{"title":"Reconceptualising Law: ‘Pagan’ Violence and Augustinian Peace","authors":"Alex Deagon","doi":"10.1558/JASR.40936","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"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’.","PeriodicalId":41609,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Academic Study of Religion","volume":"33 1","pages":"286-310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for the Academic Study of Religion","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JASR.40936","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
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’.
期刊介绍:
The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion is a fully refereed interdisciplinary academic journal. The journal reflects the wide variety of research dealing with all aspects of the academic study of religion. The journal is committed to presenting cutting edge research from both established and new scholars. As well as articles, it publishes book and film reviews, conference reports, and the annual lectures delivered to members of its partner organisation, the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion is published three times a year and issues alternate between thematic and regular issues. Regular issues include articles on any topic that bears upon the academic study of religion.