Augustine’s critique of religious identity and its implications for the Chinese church

This article will examine the emergence of the Donatists and then discuss how Augustine, in supporting the unity of the Catholic church, criticized the Donatists’ localized religious identity and argued for the priority of Catholic faith with his theory of two cities. Reflecting on the fall of Rome in 410, Augustine eventually abandoned the early Christian political theology championed by Eusebius and Orosius, and argued that Christians’ identity should be eternal and transcendental and could not be restrained by time or an earthly state. In light of Augustine’s argument on the state-church relation, we will then seek a possible solution for the illegal status of Protestant house churches and underground Catholic churches in mainland China.