Augustine and Modernity is a fresh and challenging addition to current debates on the 'continuity theory'
Michael Hanby reveals the modern concept of will that emerges in Descartes' work as the product of a conception of self more proper to Stoic theories of immanence than to Augustine's own rigorous understandings of the Trinity, creation, self and will. Though Augustine's encounter with Stoicism ultimately resulted in much of his teaching being transferred to Descartes and other modern thinkers in an adulterated form, Hanby draws critical attention to Augustine's own disillusionment with Stoicism and his interrogation of Stoic philosophy in the name of Christ and the Trinity. Representative of a new school of theology willing to engage critically with other disciplines and to challenge their authority, God and the Will in Augustine and Descartes offers a comprehensive new interpretation of De Trinitate and of Augustinian concepts of will and soul. Revealing how much of wh