Absence Makes the Heart Grow: Longing and the Spirit in the Theology of St. Augustine

Abstract

Affections and emotions have come to the fore of our cultural attention once again. After a long dogmatic slumber from serious intellectual reflection, scholars have awoken to the fundamental importance of the affective dimension of human life. Recent interest in affections and moral judgment within moral philosophy, social sciences, and cognitive sciences have coincided with the worldwide emergence of pentecostal and charismatic movements that stress affective forms of spirituality and worship. It strikes me as no coincidence, either, that the work of Augustine of Hippo has also experienced a major resurgence. However, aside from the capaciousness of Augustine’s interests, few within the Christian tradition have probed the nature and integration of the affections within a theological framework with more depth and complexity.