American Political Science Review (2018)112.4,1036-1049 doi:10.1017/S0003055418000345 American Political Science Association 2018 Between Presumption and Despair:Augustine's Hope for the Commonwealth MICHAEL LAMB Wake Forest University any political theorists dismiss Augustine as a pessimist about politics,assuming his "other- worldly"account of love precludes hope for this-worldly politics.This article challenges this pessimism by applying recent research on Augustine's"order oflove"to reconstruct his implicit order of hope.Analyzing neglected sermons,letters,and treatises,I argue that Augustine encourages hope for temporal goods as long as that hope is rightly ordered and avoids the corresponding vices of presump- tion and despair.I then identify "civic peace"as a common object of hope that diverse citizens can share By recovering hope as a virtue and reframing civic peace as a positive form of civic friendship,I argue that Augustine commends a hope for the commonwealth that avoids both presumption and despair.I conclude by analyzing how Augustine's vision of the commonwealth can inform contemporary political theory and practice. hile hope has been a prominent theme in Center (2017b)affirms that Democrats and Republi- American politics over the last three decades. cans are more divided over"fundamental political val- it seems conspicuously absent from contem- ues"than they have been since Pew began surveying in porary political discourse.In the face of partisan polar- 1994.Another Pew poll shows that "the overall level of ization,economic inequality,and social division,many trust in government remains near historic lows."with citizens rightly feel tempted to despair,wondering if almost 80%saying they either never trust the govern- politics can offer any hope in our troubled times.A re- ment to do the right thing(11%)or only trust the gov- cent Washington Post-University of Maryland Democ- ernment some of the time(68%)(2017a).These trends racy Poll (2017),for example,suggests that Americans invite us to ask what citizens may hope for in politics have a "starkly pessimistic view of U.S.politics"(Wag- and whether,given current divisions,it is possible to ner and Clement 2017).Seventy-one percent of re- share any of these hopes in common. spondents agreed that current partisan divisions have This article seeks to recover resources for conceptu- "reached a dangerous low point,"which many see as alizing political hope by turning to an unlikely source, the "new normal"rather than a temporary aberration Augustine of Hippo.While Augustine is often regarded (Washington Post-University of Maryland 2017;Wag- as one of the most important thinkers in the history of ner and Clement 2017).A survey by the Pew Research Western political thought,his influence has emerged most recently in strands of political realism that em- Michael Lamb is an Assistant Professor of Politics,Ethics.and In- phasize the "corruption of self-interest"(Niebuhr 1986 terdisciplinary Humanities,Wake Forest University,P.O.Box 7225 129)and seek to "give injustice its due"(Shklar 1989). Winston-Salem,NC 27106,USA(lambkm@wfu.edu). As a result,Augustine is"usually numbered among the For helpful conversation and feedback on previous versions of pessimists"(Elshtain 1998,19).If Augustine offers any this paper,I am grateful to the editors,anonymous reviewers,and hope,most assume that it is a hope for heaven,not for a number of friends and colleagues,including Robert M.Adams. Matthew Anderson,Alexis Andres,Nancy Bedford,Nigel Biggar, politics.As Eric Gregory notes,many interpreters cast John Bowlin.Edward Brooks.Peter Busch.Paul Camacho,Andrew Augustine as"the patron saint of a dour and other- Chignell,Joseph Clair,Kody Cooper,Molly Farneth,Steven Firmin worldly pessimism which emphasizes the radical limits Allan Fitzgerald,Andrius Galisanka,Eric Gregory,Paul Griffiths. of politics and virtue as compared to a heavenly city" Davey Henreckson,Joshua Hordern,Kristen Deede Johnson,Bolek 2011.34). Kabala,Melissa Lane,Sean Larsen,Philip Lorish,Stephen Macedo, Charles Mathewes,Christina McRorie,Ashleen Mechaca-Bagnulo, Undoubtedly,Augustine provides evidence to sup- Samuel Newlands,Anne Norton,Joshua Nunziato,Matthew Puffer port such a view.In City of God,Augustine prosecutes Veronica Roberts,Cameron Silverglate,Sarah Stewart-Kroeker,Jef- a scathing polemic against imperial Rome,assailing the frey Stout,Daniel Strand,Adam Thomas,Melanie Webb,Brian Romans'lust for domination and comparing the Ro- Williams,and audiences at the Northeast Political Science Associa- tion (2011),the American Academy of Religion(2014),the Univer- man empire to a "band of robbers"(1998a,1.Preface, sity of Oxford Christian Ethics Graduate Research Seminar(2014) 5.19,14.28,4.4).Throughout City of God,Augustine a manuscript workshop at High Point University (2015).the Inter. laments the "miserable condition of this life,"bemoan- national Conference on Patristic Studies at the University of Ox. ing the“darkness'”and“undoubted evils'”that accom- ford(2015),LArca delle Virtu Conference at the University of Pavia pany political affairs(1998a,19.8,19.5).He even com- (2017),the Hope Optimism seminar at Cornell University(2017). and the Augustine and Politics Reading Group at the University piles a lengthy list of the "many and grave evils"that of Oxford(2018).For support of this research,I wish to thank the beset human life,going so far as to describe our condi- Princeton University Department of Politics and University Center tion as "a hell on earth"(1998a,22.22-22.23).If these for Human Values,Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust,Temple- ton World Charity Foundation,Oxford Character Project,McDon ald Centre for Theology,Ethics,and Public Life at the University of Oxford,and Wake Forest University. Following accepted standards in Augustinian studies,all citations to Augustine's texts are to chapter,section,and/or paragraph numbers Received:July 21.2017:revised:February 1.2018:accepted:June 1. rather than page numbers.References to the original Latin are from 2018.First published online:August 7 2018. Augustine (1995). 