Mary Keys
Mary Keys is Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame (USA). She writes and teaches widely in political theory, the history of political thought, and politics and literature, with special interests in ethics, religion, and politics. She is the author of PRIDE, POLITICS, AND HUMILITY IN AUGUSTINE'S CITY OF GOD, and AQUINAS, ARISTOTLE, AND THE PROMISE OF THE COMMON GOOD, both published by Cambridge University Press. She has published numerous book chapters and articles, and has won a Sheedy Award for excellence in teaching from the University of Notre Dame.
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“Is it walls, then, that make men Christians?” St. Augustine reports the famed Neoplatonic philosopher and teacher of rhetoric, Victorinus’s arch reply to Simplicianus, who refuses to believe that Victorinus is a Christian until he sees Victorious within the walls of a Church, associating with the throng of men. Neoplatonic philosophy, as Augustine well knows, splits human beings into the few and the many, the philosophers, and the non-philosophers, on the basis of their ability to attain the truth. My paper will first trace those divisions, then explain Augustine’s Christian response to the Neoplatonic division on the basis of Christ’s mediation, and then discuss the ways in which Christ’s mediation does and does not change the relationship between the few and the many. Christ’s ministrations afford the multitude a new kind of dignity based on their ability to live according to the truth as members of Christ’s body, deflating the pride of those who prefer to stand apart from them on the basis of differences in natural capacities, but not ignoring or riding roughshod over real human differences.
virtue, vice, habit and sin through textual and social analysis
in the light of recent cultural shifts, the contributors to this volume hope
to shed new light on contemporary human social problems. In addressing
the problems of apathy, work, sin, emptiness, racism, substance addiction,
sexual assault, immigration and so forth, this volume brings Augustine’s
captivating story of human nature and behaviour to a new level of engagement. Our hope is that the mention made of Augustine and society may move beyond past generalities to a higher level of social specificity. In sum, this book offers a range of analyses of issues that span a range
of disciplines and topics that are significant in contemporary culture. It is
our hope that you will benefit from reading this volume and that scholarly
attention to Augustine’s ongoing relevance will likewise be strengthened.