I read a lot of books. Quickly. Every once and a while I discover a book that demands a slower reading. Poetic, theologically profound, and deeply relevant, The Spirit and the Common Good is one such book. Daniela C. Augustine’s latest work is a call to worship, and in worshiping, recognize who we are in community and how we are formed into the image of the Triune God.

Augustine’s thesis is rich:

[T]he present volume offers a theological vision of the common good based on the Spirit’s Christoforming agency in the life of redeemed and ontologically renewed humanity, recovering its eucharistic nature as a priestly communal being and emphasizing (in continuity with its underlying Christology) that to be truly human means to be for others. (11)

She accomplishes this task by articulating a pneumatological vision of human flourishing and by showing how violence is essentially iconoclastic—it mars the very image of God. This violence takes economic forms in our consumerist society. Even in our attempts at ‘charity’ are set within a culture of economic violence. Augustine pulls no punches: “Practicing benevolence as indulgences for our consumer addictions is not enough to mend a broken world” (159). Finally, the book explores forgiveness and reconciliation as an avenue for the Spirit to work.

The Spirit and the Common Good won the Society for Pentecostal Studies’ Pneuma book award—for good reason. However, one need not identify as pentecostal or charismatic to be inspired by this book. Augustine draws deeply on various theological streams, especially Orthodox theologians, to make her case. She is equally at home interacting with Walter Brueggemann and Irvin Greenberg, Saint Maximus the Confessor and Karl Barth.

Here’s an idea for a spiritual discipline. Replace fifteen minutes of news broadcasting with a couple pages of this book. Allow Augustine’s vision of the Triune God and human flourishing to replace the distorted images presented in the media. It will do your soul good.

Augustine, Daniela C. The Spirit and the Common Good: Shared Flourishing in the Image of God. Eerdmans, 2019.