1036American Political Science Review (2018) 112, 4, 1036–1049 doi:10.1017/S0003055418000345 © American Political Science Association 2018 Between Presumption and Despair: Augustine’s Hope for the Commonwealth MICHAEL LAMB Wake Forest University Many political theorists dismiss Augustine as a pessimist about politics, assuming his “other￾worldly” account of love precludes hope for this-worldly politics. This article challenges this pessimism by applying recent research on Augustine’s “order of love” to reconstruct his implicit order of hope. Analyzing neglected sermons, letters, and treatises, I argue that Augustine encourages hope for temporal goods as long as that hope is rightly ordered and avoids the corresponding vices of presump￾tion and despair. I then identify “civic peace” as a common object of hope that diverse citizens can share. By recovering hope as a virtue and reframing civic peace as a positive form of civic friendship, I argue that Augustine commends a hope for the commonwealth that avoids both presumption and despair. I conclude by analyzing how Augustine’s vision of the commonwealth can inform contemporary political theory and practice. While hope has been a prominent theme in American politics over the last three decades, it seems conspicuously absent from contem￾porary political discourse. In the face of partisan polar￾ization, economic inequality, and social division, many citizens rightly feel tempted to despair, wondering if politics can offer any hope in our troubled times. A re￾cent Washington Post–University of Maryland Democ￾racy Poll (2017), for example, suggests that Americans have a “starkly pessimistic view of U.S. politics” (Wag￾ner and Clement 2017). Seventy-one percent of re￾spondents agreed that current partisan divisions have “reached a dangerous low point,” which many see as the “new normal” rather than a temporary aberration (Washington Post–University of Maryland 2017; Wag￾ner and Clement 2017). A survey by the Pew Research Michael Lamb is an Assistant Professor of Politics, Ethics, and In￾terdisciplinary Humanities, Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7225, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA (lambkm@wfu.edu). For helpful conversation and feedback on previous versions of this paper, I am grateful to the editors, anonymous reviewers, and a number of friends and colleagues, including Robert M. Adams, Matthew Anderson, Alexis Andres, Nancy Bedford, Nigel Biggar, John Bowlin, Edward Brooks, Peter Busch, Paul Camacho, Andrew Chignell, Joseph Clair, Kody Cooper, Molly Farneth, Steven Firmin, Allan Fitzgerald, Andrius Galisanka, Eric Gregory, Paul Griffiths, Davey Henreckson, Joshua Hordern, Kristen Deede Johnson, Bolek Kabala, Melissa Lane, Sean Larsen, Philip Lorish, Stephen Macedo, Charles Mathewes, Christina McRorie, Ashleen Mechaca-Bagnulo, Samuel Newlands, Anne Norton, Joshua Nunziato, Matthew Puffer, Veronica Roberts, Cameron Silverglate, Sarah Stewart-Kroeker, Jef￾frey Stout, Daniel Strand, Adam Thomas, Melanie Webb, Brian Williams, and audiences at the Northeast Political Science Associa￾tion (2011), the American Academy of Religion (2014), the Univer￾sity of Oxford Christian Ethics Graduate Research Seminar (2014), a manuscript workshop at High Point University (2015), the Inter￾national Conference on Patristic Studies at the University of Ox￾ford (2015), L’Arca delle Virtù Conference at the University of Pavia (2017), the Hope & Optimism seminar at Cornell University (2017), and the Augustine and Politics Reading Group at the University of Oxford (2018). For support of this research, I wish to thank the Princeton University Department of Politics and University Center for Human Values, Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust, Temple￾ton World Charity Foundation, Oxford Character Project, McDon￾ald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life at the University of Oxford, and Wake Forest University. Received: July 21, 2017; revised: February 1, 2018; accepted: June 1, 2018. First published online: August 7, 2018. Center (2017b) affirms that Democrats and Republi￾cans are more divided over “fundamental political val￾ues” than they have been since Pew began surveying in 1994. Another Pew poll shows that “the overall level of trust in government remains near historic lows,” with almost 80% saying they either never trust the govern￾ment to do the right thing (11%) or only trust the gov￾ernment some of the time (68%) (2017a). These trends invite us to ask what citizens may hope for in politics and whether, given current divisions, it is possible to share any of these hopes in common. This article seeks to recover resources for conceptu￾alizing political hope by turning to an unlikely source, Augustine of Hippo.While Augustine is often regarded as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Western political thought, his influence has emerged most recently in strands of political realism that em￾phasize the “corruption of self-interest” (Niebuhr 1986, 129) and seek to “give injustice its due” (Shklar 1989). As a result, Augustine is “usually numbered among the pessimists” (Elshtain 1998, 19). If Augustine offers any hope, most assume that it is a hope for heaven, not for politics. As Eric Gregory notes, many interpreters cast Augustine as “the patron saint of a dour and other￾worldly pessimism which emphasizes the radical limits of politics and virtue as compared to a heavenly city” (2011, 34). Undoubtedly, Augustine provides evidence to sup￾port such a view. In City of God, Augustine prosecutes a scathing polemic against imperial Rome, assailing the Romans’ lust for domination and comparing the Ro￾man empire to a “band of robbers” (1998a, 1. Preface, 5.19, 14.28, 4.4).1 Throughout City of God, Augustine laments the “miserable condition of this life,” bemoan￾ing the “darkness” and “undoubted evils” that accom￾pany political affairs (1998a, 19.8, 19.5). He even com￾piles a lengthy list of the “many and grave evils” that beset human life, going so far as to describe our condi￾tion as “a hell on earth” (1998a, 22.22–22.23). If these 1 Following accepted standards in Augustinian studies, all citations to Augustine’s texts are to chapter, section, and/or paragraph numbers rather than page numbers. References to the original Latin are from Augustine (1995). 1036 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 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