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...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2021]
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| 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
/ Store (Accommodations)
/ History 1945-2020
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| 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) |
| 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1719 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2020.1840036 |