On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts

by James K.A. Smith

Augustine could commend politics as a calling worthy of the Christian. The hard, good work of politics is a way to love your neighbor in a tragic, fallen world. If politics is the art of the possible, it can also be a prudential way to secure justice, beat back evil, and mitigate the effects of the Fall. Nevertheless, when Augustine counsels political actors like Boniface and Macedonius, he does so with wide-eyed realism. He is at once trying to roll back the effects of the curse while at the same time recognizing the enduring reality of evil and original sin. He’s under no illusions about human nature triumphing over selfishness or escaping its proclivity for disordered love. He has no expectation of legislating our way to the kingdom; to the contrary, it’s a matter of legislating in a world where we have to keep praying, “Thy kingdom come.”