Saeculum
History and Society in the Theology of St Augustine

The main concern of this book is with those aspects of Augustine's thought which help to answer questions about the purpose of human society.

R. A. Markus (Author)

9780521368551, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 February 1989

284 pages
21.6 x 14.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.385 kg

''Markus' monograph offers a brilliant introduction to a very subtle aspect of Augustinian thought, and shows once again that the Bishop of Hippo, as in so many other areas, anticipated many of the original insights of modern secularist theology.' Classical Folia

In this book Professor Markus's main concern is with those aspects of Augustine's thought which help to answer questions about the purpose of human society, and particularly with his reflections on history, society and the Church. He relates Augustine's ideas to their contemporary context and to older traditions, and shows which aspects of his thought he absorbed from his intellectual environment. Augustine appears from this study as a thinker who rejected the 'sacralization' of the established order of society, and the implications of this for a theology of history are explored in the last chapter.

Introduction to the revised edition
Preface
Abbreviations
1. History: sacred and secular
2. Tempora christiana: Augustine's historical experience
3. Civitas terrena: the secularisation of Roman history
4. Ordinata est res publica: the foundations of political authority
5. Afer scribens Afris: the Church in Augustine and the African tradition
6. Coge intrare: the Church and political power
7. Civitas peregrina: signposts
Appendices
Bibliographical note
List of works referred to
Index.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX]