Wisdom's Friendly Heart: Augustinian Hope for Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists

by Jennifer Hockenbery

Overview

Sixteen-hundred years ago, Augustine begged his African congregants to think rationally, pay attention to evidence, and listen to their neighbors. He knew this would not be easy. He knew that human error is more common than human knowledge. He himself had been a member of an elitist cult for nearly ten years and then had spent several years as a skeptic resigned to seeking wealth and honors rather than hoping for truth or goodness. He would not be surprised by the rise of white supremacist cults or the nihilistic apathy that have arisen in the "post truth" era. He had seen nativism, elitism, fear, and doubt rise in response to a crisis of hope that truth could be found, a crisis that led to the use of physical force rather than educated disputation, a crisis that ended in the fall of both Rome and Carthage to Vandals and Visigoths. Augustine's response was to preach publically the hope that encouraged him in his own personal quest for a happy life. This book examines that hope in Augustine's context until the current moment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532690860
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	09/25/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	198
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Jennifer Hockenbery is Dean of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Saint Norbert College. Formerly she was Professor of Philosophy at Mount Mary University. She is the author of Thinking Woman: A Philosophical Approach to the Quandary of Gender (Cascade, 2015) and Just in Time: Moments in Teaching Philosophy (Pickwick, 2019).
Jennifer Hockenbery is Dean of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Saint Norbert College. Formerly she was Professor of Philosophy at Mount Mary University. She is the author of Thinking Woman: A Philosophical Approach to the Quandary of Gender (Cascade, 2015) and Just in Time: Moments in Teaching Philosophy (Pickwick, 2019).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“What might Augustine’s profound love of truth look like in our contemporary setting—with its postmodern skepticism, post-truth cynicism, elitist power games, and belligerent conspiracy theorists? Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth’s book gives us a way to answer this question, aiming to reinvigorate the hope that truth itself actively enters into relationship with us, having a friendly heart that wants to be found.”

—Phillip Cary, Eastern University



“Wisdom’s Friendly Heart tracks St. Augustine’s response to the skepticism and conspiracy theories of his time through 1,500 years and from North Africa to North America. His emphasis on truth-seeking as embodied friendly relationship with others and with truth can also address the urgent questions and concerns of our time. This brilliant and well-researched book will be useful to scholars and to anyone who has been intrigued, puzzled, and stirred by reading Augustine.”

—Margaret Miles, Graduate Theological Union



“Augustine, an old pessimistic curmudgeon? Wrong. By the way, does our own time fare better? Among us, a deep mistrust about the truth, smeared by fake news of all ilk, despair of the future, a hidden hatred of the body are rampant. In her short, fresh, crisply written, reader-friendly book, Prof. Hockenbery Dragseth prescribes a cure. She convincingly shows that Augustine’s passionate quest for wisdom as the source of joy can adequately meet our predicament.”

—Rémi Brague, Pantheon-Sorbonne University and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich



“A meticulously re-lecture of Augustine from a philosophical viewpoint. It avoids confessional commitments and gives a fresh interpretation with regard to Augustine’s search for truth. In particular this interpretation faces postmodern and post-Christendom challenges and makes a vital contribution to contemporary searches for intellectual security. The study reintegrates Augustine into actual debates and votes for Christian hope as a model for overcoming the plurality of solutions to current problems with a rational as much as spiritual way of religious thought.”

—Markus Wriedt, Goethe University Frankfurt

Editorial Reviews

What might Augustine’s profound love of truth look like in our contemporary setting—with its postmodern skepticism, post-truth cynicism, elitist power games, and belligerent conspiracy theorists? Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth’s book gives us a way to answer this question, aiming to reinvigorate the hope that truth itself actively enters into relationship with us, having a friendly heart that wants to be found.”

—Phillip Cary, Eastern University



“Wisdom’s Friendly Heart tracks St. Augustine’s response to the skepticism and conspiracy theories of his time through 1,500 years and from North Africa to North America. His emphasis on truth-seeking as embodied friendly relationship with others and with truth can also address the urgent questions and concerns of our time. This brilliant and well-researched book will be useful to scholars and to anyone who has been intrigued, puzzled, and stirred by reading Augustine.”

—Margaret Miles, Graduate Theological Union



“Augustine, an old pessimistic curmudgeon? Wrong. By the way, does our own time fare better? Among us, a deep mistrust about the truth, smeared by fake news of all ilk, despair of the future, a hidden hatred of the body are rampant. In her short, fresh, crisply written, reader-friendly book, Prof. Hockenbery Dragseth prescribes a cure. She convincingly shows that Augustine’s passionate quest for wisdom as the source of joy can adequately meet our predicament.”

—Rémi Brague, Pantheon-Sorbonne University and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich



“A meticulously re-lecture of Augustine from a philosophical viewpoint. It avoids confessional commitments and gives a fresh interpretation with regard to Augustine’s search for truth. In particular this interpretation faces postmodern and post-Christendom challenges and makes a vital contribution to contemporary searches for intellectual security. The study reintegrates Augustine into actual debates and votes for Christian hope as a model for overcoming the plurality of solutions to current problems with a rational as much as spiritual way of religious thought.”

—Markus Wriedt, Goethe University Frankfurt

From the Publisher