In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, various governing authorities have called for the cessation of public gatherings, including church gatherings. In my own state of North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper gave an executive order forbidding public gatherings of more than 100 people. This means that the majority of churches in North Carolina are forbidden to meet [ Read More ]
Of the three logical categories in the ethics of warfare—pacifism, jihadism/crusaderism/militarism, and just war—the just war tradition alone is properly realistic. It is anthropologically realist, in that it alone recognizes the limits to what can be achieved in a world populated with finite and fallen humans. Evil cannot be eradicated, neither by laying down our [ Read More ]
There are only three logically consistent options when choosing an ethical framework for understanding matters of war and peace. At one end of the spectrum is pacifism, an ethic that wishes to achieve peace by refusing to take up arms. I reject pacifism as a form of idealism, unsuited for the real world. At the [ Read More ]
Some readers may be surprised to learn that pacifism is not a monolithic ideology. In fact, in Nevertheless: The Varieties of Religious Pacifism, Christian pacifist John Howard Yoder lists twenty-nine varieties of pacifism. Yoder’s list, which is confined to religious forms of pacifism, serves to illustrate the mind-boggling panoply of pacifisms on offer. For the [ Read More ]
In Book 19 of City of God, the great theologian Augustine (354-430 A.D.) argues that all human beings desire peace. Even war is fought to achieve peace. Augustine writes: For even they who make war desire nothing but victory—desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with glory. For what else is victory than [ Read More ]
The current news cycle has witnessed a flurry of activity surrounding the latest round of peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the United States. Many are hopeful that these could bring an end to America’s longest war. Seventeen long years have passed since U.S. troops first deployed to Afghanistan. We’re at the point now [ Read More ]
In 1971, John Lennon wrote a song that captured the spirit of a generation—“Imagine.” In it, he invited us to imagine a world with “no heaven above us,” “no hell below us,” “nothing to kill or die for,” and “no religion.” The result he envisioned? “Imagine all the people / Living life in peace.” Nearly [ Read More ]
As a seminary professor, I get questions like this all the time. And while my answers typically differ based on the context and the person asking, there’s one element I always incorporate into the answer: God is real and he does answer prayers. I always make the point that “God is real” because if he is not [ Read More ]
In 1974, British theologian Lesslie Newbigin returned to England after four decades of serving as a missionary to India. Back in Europe, he wrestled with a pressing question: How to preach the gospel to the West? He believed the Western church had unconsciously been captured by secular ideology. Rather than viewing the Bible’s narrative as [ Read More ]
These days, many Americans reject strong forms of religion. Christianity, in particular, is often embraced only in weak forms or as a mere tool for social and cultural transformation; the more muscular and biblical forms of Christianity are often ignored or rejected. Additionally, individuals are more attentive to images than to words and are addicted [ Read More ]