JUST WAR PART 1: THE TIMES OF AUGUSTINE
I DON'T CARE ABOUT JUST WAR!! I know you don't. I didn't either until I accidentally studied it and realized that it's history has much to teach us about how we modern Christians decide what is right and wrong. In the end this series is not about just Just War doctrine but instead has serious implications for any Christian belief we cling to today without question or reservation. I hope we all ask ourselves when this series is over what other beliefs we hold fast to without knowing their history or biblical basis. Why do we baptize the way we do at my church? Why do we have these books in the bible and not some others? Why do I believe that about salvation and this about heaven? I hope we start asking tough questions about ideas we've believed too easily.
Upfront I must admit I am not a subscriber to Just War doctrine. But I will do my best to present the facts of it's history and give many sources along the way from those wise men and women who do support it. This history then is not hewn from the theories of its detractors but from it's most notable supporters. It flows from the pen of one of it's fiercest opponents: me.
As always I teach to learn. Help me get my facts straight and my thoughts sharper. Post comments as often and as long as you'd like. I'll read them all and learn a lot I'm sure.
So let's get started. Part 1: The Times of Augustine.
The story of the Just War tradition begins with Augustine, a Catholic bishop in Hippo. Augustine, who died in A.D. 430, wrote and ministered at a time when Christians were becoming popular - a significant percentage of the Roman population. This popularity occurred in part because of the strange conversion of the Roman Emperor to Christianity - what some see as a miraculous blessing to our faith and others view as the beginning of the end of true orthodox Christianity.
Constantine "converted" to Christianity, unifying the Christians and the kingdom of Rome in the process, while at the same time keeping his position as high priest of the official pagan state religion of the Empire. Then, in A.D. 313, Emperor Constantine made Christianity's acceptance law, declaring the religion legal and embarking on a grand church building project and eventually the establishment of Catholicism - modeled after the Roman government's structures and hierarchy.
Now, with Constantine's blessing, Christians could engage in every facet of civic life. And with the government's support Christians soon infiltrated every level of government, acting as soldiers and advisors and rulers in a kingdom created and maintained by warfare. Christian theology on war would soon change.
Enter Augustine. Living in Hippo, a Roman province in Africa, he was endangered by the Vandals moving across Spain and, by the time of his death, attacking Hippo itself. Augustine also feared the fall of the Roman Empire and the now massive Church in Rome as a result of constant pressure from the "barbarians" attacking every major city and the Visgoths invading Rome. Rome was built through conquest and had earned many enemies along the way. It was envied and lusted after by seemingly every neighbor and continually under attack on all sides. To make matters worse, some Christians had splintered off from the Catholic Church and were burning Catholic churches and harassing their members. Rome was under siege from within and without. At stake was not just an Empire but the very kingdom of God on earth: the Roman Catholic Church.
In the face of such dangers "Augustine could not simply reaffirm the strain of Christian thinking that had rejected all use of force. He foresaw social disaster if evildoers were not opposed, and he sought an answer that both PROTECTED SOCIETY and MAINTAINED CHRISTIAN FAITH. "(1)
It was under these hostile conditions and with this intent that Augustine began crafting a theology that other generations would build upon and later call Just War doctrine.
SOURCES:
(1) Air Power History, Vol.39, No.3, Fall 1992, pp.37. Copyright and published 1992 by the Air Force Historical Foundation
Inset picture: "Constantine the Great"
Got thoughts? Post a comment below or discuss on my message-board.
Upfront I must admit I am not a subscriber to Just War doctrine. But I will do my best to present the facts of it's history and give many sources along the way from those wise men and women who do support it. This history then is not hewn from the theories of its detractors but from it's most notable supporters. It flows from the pen of one of it's fiercest opponents: me.
As always I teach to learn. Help me get my facts straight and my thoughts sharper. Post comments as often and as long as you'd like. I'll read them all and learn a lot I'm sure.
So let's get started. Part 1: The Times of Augustine.
