Kirjahaku

A bold new interpretation of Augustine’s virtue of hope and its place in political lifeWhen it comes to politics, Augustine of Hippo is renowned as one of history’s great pessimists, with his sights set firmly on the heavenly city rather than the public square. Many have enlisted him to chasten political hopes, highlighting the realities of evil and encouraging citizens instead to cast their hopes on heaven. A Commonwealth of Hope challenges prevailing interpretations of Augustinian pessimism, offering a new vision of his political thought that can also help today’s citizens sustain hope in the face of despair.Amid rising inequality, injustice, and political division, many citizens wonder what to hope for in politics and whether it is possible to forge common hopes in a deeply polarized society. Michael Lamb takes up this challenge, offering the first in-depth analysis of Augustine’s virtue of hope and its profound implications for political life. He draws on a wide range of Augustine’s writings—including neglected sermons, letters, and treatises—and integrates insights from political theory, religious studies, theology, and philosophy. Lamb shows how diverse citizens, both religious and secular, can unite around common hopes for the commonwealth.Recovering this understudied virtue and situating Augustine within his political, rhetorical, and religious contexts, A Commonwealth of Hope reveals how Augustine’s virtue of hope can help us resist the politics of presumption and despair and confront the challenges of our time.

A bold new interpretation of Augustine’s virtue of hope and its place in political lifeWhen it comes to politics, Augustine of Hippo is renowned as one of history’s great pessimists, with his sights set firmly on the heavenly city rather than the public square. Many have enlisted him to chasten political hopes, highlighting the realities of evil and encouraging citizens instead to cast their hopes on heaven. A Commonwealth of Hope challenges prevailing interpretations of Augustinian pessimism, offering a new vision of his political thought that can also help today’s citizens sustain hope in the face of despair.Amid rising inequality, injustice, and political division, many citizens wonder what to hope for in politics and whether it is possible to forge common hopes in a deeply polarized society. Michael Lamb takes up this challenge, offering the first in-depth analysis of Augustine’s virtue of hope and its profound implications for political life. He draws on a wide range of Augustine’s writings—including neglected sermons, letters, and treatises—and integrates insights from political theory, religious studies, theology, and philosophy. Lamb shows how diverse citizens, both religious and secular, can unite around common hopes for the commonwealth.Recovering this understudied virtue and situating Augustine within his political, rhetorical, and religious contexts, A Commonwealth of Hope reveals how Augustine’s virtue of hope can help us resist the politics of presumption and despair and confront the challenges of our time.

About The Author Michael Lamb, publicly known as Miss Mikey, is a 25 year old Fort Myers, Florida (currently based out of Sarasota) native living with HIV. He doesn't use his diagnosis as a crutch but instead uses it as a catapult to spread awareness through spoken word poetry. With his controversial videos, performance skills, and one of a kind delivery that always pushes the envelope, he continues to somehow engage people to partake in taboo topic discussions that usually don't get addressed at the dinner table. Miss Mikey's first published book, "Miss Mikey's Cookbook" was highly successful followed by "Everything in Me: The Mixtape", which was one of the very few, if not the first, spoken word albums. Miss Mikey is not only an author. He is also a public speaker, social injustice activist, peer navigator at Community AIDS Network, one of the leading cast members on the reality show 'The Come Up', and the 2016 recipient of the HIV/AIDS Education & Prevention Award. Miss Mikey has worked with the Boys & Girls Club in Sarasota & Manatee County implementing a 'Step Up & Speak Out' spoken word poetry workshop teaching the youth of today to express themselves unapologetically while also addressing HIV along with other STDs in their social circles. Miss Mikey has performed and spoke all over Florida and even in Atlanta, Georgia, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and D.C. Whether in a pair of chucks or a pair of pumps, Miss Mikey continues to stomp out stigma using his phrase, "I HAVE HIV, HIV DOESN'T HAVE ME " Chance (All I Need Is One) is his second book that really gives you some of the science to the method of Miss Mikey's madness when it comes to putting the pen to the pad. After losing a friend, he somehow found inspiration and indeed took the chance that he was granted to yet again share his story all the while keeping people hopeful that no matter where they are in life, it gets better. With the many twists and turns that life gives us, Miss Mikey lets the world know he's there to hold their hand to take roads never traveled side by side, one foot in front of the other. "Who would've thought all of this success would come my way by me just simply taking a HIV test? As crazy as this sounds, I don't know what life would be like without my diagnosis. I took a chance, the one chance I needed to 'make it' and look at me. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. All someone needs is one chance to show off their talents. That one chance can lead you to so many places and can allow you to shake so many hands. People finally get to know more about Michael because they often times get so wrapped up in Miss Mikey, forgetting that Michael foots the bill for Miss Mikey. Everyone that ever gave me a chance will be a part of my reaping season. That's all I ever needed, was one chance." -Miss Mikey

In this thought-provoking and intriguing fantasy, set in a parallel world to our own, the reader must accompany the quasi-biblical figure of Joshua, as he slips easily and compellingly between different time-perspectives and across various continents. In so doing it becomes apparent that the wayfarer has embarked upon a strange, almost surreal odyssey, one in which he is challenged both existentially and spiritually. In encounters with a colourful spectrum of characters the protagonist is repeatedly obliged to defend not only his faith in God, but also his personal hopes that a life after death be both justified and congruent with reality. At times his journey is illumined, at other times made fraught, by the possibilities and limitations alike of friendship and love. Moreover, he is obliged to encounter a variety of individuals who confront him with their own locales and ways of life: not least, an alien people for whom his personal philosophy of life is neither apt nor necessary. Ageing all the while, he experiences dimensions akin to our own, whether it be a busy metropolis, a rural backwater, or, for that matter, an old people’s home. Reading occasionally like an allegory or parable, this is a story which will interest all who are dissatisfied with secularity and who search for a deeper meaning to complement and make more purposeful their lives. It is a work to which the reader may return to engage with favourite episodes, or again with the protagonist’s journey taken as a whole.

In this thought-provoking and intriguing fantasy, set in a parallel world to our own, the reader must accompany the quasi-biblical figure of Joshua, as he slips easily and compellingly between different time-perspectives and across various continents. In so doing it becomes apparent that the wayfarer has embarked upon a strange, almost surreal odyssey, one in which he is challenged both existentially and spiritually. In encounters with a colourful spectrum of characters the protagonist is repeatedly obliged to defend not only his faith in God, but also his personal hopes that a life after death be both justified and congruent with reality. At times his journey is illumined, at other times made fraught, by the possibilities and limitations alike of friendship and love. Moreover, he is obliged to encounter a variety of individuals who confront him with their own locales and ways of life: not least, an alien people for whom his personal philosophy of life is neither apt nor necessary. Ageing all the while, he experiences dimensions akin to our own, whether it be a busy metropolis, a rural backwater, or, for that matter, an old people’s home. Reading occasionally like an allegory or parable, this is a story which will interest all who are dissatisfied with secularity and who search for a deeper meaning to complement and make more purposeful their lives. It is a work to which the reader may return to engage with favourite episodes, or again with the protagonist’s journey taken as a whole.