Rating: 8
March 24, 2008
I really wish comments were available for this book. (The author of this plugin says that comments will be supported in the next update, but I’ve been waiting for a long time). Perhaps I’ll just put this on the main blog sometime later.
First, this book is just beautiful to look at. It’s in full color, chocked full with pictures and graphics that make it fun to read.
More importantly, the authors force me to face what I believe about violence and war. Sure, the first two sections had some interesting takes on a few biblical passage, but at a few points, the biblical work also seemed a bit sloppy or their interpretations, overstretched. Overall, though, it’s an interesting walk through the Scriptures to voice a theology of the nation-state. But the book is at its best in section three, the authors lead the reader head-first into their strident pacifism, and I couldn’t help but be challenged. They didn’t advocate passivity, but instead, a life-sacrificing pacifism that stands in the way of violence.
The book is at its best when the authors quote the early Christian fathers who lived under Roman rule:
“With this call [God] has roused us all, and now we have left the state. We have renounced all the things the world offers”
– Justin“I recognize no empire of this present age.”
– Speratus, Acts of the Martyrs“The professions and trades of those whoa re going to be accepted into the community must be examined. The nature and type of each must be established… brothel, sculptors of idols, charioteer, athlete, gladiator… give it up or be rejected. A military constable must be forbidden to kill, neither may he swear; if he is not willing to follow these instructions, he must be rejected. A proconsul or magistrate who wears the purple and governs by the sword shall give it up or be rejected. Anyone taking or already baptized who wanted to become a soldier shall be sent away, for he has despised God.”
– Hippolytus, 218 AD
The early Fathers disengaged from the Empire, and forbid Christians to take up arms. Soldiers had to leave their posts. How do we apply this today, if at all? Claiborne and friends actively recruit people away from the military, and provide scholarships so people from lower-income neighborhoods can find other ways of gainful employment and education. And they challenge others to do the same. I don’t know of a single Christian church that does the same.
I thought it would be wise to find a different perspective at the same time, so I asked one of my closest friends (who is a thoughtful, mature Christian in the military) to read this, and he forcefully disagrees with this book. He brings up thoughtful questions: if God was against the military, then why didn’t he call them out of the Israelite military? Perhaps its the nature of the empire?
But the nature of the Israelite empire and the one we live in now are surely less than perfect, and often acts in evil (as well as good) ways. How, as Christians, are we supposed to relate?
This book brings up a lot of questions for me, and I’m still wrestling. Their bibliography makes me want to read further, like Yoder’s The Politics of Jesus or Boyd’s The Myth of a Christian Nation. And I’d like to balance these readings with differing points of view. I don’t agree with everything, and yet, I have some sympathies for their viewpoints. Especially since it’s not just words to them, but they really try to live it out. Section Four is a hodgepodge of anecdotes that show the many ways they’re unplugging from the system to create an alternative society that’s still a blessing to the wider world.
Though this book isn’t as winsome as The Irresistible Revolution, I still find myself equally — if not more so — challenged in my views of what it means to be a Christian today. And for that, I’m thankful to be challenged out of my own comfortable faith.
You can view its Amazon detail page by clicking the image above.
Powered by Rob Miller's Now Reading plugin.
