Christian Pacifism and the Old Testament
Crossposted from here.
Invariably, whenever a pacifist Christian reveals her stance to a non-pacifist Christian, the first question she must answer is "What about the Old Testament?" Indeed, many Christians today use Israel's wars recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures as a justification for the stance that war is consistent with Christian ethics.
A careful consideration of the relevant biblical texts reveals that this is not the case. As John Howard Yoder discusses in The Politics of Jesus, while it is certainly true that in some cases wars occur apparently with YHWH's blessing, ancient Israel consistently denies that war is what saves them from their enemies. Rather, redemption from the threat of oppression is always seen as a result of the special intervention of God himself, not of human military exploits. As Yoder writes:
"It had thus become a part of the standard devotional ritual of Israel to look over the nation's history as one of miraculous preservation. Sometimes this preservation had included the Israelites' military activity; at other times no weapons at all were used. In both kinds of case, however, the point was the same: confidence in YHWH is an alternative to the self-determining use of Israel's own military resources in the defense of their existence as God's people." [emphasis added]
The point of the war stories of the Old Testament, then, is that salvation comes from God, not from the the violent strength of men. Indeed, even where some military force is used, it is often minimized by God's command (consider the story of Gideon in Judges 6-8, wherein God limited Gideon's forces to show that the victory was His alone). This interpretation makes sense in light of passages such as Psalm 33.16-17:
A king is not saved by his great army,
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
and by its great might it cannot save.
This same Psalm ends with this reminder of YHWH's provision:
Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and shield.
Our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you. [NRSV]
Israel's wars, when successful, were not displays of trust in the might of bow and sword. To an Israelite -- whether David against Goliath or Gideon against the Midianites and Amalekites -- deliverence is due to the miraculous intervention of YHWH. This understanding of war for Israel was much more fundamental than the idea of "giving credit" to God for victory; it was rather the recognition that God caused the victory entirely, which is not the same thing at all as an after-the-fact token Alleluia.
This attitude contrasts sharply with the modern practice of war, particularly in America. Today, war is uniformly an outgrowth of faith in the myth of redemptive violence, of trust in the power of tanks and bombs to deliver us from evil. Militarism -- the kind so often backed by the church, sadly -- is always the embodiment of the belief that if we only invest a little more money and few more lives, we'll have just enough strength to save us.
Ancient Israel looked to its covenant with God for its preservation, trusting in YHWH as "help" and "shield". No nation today has that covenant, and thus every nation today trusts instead in "great armies" and "war horses". These two approaches are fundamentally different, and therefore no attempt to justify modern warmaking can be based on Israel's example.
(1 vote)
- Matt Shafer's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
Ah, No Eileen
So by your "logic" it would have been perfectly "Christian" to have let Hitler take over the world and exterminate Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, the handicapped and anybody else who didn't fit that madman's definition of a pure aryan?
I don't think so.
you miss the point
The Way Jesus taught and modeled with his life proved that evil can be confronted by NOT mirroring it and REFLECTION and REPENTANCE in the Body of Christ in the USA is what i am always hoping to provoke.
The USA has committed more acts of terrorism against innocent civilians than any other power; Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Viet Nam, and on and on;
The eye-for-an-eye-cycle spins and no way can a true follower of Jesus condone, justify any violence committed against another-no matter what they do or what they think-a true follower of The Prince of PEACE would never pick up arms against another.
Before Emperor Constantine brought Christianity into the mainstream, all the early Church Fathers taught that Christians should not serve in the army but instead willingly suffer rather than inflict harm on any other.
St. Augustine was the first Church Father to consider the concept of a Just War and within 100 years after Constantine, the Empire required that all soldiers in the army must be baptized Christians and thus, the decline of Christianity began in earnest.
With the justification of war and violence supplied by Augustine’s Just War Theory, wrong became right. Nothing much has changed in two millennium, for in today’s Orwellian world politicians claim the way to peace is through war and that nuclear weapons provide protection.
American money claims 'In God we Trust' but the truth is America's faith is in an out of control Military Industrial Complex that seeks domination, power and control over any who would defy and challenge the American status quo.
Eisenhower warned America not to bind our economy to the Industrial Military Complex and like most prophets, he was ignored.
And I wonder WHY the silence [apathy?] on this site about our brother in JC, Mordechai Vanunu, a prophet of peace of the 20th and 21st centuries still being held captive in Jerusalem for telling the truth and converting to Christianity-an unpardonable sin for particular people.
Uh, No; I Don't "Miss the Point" Eileen
First of all Eileen I notice that you quote Eisenhower and his warning of the military industrial complex. But wasn't Eisenhower the very same man who as commander of SHAEF during World War II prosecuted a very just war against Hitler and Mussolini? Hmmm?
As for your friend Vanunu, I am more concerned with radical Islam's desire to obtain a nuclear weapon. As Solomon Rushdie pointed out -- clearly no right wing neocon -- groups such as Hamas openly flaunt their desire to obtain and then use a nuclear weapon.
there is no justification for any war
Two thousand years ago the Cross had NO symbolic religious meaning and was not a piece of jewelry.
When Jesus said: "Pick up your cross and follow me," everyone back then understood he was issuing a POLITICAL statement, for the main roads in Jerusalem were lined with crucified agitators, rebels, dissidents and any others who disturbed the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces.
