Category Archives: pacificism
[Book Review] Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution / John Yoder
Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution John Howard Yoder; Theodore J. Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker, editors. Brazos Press, 2009. Reviewed by Nathan Hobby. Like Preface to Theology (2003), this book is the material for a unit Yoder taught, edited … Continue reading
Filed under book review, John Howard Yoder, pacificism
Yoder on Peace and War in the Middle Ages
John Howard Yoder’s Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution (Brazos, 2009) is a posthumously published, edited version of the notes Yoder distributed for his course in the subject. In chapter 8 ‘The Career of the Just War’ and chapter … Continue reading
Filed under history, John Howard Yoder, pacificism
Are Not Soldiers In Need of the Gospel?
A quote from the appendix to Guy Hershberger’s 1969 3rd edn of War, Peace and NonResistance, where he answers various practical objections. 13. Are Not Soliders in Need of the Gospel? Therefore Does Not Army Service, Especially Service as an … Continue reading
Filed under pacificism
Listening to a military chaplain
Yesterday at church a military chaplain spoke about his work and I’m still feeling upset. The slideshow had photos of all the chaplains in army fatigues, and of soldiers they were ministering to posing with large guns. Then a photo … Continue reading
Filed under my spiritual journey, pacificism
The early church and war
Back on my ANZAC Day post, there was some discussion in the comments about the early church and war. I haven’t done much reading on this, but The Mennonite has a good introductory article by David Brattston, putting forward the … Continue reading
Filed under history, links, pacificism
ANZAC Day
The regenerated do not go to war, nor engage in strife. They are children of peace who have ‘beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning forks, and know no war’ (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3). … Our weapons … Continue reading
Filed under pacificism
Disturbing Divine Behaviour : a review part 2
Seibert’s solution to disturbing divine behaviour is a christocentric hermeneutic. He acknowledges that the New Testament itself has some trouble images of divine behaviour. But he insists that we can trust the depiction of Jesus in the New Testament and … Continue reading
Filed under book review, Old Testament, pacificism
Disturbing Divine Behaviour : a review, part 1
Disturbing Divine Behavior: Troubling Old Testament Images of God / Eric Seibert (Fortress Press, 2009) In this book, Eric Seibert tackles head-on a question which has long been in my mind: what are we to do with the troubling Old … Continue reading
Filed under book review, John Howard Yoder, Old Testament, pacificism
Beat your plowshares into swords
Yesterday the pastor asked if anyone had heard God speaking in worship, and someone said they had a verse from God. It was Joel 3:10. Read it carefully, it doesn’t say what you think it says at first: ‘Proclaim this … Continue reading
Filed under Old Testament, pacificism
‘God’s Genocide’: some not-so-sensitive campus evangelism
I am very disturbed by this poster that was seen around my university a few weeks ago. I’m a part time student, and I only saw the poster after the event, otherwise I would have gone to listen, mainly in … Continue reading
