Ebook
This book is an Augustinian interrogation of contemporary Christian accounts of empire, just war, and terrorism. Though Augustine's voice has guided much of the Christian discourse in these conjoined arenas, it has not shielded his work from being misappropriated to serve ends that are inimical to his own. The US "war on terror" is the most recent and egregious example of violence that many theologians have unjustly baptized as "Augustinian." By reading Augustine pastorally rather than merely polemically, this work offers a counter-narrative and an alternative praxis for the American Christian trying to reconcile her baptism with her citizenship.
“Augustine of Hippo thought empires always end up fighting
endless wars. Shawn Aghajan, the son of an Iranian immigrant to the
United States as well as the Prince of Peace, shows us how
devastating it is that American defenders of Augustine’s political
theology have ignored this insight. American Christians today must
no longer evade asking how Christians come to defend and even love
the violence endemic to being the ‘greatest nation on
earth.’”
—Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen
“Shawn Aghajan gives us a new, insightful discussion of how to be
Christian and also American. He offers new readings of St.
Augustine that remind us: God alone is good, so no ‘side’ of
American imperialism is going to create the promised land. Rather,
Aghajan suggests that we take seriously Augustinian theology and
practices that show a way to be Christian even in the midst of an
imperial age.”
—Jana M. Bennett, University of Dayton
Shawn A. Aghajan is a perpetual teacher and learner. He is currently honing both skills with his wife and four daughters from a small, industrial backwater within the empire.