In this intellectual snack, Jonathan reflects on Edmund Burke's conservative understanding of politics as the pragmatic art of managing human necessities within the constraints of human nature, and why we ought to be sceptical of abstract political thinking in that endeavour.

Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.