The Politics of God and The Politics of Man
Section 1: Politics and Religion
Section 2: Politics as a General Category for Understanding the Christian Faith
Section 3: Politics as a Specific Form of Social Action
Section 4: Practising the Politics of God
Section 5: Conclusion
Excursus
The Grammar of the Great Commission

The Politics of God and The Politics of Man Section 1: Politics and Religion Section 2: Politics as a General Category for Understanding the Christian Faith Section 3: Politics as a Specific Form of Social Action Section 4: Practising the Politics of God Section 5: Conclusion Excursus The Grammar of the Great Commission

Chapter 2

According to Augustine of Hippo, “True justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ.” Augustine went on to spell out in no uncertain terms what this means for a proper understanding of the nature and authority of governments: “Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, ‘What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor’ ” (City of God, Bk. II.21, IV.4).

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Chapter 2

Chapter 2