Date of Award

4-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2024

Degree Name

Master of Theology (Th.M)

Director

Dr. Léocadie Lushombo

Abstract

In Gaudium et spes, the Second Vatican Council declared, “Let the citizens cultivate with magnanimity and loyalty the love of the country, but without a narrow mind, so that they always look also for the good of the whole human family, united by all kinds of links between the races, and the nations.”1 This declaration responded to one of the most pressing issues of the time, the problem of defining the limits of the state’s social agency. Twenty years prior to Vatican II, the Church witnessed one of the most explosive wars in recorded history, a conflict that had violently stretched the limits of empires and nations, of small communities and institutions — and even the limits of the human soul. The theme of the time, not surprisingly, was one of anthropological change.2

Integral to the Second Vatican Council’s view of the nation state was understanding what it meant to be a citizen. The council positioned citizens within a concrete political society, exhorting them to protect the unity of their national commonweal. Nevertheless, the council also recognized that secular citizenship cannot encompass the religious dimension of human life. The council resorted to the Augustinian paradigm of the two cities to circumscribe the proper aims of secular citizenship: “This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of the two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.”3 The perennial problem of this paradigm is defining what properly belongs to the nation state, setting apart “what belongs to Caesar.” Broadly speaking, secular citizenship is the social signifier that confirms a natural person’s membership in a political community.4 In recent times, as national and cultural boundaries shift, many people in the Church struggle to understand how their religious identity relates to their status as members of a nation state. What do Christians owe to their nations? What is the proper aim of secular citizenship? In this paper, we will look at the defining characteristics of the Augustinian concept of the two cities. This will provide us with a framework to rethink what citizenship means for the Christian faith in the 21st century.5

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