Benedict and Augustinianism

Welcome to my friend and colleague Lisa.  From a few things I've read, I've seen several suggestions about what the pope's "Augustinianism" means:

(1) He is somewhat more pessimistic about the world and the possibilities for the Church benefiting from secular thought.  Not totally pessimistic, but more so, compared with the Thomistic emphasis on human reason in which both Christians and non-Christians share.  See, e.g., this analysis, which doesn't make this distinction exactly, or put John Paul II on the other side, but which does emphasize the "critical stance" toward the world that an Augustinian perspective generates.

Does this contrast with John Paul II?  I'm no expert on this.  But wasn't there frequently a sense in his writings that he was calling the world back to its highest and deepest principles -- protection of life, true freedom, and so forth -- rather than claiming that the orientation of the world was more fundamentally and deeply flawed (the Augustinian emphasis)?  Again, no polar opposites here, but possibly differences in emphasis.

The article I cited above also raises a specific and interesting potential application of this difference.  In his writings on economic life, John Paul II is relatively positive about the market system and the opportunities it  affords for human growth and creativity.  Not unqualifiedly so, of course, but reasonably positive: a kind of "two cheers for capitalism," as Joseph Bottum put it last year.  Augustinians, according to the article I cited above, tend to "take a more critical approach, arguing that there are economic practices characteristic of [global capitalism] that cannot be squared with the social teaching of the Church."  This may fit with Bottum's assessment that Benedict has given and will give only "one cheer for capitalism": that, although certainly no socialist, he "stands to the left of his predecessor on economic issues."  (See here also.)

(2) I also have seen the speculation then that a more critical stance to the world will lead Benedict to favor a leaner, more doctrinally faithful if smaller Church.  (But couldn't this come in tension with the Augustine who fought the Donatists, the people of their time who wanted a leaner, uncompromised church?)

(3) "This Augustinian orientation has made the new pope more sensitive to issues of spirituality in the life of faith" in contrast with a relatively greater Thomisic emphasis on reason.  That's a quote from evangelical theologian, and a leader in the evangelical-Catholic discussions, Timothy George.  I doubt that there's much difference from John Paul II here -- didn't he place a great deal of emphasis on spirituality (although it seems to have come from other philosophical sources)?  In any event, the analysis I cited in #1 adds:

Pope Benedict is one of the many members of his generation who, while not disagreeing with the content of Thomist thought, believed that the scholastic presentation of the faith doesn't exactly set souls on fire unless they happen to be a particular type of soul with a passion for intellectual disputation. He has said that "scholasticism has its greatness, but everything is impersonal."

In contrast, with Augustine "the passionate, suffering, questioning man is always right there, and you can identify with him."

(4) According to George, Benedict's Augustinianism "has also given him a keen appreciation for another great German theologian, the Augustinian monk and church reformer Martin Luther. This enabled Ratzinger to play a key role in the historic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, an important agreement between Lutherans and Roman Catholics."

I don't know enough about Ratzinger/Benedict to evaluate all these points; and perhaps I've emphasized issues of particular interests to Protestants like me.  But I thought I'd lay out these suggestions that I've read, and see what others think.

Tom