Augustine on Administration: The Politics of Social Institutions in The City of God. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Burns, Anthony
• Is Part Of: European legacy. Volume 26:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 22
• Page End: 38
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Augustine -- administration -- management -- history of political thought -- social institutions; Europe -- History -- Periodicals; Europe -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; 940.05
• DOI: 10.1080/10848770.2020.1793959
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1084-8770

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article considers what St. Augustine has to say about administration ( administrare ) in The City of God, as well as in The Rule of St. Augustine and in Of the Work of Monks . Rather than focusing on Augustine's political thought as traditionally understood—regarding the state and its coercive laws—it focuses on what he has to say about decision making in non-political social institutions such as monasteries or schools. I argue that at least some of Augustine's ideas are relevant to a critique of the abuse of power in contemporary social institutions by those who are responsible for their administration.