Abstract

Punish the sin, not the sinner; easier said than done. Preaching on the second Psalm and purporting to address 'all who judge the earth,' Augustine wrestled with the problems attending punishment and reconciliation. The results recorded in his sermons and correspondence as well as in a few treatises perplex yet are worth considering before we investigate Augustine's more explicit remarks on the punishment of Donatist dissidents resisting reconciliation with the African church from which, he insisted, their predecessors had seceded in the early fourth century. At stake during Augustine's tenure as bishop, toward the end of that century and three decades into the next, was the influence of Catholic Christianity in provinces that supplied Italy with much of its grain, with many delicacies, and with olive oil, prepared for export in Augustine's see, at the port of Hippo, as well as in Carthage.1

Document Type

Post-print Chapter

ISBN

9781317082873

Publication Date

2-3-2017

Publisher Statement

© Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. This book chapter first appeared in Peace and Reconciliation in the Classical World, edited by E.P. Moloney and Michael Stuart Williams, 271-284, London; New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

The definitive version is available at: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Full citation:

Kaufman, Peter Iver. "Punishment and Reconciliation: Augustine." In Peace and Reconciliation in the Classical World, edited by E.P. Moloney and Michael Stuart Williams, 271-284. London; New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

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