The story of the Just War tradition begins with Augustine, a Catholic bishop in Hippo. Augustine, who died in A.D. 430, wrote and ministered at a time when Christians were becoming popular - a significant percentage of the Roman population. This popularity occurred in part because of the strange conversion of the Roman Emperor to Christianity - what some see as a miraculous blessing to our faith and others view as the beginning of the end of true orthodox Christianity.Constantine "converted" to Christianity, unifying the Christians and the kingdom of Rome in the process, while at the same time keeping his position as high priest of the official pagan state religion of the Empire. Then, in A.D. 313, Emperor Constantine made Christianity's acceptance law, declaring the religion legal and embarking on a grand church building project and eventually the establishment of Catholicism - modeled after the Roman government's structures and hierarchy.
Now, with Constantine's blessing, Christians could engage in every facet of civic life. And with the government's support Christians soon infiltrated every level of government, acting as soldiers and advisors and rulers in a kingdom created and maintained by warfare. Christian theology on war would soon change.
Enter Augustine. Living in Hippo, a Roman province in Africa, he was endangered by the Vandals moving across Spain and, by the time of his death, attacking Hippo itself. Augustine also feared the fall of the Roman Empire and the now massive Church in Rome as a result of constant pressure from the "barbarians" attacking every major city and the Visgoths invading Rome. Rome was built through conquest and had earned many enemies along the way. It was envied and lusted after by seemingly every neighbor and continually under attack on all sides. To make matters worse, some Christians had splintered off from the Catholic Church and were burning Catholic churches and harassing their members. Rome was under siege from within and without. At stake was not just an Empire but the very kingdom of God on earth: the Roman Catholic Church.
In the face of such dangers "Augustine could not simply reaffirm the strain of Christian thinking that had rejected all use of force. He foresaw social disaster if evildoers were not opposed, and he sought an answer that both PROTECTED SOCIETY and MAINTAINED CHRISTIAN FAITH. "(1)
It was under these hostile conditions and with this intent that Augustine began crafting a theology that other generations would build upon and later call Just War doctrine.
SOURCES:
(1) Air Power History, Vol.39, No.3, Fall 1992, pp.37. Copyright and published 1992 by the Air Force Historical Foundation
Inset picture: "Constantine the Great"
Got thoughts? Post a comment below or discuss on my message-board.
posted by Shaun Groves @ 8/04/2005
19 comments
19 Comments:
okay, i'm 'on the ride' now. . let's see where this goes! being a born and bred Salvationist (member of the Salvation Army) I know very little of this. . I've read DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, i have a textbook on the history of Christianity, which i find a bit dry and so it remains unread -- all the 'drama' of it. . . its a bit tedious, eh? and a lot maddening. . One thing i'll say is THANK GOD FOR MARTIN LUTHER!!! *oh, sorry! you haven't gotten to him yet!!* We *The S.A.* have our own history, which is pretty much that we set off from Methodism in search of souls and we set our hearts to serve suffering humanity. Therefore a hardcore salvationist (we have a new movement called 'primitive salvos', which is where my heart beats) will have 'the doctrines' committed to memory, we will study the Bible, our song book is a devotional aid and we are busy 'doing'. . social justice concerns are big. . we roll up our sleeves - we serve, our founder told his early officers and soldiers to go for souls and go for the worst. . we are much more likely to study our founders and their early officers and soldiers' writings than we would study this stuff. . So, as a result i am very well versed in S.A. history and doctrine, but really not at all versed in 'church' history. Soo, this should be interesting. .
Looking forward to this series. I spent a time in my early Christian faith, post-Catholic stage of my walk studying a lot of history, apocrypha and other related documents. My desire at that point was never to take a common belief and accept it as scriptural and in my studying found the reasons for many Catholic 'traditions' that were started long after Christ's death (some well over a thousand years) like confessions/reconciliation, sacraments, and even the belief in speaking to the saints and Mary, Jesus' mother. I also found a lot of information on why the scriptures that make up the bible were there and others not, and even read a few of the 'other' gospels that were frequently debated such as the gospel of Thomas or the gospel of the Nativity of Mary. Needless to say you have my attention!
