
The previous post introduced Robert A. Markus’ book Saeculum.
Now, for chapter two. Continue reading
Into the Clarities 