On Consumer Culture, Identity, The Church and the Rhetorics of Delight (Reading Augustine) - Hardcover

Mark Clavier

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501330926 ISBN 13: 9781501330926

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018

Synopsis

The Reading Augustine series presents short, engaging books offering personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo's contributions to western philosophical, literary, and religious life. Mark Clavier draws on Augustine of Hippo to provide a philosophical explanation for the success of marketing and consumer culture. Augustines thought, rooted in rhetorical theory, presented a brilliant understanding of the experiences of damnation and salvation that took seriously the often hidden psychology of human motivation. His keen insight into the power of delight over personal notions of freedom and self-identity can be used to shed light on how the constant lure of promised happiness shapes the identities of consumers. From Augustines perspective, it is only by addressing the sources of delight within consumerism and by rediscovering the wellsprings of spiritual thought that we can effectively challenge consumer culture. To an age awash with commercial rhetoric, the fifth-century Bishop of Hippo offers a theological rhetoric that is surprisingly contemporary and insightful.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Clavier is Vice-Principal and Charles Marriott Director of Pastoral Studies at St Stephens House, Oxford and an Associate Member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, UK. Originally from the United States, he has lived in the UK since 2008 and served in parishes for more than fifteen years in both countries. His past publications include Rescuing the Church from Consumerism (2013) and Eloquent Wisdom: Rhetoric, Cosmology, and Delight in the Theology of Augustine of Hippo (2014).

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501330926
• ISBN 13: 9781501330926
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144