For that reason, when I was told that to become a member of my church I had to be baptized again, now as a believer and not an infant, I needed to see for myself. And I struggled when I found the scriptures on baptism, seeing people baptizing themselves AND their families in the river with John the Baptist who was saying, 'go and prepare a place for the Lord', and not, 'don't come in the water until you invite Christ in your heart' as it would seem. And to see even Jesus being baptized before the Holy Spirit came upon him like a dove. To me it really seemed like baptism was an act of cleansing to prepare a place for Christ, and not something else.
I spoke with my pastor about this and he showed me the later scriptures in Acts and Paul's letters where people after receiving the Holy Spirit were baptized. My decision to baptize at this point ultimately was two fold, to submit to the churches authority, and to also demonstrate outwardly to others in the church that I am not too prideful or ashamed to do something outwardly to express my faith.
Yet I still question the whole meaning and need for baptism after salvation, and wonder if tradition has taken over scriptural doctrine in it's interpretation.
Keep it up Mr Groves! Great stuff.
wow, just enough to get us started. i look forward to reading more (as always).
Thoughts:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Hardcore Pacifist, yet tried to assasinate Hitler...war overtones in christianity: Salvation Army, not to be disrespectful, I love SA, but it is almost a...whats the word...jumbo shrimp thing. The "battle hymn of the republic"
It's hard to paint this issue with one large brush.
I'm not attempting to paint with a large brush. Going step by step through the history of only ONE Christian theology of war is hardly broad brushing.
SG
That came out wrong (sry) Im just saying that this is a SUCH a broad topic that has to be dealt with in context( and everyones context is different) that we (as a whole) use a broad brush to often...
Gotcha.
SG
i'm looking forward to the next instalment! 'jumbo shrimper' that i am, not sure what that means? so, yeah, i'm thinking this will be a good learning experience.
I think it would be useful to note that prior to Constantine the church was actually pacifist in nature. Prior to A.D. 170-80 there are no records of soldiers in the Roman army. Before undergoing the just war theory there was a short time in which Christians were allowed to join the military or the police forces but were not allowed to shed blood. My husband and I are not even subscribers to the just war theory but are pacifists and love to get in discussions on this topic so this shall be fun. You all should check out the book "The Politics of Jesus" by John Howard Yoder. Well, or anything by John Howard Yoder, he wrote a ton on this topic and is recent enough that he is very easy to read.
Wow, a Yoder fan. Never met another one of those. How about Hauerwas? Like his writings?
Just so no one's scared away from this series I want to assure everyone this won't be a pacifist series. Maybe that will be another series if I ever get the nerve and the research together someday. But this series is only to explain the history and evolution of Just War theory partly because there's so much I didn't know before studying it and I found that learning about this subject changed the way I decide what is biblical in general. I won't ever use the word "pacifism" in this series. I promise.
Hope that keeps everyone reading for now.
Tonight I'll post on the specifics of Augustine's theory and maybe take a poke at his motivations and methods a bit too. We'll see how brave I am after midnight.
SG
Jamie, another thing...if you get the time please e-mail me about your on-line store/business. I'd like to learn more about what you do there, who makes the products, what's special about them or your way of conducting business etc.
