Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Religious Ethics
Abstract
Eric Gregory's Politics and the Order of Love takes up an audacious project: enlisting Saint Augustine in order to “help imagine a better liberalism.” This article first provides a summary of Gregory's argument, focusing on his emphasis on love as a “motivation” for neighborly care, and hence democratic participation. This involves tracing the theme of motivation in the book, which is tied to his articulation of liberal perfectionism and an emphasis on civic virtue. In conclusion I raise the question of whether his project has ignored a key aspect of Augustine's account of love, namely, the role of the Holy Spirit, thereby demarcating the limits of Gregory's “rational reconstruction” of Augustine.
First Page
556
Last Page
569
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9795.2011.00492.x
Publication Date
8-3-2011
Recommended Citation
Smith, James K.A., "Formation, Grace, and Pneumatology: Or, Where's the Spirit in Gregory's Augustine?" (2011). University Faculty Publications and Creative Works. 666.
https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/calvin_facultypubs/666
Included in
Christianity Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons