I thought of our own Morning’s Minion when I read this quote today in the recently published, and quite impressive, collection Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians. After requesting clemency for a condemned criminal, Augustine of Hippo exchanged letters on the matter with Macedonius, vicar of Africa. In those letters, Macedonius insists that criminals should be pardoned only when they show some sign of remorse. Augustine replied:
In no way, then do we approve of the sins that we want to be corrected, nor do we want the wrongdoing to go unpunished because we find it pleasing. Rather, having compassion for the person and detesting the sin or crime, the more we are displeased by the sin the less we want the sinful person to perish without having been corrected. For it is easy and natural to hate evil persons because they are evil, but it is rare and holy to love those same persons because they are human beings.
[Cited in Anthony J. Chvala-Smith, “Augustine of Hippo,” in Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians, edited by Kwok Pui-Lan, Don. H. Compier, and Joerg Rieger (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007), p. 87]
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