How Christians Made Peace With War
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Author | : John Driver |
Publisher | : Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Total Pages | : 95 |
Release | : 2007-03-16 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1556351763 |
How should Christians regard the use of military force? Should they become involved in fighting for their country? Can they not find a better way to settle differences? The author, a biblical scholar, writer, and missionary in Uruguay and Spain, turns to the history of the early church for answers. He notes that the early Christians opposed warfare and military service because of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught love for enemies and persecutors. This led the early believers to resist the evils and injustices of their time with nonviolent love and forgiveness. The author then shows how Christians eventually became involved in military life. However, Ă’between [A.D.] 100 and 312 no Christian writers, to our knowledge, approved of Christian participation in warfare. In fact, all those who wrote on the subject disapproved of the practice. You will discover that John Driver writes in clear, concise terms and that he offers food for thought and action.
Author | : Hildo Bos |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 474 |
Release | : 2011-09-01 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 9781933275567 |
Since the early days of the Church, Christians have struggled to come to terms with Christ's words of peace and His example of peace. In Christ's life, as recorded in the New Testament, it is striking that He neither killed anyone nor summoned any of His disciples to kill. Indeed, the final miracle Christ performed before His execution was to heal an enemy's wound, an injury caused by the Apostle Peter in an attempt to defend his master. Yet, in the course of more than twenty centuries of Christian history, we see Christians often involved in war and, in surveying the calendar of saints, find not only those who refused to take part in war but also those who served in the military, though no one has been canonized due to his skill as a soldier. Besides the millions of Christians who have fought in armies, often against fellow Christians, we also find many priests, bishops and theologians who have advocated war and blessed its weapons. Our subject is an urgent one. Many people today live either near conflict areas or are directly touched by war or in areas where terrorist actions may suddenly occur. Everyone on the planet is in some way affected by wars in progress or wars in the making as well as the consequences of wars in the past. Every day thousands of Christians struggle in thought and prayer with some of the most difficult of questions: May I fight injustice by violent methods? Am I allowed to kill in combat? Are there limits on what I can do in the defense of my country? Am I as a Christian allowed to disobey demands that I believe are unjust or violate the Gospel? When the demands of my country seem at odds with the demands of the Kingdom of God, how do I respond to this conflict? Rarely do we find easy answers to these and similar questions. Thus, those of us in the Orthodox Christian tradition search for help in Holy Scripture, the canons provided to us by ecumenical councils, the witness of the saints, the writing of the Fathers of the Church as well as theologians of recent times. Imitation of saintly forebears alone, however, will not solve our problems. Different eras have adopted different attitudes. Also many of today's problems never existed before, not least the changed character of war in an era of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and mass propaganda. Yet knowledge of the thought and action undertaken by the Orthodox Churches on the issues of war and peace in recent decades surely can help us find ways out of the dead ends that many communities are experiencing today. This is the aim of this book.
Author | : Dennis Byler |
Publisher | : Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Total Pages | : 105 |
Release | : 2003-06-13 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1592442641 |
Participation in warfare is now so fully a part of the majority Christian heritage that it is hard for most Christians to imagine anything else. Catholics and Protestants of all the major denominations hold to the theory which justifies Christian participation in warfare. In holding to this theory, the vast majority of Christians have followed Augustine, a bishop in north Africa at the beginning of the fifth century. They have developed an informal system for determining when it is justified and necessary for Christians to kill other human beings. Following this line of reasoning, Christians have participated in revolutions, wars of national defense, wars of conquest and genocide, wars of religious intolerance, and wars caused by mistakes and misunderstandings. At the same time, however, small numbers of Christians have refused to kill other human beings. They have based this on the demands of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who laid down his own life instead of punishing the enemies of his people. These Christians continue to believe that prayer and selfless obedience to God's way of peace and love have a greater influence on the final outcome of events than do bullets and bombs. "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." (Psalm 20:7, NIV)
Author | : J. Daryl Charles |
Publisher | : Crossway |
Total Pages | : 417 |
Release | : 2010-05-13 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1433524198 |
With issues of war and peace at the forefront of current events, an informed Christian response is needed. This timely volume answers 104 questions from a just-war perspective, offering thoughtful yet succinct answers. Ranging from the theoretical to the practical, the volume looks at how the just-war perspective relates to the philosopher, historian, statesman, theologian, combatant, and individual—with particular emphases on its historical development and application to contemporary geopolitical challenges. Forgoing ideological extremes, Charles and Demy give much attention to the biblical teaching on the subject as they provide moral guidance. A valuable resource for considering the ethical issues relating to war, Christians will find this book's user-friendly format a helpful starting point for discussion.
