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What is the place-if any-for violence in the Christian life?
Christian Martyrdom and Christian Violence: On Suffering and Wielding the Sword explores the tension between Christianity's historic reverence for martyrdom (suffering violence for faith) and Christianity's historical support of a just war ethic (involving the inflicting of violence). While the book considers the possibility that the two are unreconcilable, it also argues that they are ultimately compatible; but their compatibility requires a more humanized portrait of the Christian martyr as well as a stricter approach to the justified use of violence.
List of contents
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Naming the Christian Martyrs
- 1. Identifying Martyrdom
- The Origins of "Martyrdom"
- Action and Passion in Christian Martyrdom
- Violent Action and Martyrdom?
- The Question of Violence in the Christian Life and the Criteria of Martyrdom (I)
- 2. Nonviolence as Criterion of Martyrdom?
- The Biblical Case for Pacifism
- Christian Pacifism in History
- Martyrdom in Anabaptist Perspective
- Nonviolence and the Imitatio Christi
- The Criteria of Martyrdom (II)
- 3. The Just War and the Horizon of Martyrdom
- The Rise of the "Just War" in Christian Ethics
- Christian Just War Teaching
- The Logic of Christian Just War Thinking
- Criticisms of Christian Just War Thinking
- 4. Soldiers and Saints, Magistrates and Martyrs
- Soldiers as Martyrs and Saints in the Early Church
- Saints, Martyrs, and the Institutions of Medieval Christendom
- Magistrate Martyrs in the Era of Reformation
- Martyr Claims in the European Wars of Religion
- Interlude: Colonialism, Mission, and Martyrdom
- Holy War and Just War
- 5. Violence, Jesus, and Just War Reasoning
- The Nature and Varieties of Violence
- Jesus and (Non)Violence
- Christian Violence, Jesus, and the Biblical God
- Weighing the Just War Ethic
- 6. Christian Calling and the Ideal of Martyrdom in the Real World
- Christian "Realism"
- Christian Calling in the Real World
- Interlude: Military Calling, Moral Injury, and Just War Teaching
- The Theology of Sainthood (I)
- The Criteria of Martyrdom (III)
- 7. Violence and the Christian Life in the Light of Martyrdom
- The Rhetorical Function of Martyrdom
- Restraining the "Necessities" of Realism
- Christian Soldiers and the Criteria of Martyrdom (IV)
- Soldiers, Society, and the Church
- The Theology of Sainthood (II)
- Epilogue: The Logic and Absurdity of Violence
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Matthew D. Lundberg is Professor of Religion and Director of the de Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the co-author of An Introduction to Christian Theology (Cambridge University Press), forthcoming in its second edition.
Summary
What is the place-if any-for violence in the Christian life? At the core of Christian faith is an experience of suffering violence as the price for faithfulness, of being victimized by the world's violence, from Jesus himself to martyrs who have died while following him. At the same time, Christian history had also held the opinion that there are situations when the follower of Jesus may be justified in inflicting violence on others, especially in the context of war. Do these two facets of Christian ethics and experience present a contradiction?
Christian Martyrdom and Christian Violence: On Suffering and Wielding the Sword explores the tension between Christianity's historic reverence for martyrdom (suffering violence for faith) and Christianity's historical support of a just war ethic (involving the inflicting of violence). While the book considers the possibility that the two are unreconcilable, it also argues that they are ultimately compatible; but their compatibility requires a more humanized portrait of the Christian martyr as well as a stricter approach to the justified use of violence.
Additional text
This is an important book. The author brings rigorous scholarship and profound insight to his analysis of Christian martyrdom, just war ethics, and the general problem of violence in the experience of people of faith. That this work was partly seeded in theological dialogue at the Faith and Order table should give readers confidence, not only in its comprehensive reading of historical and contemporary sources and examples, but also in its ecumenical sensitivities. For all of these reasons, the value of this book is undeniable.
