Description: Evil and the Augustinian Tradition explores the "family biography" of the Augustinian tradition by looking at Augustine's work and its development in the writings of Hannah Arendt and Reinhold Niebuhr. Mathewes argues that the Augustinian tradition offers us a powerful, though commonly misconstrued, proposal for understanding and responding to evil's challenges. The book casts new light on Augustine, Niebuhr, and Arendt, as well as on the problem of evil, the nature of tradition, and the role of theological and ethical discourse in contemporary thought.
Brief description: Charles T. Mathewes is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, where he teaches theology, ethics, and religion and culture. He has published in The Journal of Religious Ethics, Modern Theology, The Journal of Religion, Anglican Theological Review and The Hedgehog Review.
Review Quotes: "This rewarding book expands our imagination for Augustinianism, the phenomena of evil, and the nature of tradition. It is interdisciplinary without sacrificing rigor, and provocative but not dogmatic. It engages in moralism, but chastens the hold morality has on us. The book deserves a wide audience in moral philosophy, social criticism, theology, and religious ethics." Ethics