Augustine on War and Military Service

375 Pages·2013·2.435 MB·English

by  Phillip Wynn

Rereading Augustine on war and military service— W
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It is widely assumed that Augustine originated our modern understanding of just war. But N
is that true? In this sweeping reevaluation of the evidence, Phillip Wynn uncovers a nuanced
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story of Augustine’s thoughts on war and military service, and gives us a more complete and
complex picture of this important topic. Deeply rooted in the development of Christian
thought from Tertullian onward, this reengagement with Augustine is essential reading.
Praise for Augustine on War and Military Service
“This worthwhile and ambitious study insists that we look beyond legal and theological tradi-
tions of just war theory to the historical context of the later Roman Empire for an understand-
ing of its origins. Picking up on other scholars’ discomfort with the notion of Augustine as
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the originator of a coherent, more or less complete doctrine of just war, Wynn ranges widely
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across late antiquity for earlier as well as alternative voices. In so doing, he stakes out a num- U

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ber of areas for future debate, debate which this important topic well deserves.”
G
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Kevin Uhalde R
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Ohio University &
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“Beginning in the Middle Ages writers selectively combed Augustine’s writings for comments L
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on war and military service, turning him into the founder of ideas about just war. Phillip TN
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Wynn painstakingly puts Augustine’s words back into their original contexts and draws very
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different and surprising conclusions.” Y
Thomas F. X. Noble
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University of Notre Dame E
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C
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PHILLIP WYNN completed his Ph.D. at Notre Dame under
the direction of Thomas F. X. Noble and has been awarded a
fellowship as Fulbright scholar in residence at Ben Gurion Uni-
versity in Beersheva, Israel. He has published articles on histo-
riography and the history of ideas in the late antique and early
medieval periods.
Religion / History
AUGUSTINE ON WAR AND MILITARY
SERVICE

AUGUSTINE ON WAR
AND MILITARY
SERVICE
PHILLIP WYNN
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
AUGUSTINE ON WAR AND MILITARY SERVICE
Copyright © 2013 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in
critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit
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Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Cover design: Laurie Ingram
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Print ISBN:978-1-4514-6473-3
eBook ISBN:978-1-4514-6985-1
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
PPaarrtt II..
1. The Modern Construction of an Augustinian Just War 9
2. War and Military Service in Early Christianity, and the 33
Constantinian Revolution
3. Accommodating the State: Ambrose of Milan and Martin of 73
Tours
4. The Roman Just War and Early Christianity 123
PPaarrtt IIII..
5. Interpreting Augustine 147
6. Augustine onMilitia 155
7. Augustine on War 213
8. Final Victory and Perfect Peace 265
9. The Medieval Construction of Augustine as an Authority on 297
War and Military Service
10. Conclusion 321
Bibliography 337
Augustine's Texts Cited 349
Index of Augustinian Citations 351
General Index 355
v

Acknowledgments
With a work as broadly conceived as this, even the strictest detractors must,
according to their measure of the material that should be in it but isn’t,
occasionallymakeallowancesformortalignorance,whileconcedingthemerest
possibilitythatanyparticularsomethingtheymasteredwiththeirmothers’milk
may be missing for lack of space, or relevance.
The best medicine I’ve known for treating mortal ignorance in these
matters is the University of Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, its library, and
especiallythestaffandmycolleaguesthere.Call-outstothatscoundrelRoberta
Baranowski,who,thoughshedeniesit,actuallyrunstheplace;colleaguesLeslie
Lockett, for providing me a place to live while much of this was written;
DavidMengel,forprovidingmewithajob;andJonathanJuilfs,forhishelpin
keeping me sane—although in the end he failed.
One who succeeded was mentor and friend Tom Noble, whose
intelligenceandlearningpermeatethesepages;hewas,simply,indispensableto
it.
ThanksarealsoduethefolksatFortressPress,particularlyWillBergkamp,
allofwhomIthink—oratleasthope!—willforgivemeforsometimesclaiming
authorial prerogative in ladling out a spicy sauce or two.
AcertainPamandCharlesaremostlyrelievedthatacertainwindbagnow
no longer talks about just war.
In the realms this work traverses, I must acknowledge three true pioneers
whose footsteps I’ve encountered, and often followed: Herbert Deane, Peter
Haggenmacher, and Bernard Verkamp.
Finally,thegreatestthanksareduemycriticswhoshowmemyerrorsand
omissions.
vii

Abbreviations
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(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981)
Barnes,CCoonnssttaannttiinnee..Barnes,Timothy.Constantine: Dynasty, Religion and Power
in the Later Roman Empire(Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)
Brown.Brown,Peter.Augustine of Hippo: A Biography,2nded.(Berkeleyand
Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000)
Cameron andHall.Cameron, Averil, andStuart G.Hall, trans. Eusebius: Life
of Constantine(Oxford: Clarendon, 1999)
CCCCLL.Corpus Christianorum,Series Latina(Turnhout, 1954–)
CCDDSS. Capitula diversarum sententiarum pro negociis rei publice consulendis, Paris,
Bib. nat. lat. nouv. acq. 1632, fol. 78v–89v
CCoodd.. TThheeoodd.. Theodosiani libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis, ed. T.
Mommsen (Berlin, 1962 reprint)
CCSSEELL.Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum(Vienna, 1866–)
DDCCDD.Augustine,De civitate Dei, ed. B. Dombart and A. Kalb (CCL47, 48)
DDiivv..IInnsstt.L.CaeliFirmianiLactantiDivinaeInstitutiones,ed.S.Brandt(CSEL19,
Prague/Vienna/Leipzig, 1890)
DDMMPP. De mortibus persecutorum, ed. & trans. J. L. Creed (Oxford: Clarendon,
1984)
Dolbeau. Augustin d’Hippone, Vingt-Six Sermons au peuple d’Afrique, ed.
François Dolbeau (Paris: Brepols, 1996)
GGCCSS. Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte (Leipzig,
1897–1918; Berlin, 1954–)
HE. Eusebius of Caesarea. Historia Ecclesiastica (GCS, Eusebius Werke II, ed. E.
Schwartz [Greek], T. Mommsen [Latin] [Leipzig, 1903])
Hefele.Hefele, C. J.Histoire des Conciles(Paris, 1907)
Heim.Heim,François.LaThéologiedelavictoiredeConstantinàThéodose(Paris:
Beauchesne, 1992)
Mansi. Mansi, J. D. Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Florence:
A. Zatti, 1759–98)
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