In the latter days of Nero's reign [54-68 A.S.] through the domination of Domitian [ 81-96] Christians were persecuted for following the nonviolent, loving and forgiving Jesus. That Jesus was first left behind when Augustine penned the Just War Theory.
Before Emperor Constantine brought Christianity into the mainstream, all the early Church Fathers taught that Christians should not serve in the army but instead willingly suffer rather than inflict harm on any other. St. Augustine was the first Church Father to consider the concept of a Just War and within 100 years after Constantine, the Empire required that all soldiers in the army must be baptized Christians and thus, the decline of Christianity began in earnest.
With the justification of war and violence supplied by Augustine’s Just War Theory, wrong became right. Nothing much has changed in two millennia, for in today’s Orwellian world politicians claim the way to peace is through war and that nuclear weapons provide protection.
American money claims 'In God we Trust' but the truth is America's faith is in an out of control Military Industrial Complex that seeks domination, power and control over any who would defy and challenge the American status quo. Eisenhower warned America not to bind our economy to the Industrial Military Complex and like most prophets, he was ignored.
In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity and thus, those who had been considered rebels and outlaws began to enjoy political power and prestige. Jesus’ other name is The Prince of Peace, and with the marriage of church and state, his true teachings were reinterpreted.
The justification of warfare and the use of state sponsored violence corrupted what Christ modeled and taught.
Jesus was always on about WAKE UP!
The Divine already indwells you and all others.
Christ taught that to follow him requires that one must love ones enemies; one must forgive those who hate, curse and revile them, without even a thought of payback.
Christ lived a life that proved evil can be opposed without being mirrored, and that the cycle of a “tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye”, will never bring peace and justice.
Before Emperor Constantine brought Christianity into the mainstream, all the early Church Fathers taught –and all Christians never served in the army but instead willingly suffered rather than inflict harm on any other.
The term Christianity was not coined until three decades after Christ walked the earth. Until the day of Paul, followers of Christ were called members of The Way; the way being what he taught!
Christ was never a Christian, but he was a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up [intifada in Arabic] for he challenged the job security of the Temple authorities by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God already LOVED them just as they were: sinners, poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Military Occupation.
What got Jesus crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces of his time, by teaching the subversive concept that Caesar only had power because God allowed it and that God preferred the humble sinner, the poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Occupation above the elite and arrogant!
Clement, Tertillian, Polycarp and every other early Church Father taught that violence was a contradiction of what Christ was all about. There have always been those Christians who spoke out against this corruption of scripture and they have been ignored, reviled, rejected, mocked, persecuted and maligned throughout time.
There have always been Christians who have never abandoned the true teachings, such as the Quakers, Mennonites, some Catholics and Protestants who have been faithful witnesses to Christ by denouncing violence and caring for the poor.
There have also always been Jews, Muslims, atheists, anarchists, secularists, rebels and revolutionaries who have lived lives that embody the message of Christ; who have in fact DONE what he actually taught and modeled:most revolutionary!
John Lennon penned The Wedding Ballad Of John & Yoko a few weeks after their 1969 marriage and then held a bed-in for peace to awaken the world via a media event to the abomination of the war in Vietnam. Using the global stage John said, "Yoko and I are quite willing to be the world's clowns; if by doing it we do some good…And I'm saying peace…The struggle is in the mind. We must bury our own monsters and stop condemning people. We are all Christ and Hitler. We want Christ to win. We're trying to make Christ's message contemporary. What would he have done if he had advertisements, records, films, TV and newspapers! Christ made miracles to tell his message. Well, the miracle today is communications, so let's use it."
That battle rages on to make Christ contemporary and so does the beat...
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution."-Emma Goldman
Oh Really?
My goodness, while bringing on war for egotistical self-interest is never justified, not all war falls under that verdict. Even Bonhoffer knew that Hitler had to stopped with force. Likewise, Niebuhr knew that the Soviet Union's Cold War expansion had to be contained.
IF you are a Christian in The Way JC taught and lived
NO WAY can you justify breaking the law: "Thou shall not kill."
Really!
I take my marching orders from The Master, My Bro and Lord who said:
"Blessed are the Peacemakers; they are the children of God." "Peter, put up your sword." "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."
Chesterton mentioned that the problem with Christianity is that too few have ever actually done it!
Matt, Keep Writing...
It is refreshing to read you articles, and certainly you bring up an important issue in the opposition to Pacifism in the bloody history of the Old Testament. John Howard Yoder, was an inspiration to me as a young seminarian during the Vietnam War. It hasn't been my lifelong ministry passion, but I fooled myself thinking that we had learned this lesson and given up empire building dreams. It would be very helpful to Christians if they realized that the Old Testament, and the Gospels provide us with the story of God's people, a realistic story of their hopes, dreams, success, failure, and indeed the story of their sin.
This frees the Christian to find the words of Jesus in the Gospels as the ideal pattern -- the model and expectation of God for us. To be sure we always fall short, but in the Old Testament and Epistles we find examples of sins to avoid, successes to emulate and a demonstration of God's faithfulness even when his people failed, which gives us hope to attempt the resurrection life in a dying world.