Slaves of God

Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics

Toni Alimi

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
13 November 2024

Ethics & moral philosophy; Philosophy of religion; Religion & politics; History of religion; Christianity

A provocative look at the central role of slavery in Augustine's religious, ethical, and political thought

Augustine believed that slavery is permissible, but to understand why, we must situate him in his late antique Roman intellectual context. Slaves of God provides a major reassessment of this monumental figure in the Western religious and political tradition, tracing the remarkably close connections between Augustine's understanding of slavery and his broader thought.

Augustine is most often read through the lens of Greek philosophy and the theology of Christian writers such as Paul and Ambrose, yet his debt to Roman thought is seldom appreciated. Toni Alimi reminds us that the author of Confessions and City of God was also a Roman citizen and argues that some of the thinkers who most significantly shaped his intellectual development were Romans such as Cicero, Seneca, Lactantius, and Varro-Romans who had much to say about slavery and its relationship to civic life. Alimi shows how Augustine, a keen and influential student of these figures, related chattel slavery and slavery to God, and sheds light on Augustinianism's complicity in Christianity's long entanglement with slavery.

An illuminating work of scholarship, Slaves of God reveals how slavery was integral to Augustine's views about law, rule, accountability, and citizenship, and breaks new ground on the topic of slavery in late antique and medieval political thought.

By: Toni Alimi
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691244235
ISBN 10: 0691244235
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 13 November 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Toni Alimi is assistant professor in the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University.

Reviews for Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics

""An expansive and engaging analysis of what Augustine thought about slavery and—of equal interest—how he thought with slavery.""---James Robert Burns, Journal of Medieval History