St. Augustine and Administration: The Politics of Social Institutions in The City of God

This article considers what St. Augustine has to say about administration (administrare) in The City of God, as well as in The Rule of St. Augustine and in Of the Work of Monks. Rather than focusing on Augustine’s political thought as traditionally understood—regarding the state and its coercive laws—it focuses on what he has to say about decision making in non-political social institutions such as monasteries or schools. I argue that at least some of Augustine’s ideas are relevant to a critique of the abuse of power in contemporary social institutions by those who are responsible for their administration