What is it good for?
"[I]t is fair to say that the vast majority of Christians are pacifist in an important sense: most Christians today and through history presume against violence. The just war theory as put forward by its leading interpreters places the burden of doubt on those who resort to violence" (Clapp 111).
Rodney Clapp, in his book A Peculiar People, makes this profound statement about the history of the Church's stance on war, but I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. Do most Christians today presume against violence? I hope so, but that hasn't been my experience.
When I suggest, whether on this blog or at the Christian college I attended, that war is not acceptable for Christians, many Christians accuse me of cowardice instead of the sympathetic understanding that the Church desires peace.
Considerations of what makes a war just seem to be absent from the reasoning of most non-pacifist Christians I've encountered. If I cannot convince them from Scripture that war is wrong in all circumstances (which I cannot and will not attempt to do), then they will whole-heartedly back any war that the United States declares (especially if a Republican is the current president).
So I'm interested to hear from those who do not consider themselves pacifists, what are the criteria for a just war? Must we accept war as a matter of course, or are there unjust wars that we should oppose? I fear that many will not think beyond, "Unjust war is when the US is attacked; just war is when it attack others." Please try.
Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church As Culture in a Post-Christian Society. InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 1996.
Rodney Clapp, in his book A Peculiar People, makes this profound statement about the history of the Church's stance on war, but I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. Do most Christians today presume against violence? I hope so, but that hasn't been my experience.
When I suggest, whether on this blog or at the Christian college I attended, that war is not acceptable for Christians, many Christians accuse me of cowardice instead of the sympathetic understanding that the Church desires peace.
Considerations of what makes a war just seem to be absent from the reasoning of most non-pacifist Christians I've encountered. If I cannot convince them from Scripture that war is wrong in all circumstances (which I cannot and will not attempt to do), then they will whole-heartedly back any war that the United States declares (especially if a Republican is the current president).
So I'm interested to hear from those who do not consider themselves pacifists, what are the criteria for a just war? Must we accept war as a matter of course, or are there unjust wars that we should oppose? I fear that many will not think beyond, "Unjust war is when the US is attacked; just war is when it attack others." Please try.
Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church As Culture in a Post-Christian Society. InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 1996.
posted by Unknown @ Saturday, August 13, 2005
2 Comments:
At 11:11 PM, August 15, 2005,
Unknown said…
To jump start the conversation, follow the Thinklings link, and read the article "Problems with Pacifism" and following comments.
At 10:06 AM, September 15, 2005,
melis said…
I actually am not going to try to argue for just war. I really don't see where it fits into the Gospel of Jesus. I just wanted to say I like your blog and am thankful to see another Christian searching for answers beyond the fundimental, right winged conservatist approach to God and war.
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