A headless body politic?

Augustine's understanding of a 'populus' and its representation

Augustine understood a populus as a natural entity that is neither completely depraved nor saintly. While he considered the city of God the true republic, he conceded that political bodies approximated its true justice and that they too deserve to be considered republics. Moreover, for Augustine, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Author:John Von Heyking
Published: S.n., s.l., 1999
Volume:20
Pages:549-574
Periodical:History of political thought
Number:4
Format:Article
Topic:- Doctrine > Social Life > [Sociologie. Cité terrestre. Politique] > [Études d'ensemble] > [Politique]
- Doctrine > Social Life > [Sociologie. Cité terrestre. Politique] > [Église et État. Pouvoir civil] > [Pouvoir civil] > [Pouvoir civil]
- Doctrine > Social Life > [Sociologie. Cité terrestre. Politique] > [Influence] > Political Augustinianism
Status:Active
Description
Summary:Augustine understood a populus as a natural entity that is neither completely depraved nor saintly. While he considered the city of God the true republic, he conceded that political bodies approximated its true justice and that they too deserve to be considered republics. Moreover, for Augustine, a people can articulate itself through a republican mode. Neither a monarchy nor a pure democracy, Augustine understood a republic to include the functions of governers and governed, which means that a republic possesses democratic, aristocratic, and monarchic parts. August. accounts for the monarchic part in his analysis of what in Rome was called the dictator, the office taken up by someone without formal political power and used to save the republic in crisis situations.

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