Bloomsbury On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ (Reading Augustine)

Product Description The Reading Augustine series presents concise, personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo from leading philosophers and religious scholars. On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ explores St. Augustine of Hippos understanding of the nature and root of sin, described as various forms of self-loathing and self-destruction, as well as sins antidote, a vulnerable relationship with God. Incorporating recent thinking on self-destruction and self-loathing into his reading of Augustine, David Vincent Meconi explores why we are not only allured by sin, but will actually destroy ourselves to attain it, even when that sin will bring us no true pleasure. Review "It takes great philosophical tact and a pastor's humility to be able to enter into the troubled waters of self-hatred and find there the wreckage, still salvageable, of a lost love. David Meconi possesses tact and humility in abundance, and he writes beautifully on behalf of "those who want to disappear" (desiderantibus evanescere). By his Augustinian lights, that is, at some time or another, just about all of us." --James Wetzel, Villanova University, USA About the Author David Vincent Meconi, S.J., is Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University, USA. His recent publications include The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification (Catholic University of America Press, 2013) and, as editor, The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo (Ignatius Critical Editions; Ignatius Press, 2012) and (co-edited with Eleonore Stump) The Cambridge Companion to Augustine(Cambridge University Press, 2014). He is the Editor of Homiletic and Pastoral Review.