ABSTRACT
Readers of this volume could have learned much about the relationship between power and religion had Augustine contributed an article. His discussions of the subject are remarkably sophisticated and share many of the insights of modern theorists. Like us, he understood that power was not simply physical force but rather some external agent that we can feel without seeing. Like us, he accepted the freedom of the individual will and its ability to accept or reject the power of religion. Also like us, he was convinced that the options to do either were very much more circumscribed than most would like to admit. Our free will is enmeshed in systems of signification that we can only begin to comprehend and from which we can never extricate ourselves; its acceptance of religious truth is perpetually shaped by constant pressure from the power exerted by religion. At times that power merely nudges us toward certain attitudes and behaviors; at others, however, it veritably shoves us, even beats us, into compliance.
