Nationalism and Heresy in Augustine

Can nationalism be heresy? Augustine’s social thought resisted both the religious nationalism of those who saw Rome’s conquest of neighboring nations as God’s redemptive work, and the religious isolationism of the Donatist sect that rejected all Christian involvement in Rome’s public life. Augustine diagnosed both the nationalist and the isolationist temptation, not merely as unethical and imprudent, but as unorthodox and heretical—trusting in salvation by human works. His arguments against...