Author | : Paul Alexander |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2009 |
Genre | : Peace |
ISBN | : 9781931038584 |
Once the Pentecostal peace witness extended throughout the movement and around the world-but was eventually muted and almost completely lost in the American Assemblies of God. This book, which is "gripping, powerful, and prophetic," says Amos Yong, tells the story of that shift. "The antiwar, Christian, pacifist sentiments of the Assemblies of God that Alexander describes . . . juxtaposed in close proximity to their pro-war and anti-pacifist passion and identification with America . . . is simply striking," comments J. Denny Weaver, in the C. Henry Smith Series Editor's Foreword. The implications, observes Cheryl Bridges Johns, Professor of Christian Formation and Discipleship, Church of God, "are worth examining by all traditions asking, 'Will our children have faith?' At the same time, mentions Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Religion, Harvard Divinity School, Alexander's narrative "suggests that Pentecostals may yet reclaim this invaluable element of their heritage."
Author | : Fahey, Joseph J. |
Publisher | : Orbis Books |
Total Pages | : 261 |
Release | : 2014-04-10 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1608334694 |
This primer on war and the Christian conscience begins in an imaginary college classroom as students react to news that the draft has been reinstated. ""Why cant I finish college?"" asks one student. ""Why do I have to go?"" These urgent and personal questions offer the entry to a clear and comprehensive outline of the basic Christian responses to the problem of war. As Fahey shows, the Christian tradition has supplied a variety of answers, including pacifism, just war teaching, the ethic of ""total war,"" and the vision of a ""world community."" In the face of these different approaches, how are we to decide which one is right? And more basically, how does one go about forming ones personal conscience? For all who ponder these moral challenges--whether as young people facing the question of military service, or as counselors, chaplains, or teachers--this book offers an essential and practical guide.
Author | : Robert G. Clouse |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 220 |
Release | : 1991 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : |
Robert G. Clouse presents four different viewpoints on the Christian's involvement in war: Herman A. Hoyt on biblical nonresistance, Myron S. Augsburger on Christian pacifism, Arthur F. Holmes on just war and Harold O. J. Brown on preventive war.
Author | : Brian Zahnd |
Publisher | : David C Cook |
Total Pages | : 149 |
Release | : 2014-06-01 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 143470792X |
We know Jesus the Savior, but have we met Jesus, Prince of Peace? When did we accept vengeance as an acceptable part of the Christian life? How did violence and power seep into our understanding of faith and grace? For those troubled by this trend toward the sword, perhaps there is a better way. What if the message of Jesus differs radically differs from the drumbeats of war we hear all around us? Using his own journey from war crier to peacemaker and his in-depth study of peace in the scriptures, author and pastor Brian Zahnd reintroduces us to the gospel of Peace.
Author | : Emily Swan |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 408 |
Release | : 2018-07-02 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 9781641800167 |
Blue Ocean Faith pastors Ken Wilson and Emily Swan issue an open invitation to renew Christianity 500 years after the Reformation. The authors argue that the church's future depends on focusing more closely the inclusive message of Christianity's founder. Their new cry: "Solus Jesus!" Only Jesus!
Author | : Ronald J. Sider |
Publisher | : Baker Books |
Total Pages | : 323 |
Release | : 2012-07-01 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1441238689 |
What did the early church believe about killing? What was its view on abortion? How did it approach capital punishment and war? Noted theologian and bestselling author Ron Sider lets the testimony of the early church speak in the first of a three-volume series on biblical peacemaking. This book provides in English translation all extant data directly relevant to the witness of the early church until Constantine on killing. Primarily, it draws data from early church writings, but other evidence, such as archaeological finds and Roman writings, is included. Sider taps into current evangelical interest in how the early church informs contemporary life while presenting a thorough, comprehensive treatment on topics of perennial concern. The book includes brief introductions to every Christian writer cited and explanatory notes on many specific texts.