The Camp of God: Reimagining Pilgrimage as Migrancy in Augustine’s City of God 1

Following the Sack of Rome in 410 CE, African Christians like Augustine welcomed migrants from Italy. This was part of a trend of catastrophic human displacement that anticipated - albeit in an inverted manner - the Mediterranean migrant crisis of the twenty-first century. It was in this context tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hannan, Sean ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2021]
In: Political theology
Year: 2021, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Pages: 10-26
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint 354-430, De civitate dei 1 / Flight / Pilgrimage / Camp (Accommodations) / History 1945-2020
IxTheo Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
Further subjects:B Augustine
B Migrants
B Pilgrimage
B detention centers
B Agamben
B Biopolitics
B Exile
B Refugees
B Concentration Camps
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Following the Sack of Rome in 410 CE, African Christians like Augustine welcomed migrants from Italy. This was part of a trend of catastrophic human displacement that anticipated - albeit in an inverted manner - the Mediterranean migrant crisis of the twenty-first century. It was in this context that Augustine wrote, in his City of God, of a civitas made up of peregrini - not merely “pilgrims,” but “migrants” or “refugees.” The vision of community corresponding to Augustine’s sense of peregrinatio was not the city, but the camp: the civitas that plays host to the migrant. As Agamben has reminded us, the prevalence of camps tells us something about the regime of law conditioning even those who supposedly live “outside the walls.” In light of Agamben’s insight, this article makes the case that Augustine’s political theology of peregrinatio and civitas is best understood in terms of migrancy and the refugee camp.
ISSN:1743-1719
Contains:Enthalten in: Political theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2020.1840036