The Heythrop Journal· 2026Q2
Enduring After God: An Anatheistic Reframing of Augustine on Suicide
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- 2026year
Short summary
Augustine's ethical argument against suicide is reframed for a post-theistic age using Richard Kearney's anatheism, offering a non-dogmatic rationale for choosing life based on human capacity to wager on future peace.
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Key points
- Augustine's ethical case against suicide is rearticulated for a post-theistic era.
- Richard Kearney's anatheism provides the hermeneutic lens for this reinterpretation.
- The reframed argument shifts from a theological to an existential basis for choosing life.
- Life is presented as a courageous openness to future possibility and peace.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This paper proposes a retrieval of Augustine's argument on suicide in De Civitate Dei I.17–27, rearticulating its ethical core for a post‐theistic age through the hermeneutic lens of Richard Kearney's anatheism. Confronting the dual reality of persistent suicide and declining religiosity, I argue that Augustine's pastoral case against ending one's life can be translated from a theological framework into an existential wager. The analysis proceeds in three phases: first, examining Augustine's original argument and its limitations; second, outlining Kearney's anatheism; and third, constructing an anatheistic reinterpretation. This retrieval deconstructs Augustine's dogmatic scaffolding while reconstructing his ethical preference for life as a courageous openness to future possibility. The result is a non‐dogmatic rationale for choosing life, rooted in the human capacity to wager on the advent of peace.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Heythrop Journal, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Philosophy
PhilosophyArts and Humanities