Word: christiane
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was probably the most influential Christian thinker after the Gospel writers and St. Paul. It is to him that we owe such doctrines as original sin and predestination. Yet he has traditionally been unpopular with those concerned about Christian treatment of Jews over the centuries, a disapproval that was expressed eight years ago by the popular historian James Carroll in his much read book Constantine's Sword. Carroll wrote that Augustine and his followers believed that Jews "must be allowed to survive, but never to thrive" so that their public misery would broadcast their "proper...
What caused you to question the received wisdom? Back in 1993, I was reading a work of Augustine's attacking a Christian heretic. Usually when ancient orthodox Christians said terrible things about heretics, they found even worse things to say about Jews. Until 395, Augustine had not been much different, but here he was, writing about one of the flashiest heresies of his time and marshaling as arguments unbelievably positive things about Jews. As I read further, my scalp tingled. I had been working on Augustine for 20 years and I'd never seen anything like this before. Not only...
...more complicated. Imagine if all our public discourse was conducted in the language of legal combat. His was. Learned argument did not aim to represent an opponent's position fairly, but to make it look as ridiculous as possible. Part of his rhetoric regarding Jews reflected this. Also, Christians using harsh language against Jews were often actually aiming at Christian opponents, whom they painted as darkly as possible by comparing them to hostile caricatures of Jews...
...Well, modern Christians take it for granted that Christ really had a fleshly body. Not all ancient Christians agreed. Augustine, in the course of arguing for Christ's incarnation - this intimate relationship between divinity and humanity - explicitly parallels it to God's relationship with the Jews. He writes that Catholics and Jews stand as one community over against pagans and heretics, that Jesus and his apostles, including Paul, lived as Torah-observant Jews for the whole of their lives. And he urges that God himself would punish any king who tried to interfere with the Jews' practice of Judaism. These...
...government isn't guaranteeing people's safety," says Dr. Zacharys Gundu, a professor at Ahmadu Bello University and a community activist in Jos. "Security agents didn't arrive in time, if at all." Dr. Gundu predicted that Muslims with businesses or homes in predominantly Christian areas would irrevocably relocate to Muslim neighborhoods, and vice versa...