Reconceptualising Law: ‘Pagan’ Violence and Augustinian Peace
This article explores the idea of violence and peace in Christian theology. In particular, it considers the idea of violence as comprised of antagonism and alienation, and ultimately a ‘pagan’ celebration of war and death. Even the famed pax Romana is itself the violent suppression of violence. Draw...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publ.
[2021]
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| In: |
Journal for the academic study of religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 33, Issue: 3, Pages: 286–310 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint 354-430
/ Christianity
/ Ontology
/ Peace
/ Legal order
/ Roman Empire
/ Religion
/ Pax Romana
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BE Greco-Roman religions CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations CD Christianity and Culture CH Christianity and Society KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Further subjects: | B
Augustine
B law of love B Violence B Peace |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article explores the idea of violence and peace in Christian theology. In particular, it considers the idea of violence as comprised of antagonism and alienation, and ultimately a ‘pagan’ celebration of war and death. Even the famed pax Romana is itself the violent suppression of violence. Drawing on Augustine, the article contrasts this ‘pagan’ violence with the Christian idea of ontological peace—the harmonious ordering and fellowship of difference between God and humanity, or what John Milbank calls ‘the reconciliation of virtue with difference’. Though this Christian critique is historically situated, it creates an opportunity to reconceptualise our modern legal system so that we may move from a liberal atomistic individualism to a more harmonious community of being, governed by ‘the law of love’. |
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| ISSN: | 2047-7058 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jasr.40936 |