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...idea that the “wise” should rule is as old as politics itself. The ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle preferred what, in Greek, would be termed “the rule of the best.” Such a regime, however, seems to collide fundamentally with the egalitarian principles enunciated in our founding documents and the democratic sensibilities about government held by many, if not most, Americans. We like to think that in America anyone—even the descendant of an East-African goatherd—can become president. Anyone, nowadays at least...
...late William F. Buckley, Jr., himself a graduate of Yale, once famously remarked that he would prefer a government of the first 400 names in the Boston phone book to that of the Harvard faculty. Ancient collegiate rivalries aside, Buckley’s sentiment abides...
What caused you to question the received wisdom? Back in 1993, I was reading a work of Augustine's attacking a Christian heretic. Usually when ancient orthodox Christians said terrible things about heretics, they found even worse things to say about Jews. Until 395, Augustine had not been much different, but here he was, writing about one of the flashiest heresies of his time and marshaling as arguments unbelievably positive things about Jews. As I read further, my scalp tingled. I had been working on Augustine for 20 years and I'd never seen anything like this before. Not only...
...Well, modern Christians take it for granted that Christ really had a fleshly body. Not all ancient Christians agreed. Augustine, in the course of arguing for Christ's incarnation - this intimate relationship between divinity and humanity - explicitly parallels it to God's relationship with the Jews. He writes that Catholics and Jews stand as one community over against pagans and heretics, that Jesus and his apostles, including Paul, lived as Torah-observant Jews for the whole of their lives. And he urges that God himself would punish any king who tried to interfere with the Jews' practice of Judaism. These...
Does your history of Augustine and the Jews have any relevance for modern Christians and Jews? I think so. In a fairly dark history of Christian-Jewish relations, his theology turns out to be one of very few bright lights. All of these ancient Christian-Jewish interactions are more complex and interesting than are the received ideas about them. Our lives are still shaped by this history, so it's important to get it right. And if modern Jews and Christians, attempting interfaith dialogue, find in Augustine a precedent for common ground, that would make me really happy. It would...