shaungrovesfanmail@CHARTER.NET
-SG
I just hope that this doesn't become a great big, "this is why i am not a Catholic session" first of all, we all are conforming to some kind of tradition. Human beings love tradition and yes Christians too. Thats why protestans have 3995838 and a half denominations. We want to say, "no this is how you do it, you say the magic prayer, then you walk down the isle, then you are completely dunked, making sure that you are 100 percent wet..." im not saying this is bad but it is certainly a tradition. ( i am sure the Savior wouldn't mind if the river i was to be baptised in was running shallow that day and i didnt get my upper body wet.) walking down the isle and gettin saved is a tradition. just like passing the grape-juice instead of wine. we as protetstants have this idea that until our hero Martin Luther hit the scene that Christianity was doomed. malarky. First of all modern-day Protetstants and Luther today would disagree highly on very many things. i mean come on how many of us have read those thesis anyway. First of all, Luther believed in transubstantiation. (the wine and bread becoming the body and blood). Second he believed in the immaculate conception. the main reason that Luther was in an uproar was because of the use of indulgences and their abuses. the reason we have a protestant church today is because the politacal leaders of the the day took luthers writings and used them as fuel to fead the fire of separation from Rome. That "reformation" started the killing between Christians that has just now in the Last 20 years stopped. I am not saying that it was not God's will for it to happen nor that it was not God' will for any of the respondents here to leave the Catholic church. I do know that the spirit of Christ desires unity. but let us be wary of the moral high ground that we set ourselves upon to shout out judgemnet to the many saints and devout followers of Christ that have lived and died for our Lord. I have many devout Catholic friends and while we sit behind our computers and type safely there are many Catholic missionaries around the world living with the poor and feeding them, sharing the love of Chirst. Also we as protestants should be willing to admit that we stand on the shoulders of those great thinkers of our Christian heritage and have developed our way of worship from Christ working through them. sometimes we think that we are followers of Luther and not of Christ and the teachings of the apostles. Where Catholics and us differ after much study as far as tradition goes is that they believe that the tradition of the church (where the doctrine of the trinity and the creeds come from) is infallable. and we believe that it is fallible. we believe that because they did something in 150 A.D. that thy didnt do 147 A.D. that they must be wrong and that the church became corrupt. I am sorry that many ex-Catholics only had a head knowledge of Christ before they were protestant but i seem to remember goin down the isle 20 or thirty times to make sure i was a christian as a good ole Southern Baptist so i feel that sort of thing maybee happens whatever denomination your in.
Look forward to more on your defense of Pacifism.
Great concert at WTBC by the way, the spirit really moved there although maybee it didnt seem so from up there. cool film stuff.
Seth Ward
every church and denomination has missed the mark, for sure. I was at an Alpha Canada meeting last night, with Nicky Gumbel speaking. . it was really cool. He talked about the rise of denominations, which prior to the 19th century didn't even exist. . he talked about appreciating the differences and agreeing on the things that unite us as followers of Christ! that was great message. From my catholic friends i have appreciated their reverence. . most of them however are lasped and have switched to other expressions of Christianity. I don't understand a lot of Catholic tradition. .i watch televised masses. . i find them very lovely, though maybe a tad scripted. . I've attended Anglican services. . which i find similar and lovely, reverent. i've attended Christian Reform church, i've been to Vineyard, Pentecostal, Baptist. . even had a taste of a Jewish Christian meeting. i'm trying to stretch, you know? but I deeply appreciate my own particular heritage. . its no better, its just different and equally God-honouring! we don't baptize, we don't take communion. . which rattles some ppl's cages. . but i think ppl who do these things in remembrance of Jesus are wonderful. Church history, lets face it ain't pretty. . . but there are glorious and beautiful moments there among some of the horrible stuff. . truly. history has much to teach us.
Very cool. One question though. I actually have never heard of a church not baptising or taking communion. How does your denom. justify not doing these things when they are direct teachings of Jesus "do this in remembrance" "go ye therefore baptising in the name..."? not trying to be argumentative just wanting to learn. I think that if there is going to be a reconciliation between protestants and Catholics someday then we need to know what REALLY each other believes instead of what our dads and moms and ministers have told us. that means reading what THEY wrote. I think a good place for protestants to start if they want to know how the Catholic church really feels about us and where the church stands in history is the document on ecemunism from Vatican II. I have to say that my eyes were opened to quite a lot of things about the Catholic church (in a good way)
Sethro
Realized as I reread this post that I'd typed "Aquinas" in place of "Augustine" a few times. Big oops. It was late. It's been corrected now but if anyone was confused you might want to read over it again and see if all's clearer.
Sorry.
SG
I haven't had the chance to read Hauerwas yet, but it is on our need to read. My husband is getting ready to go to seminary so we are swamped with things that we should be reading, but that is a fun place to be:)
Resident Aliens by Hauerwas and Willemon will mess you up in the best way. Made me think and change.
SG
This is for Seth:
Seth, re the S.A.'s position on 'sacraments'. . . i'd like to refer you to the following salvationist blog:
http://www.suburbanoutpost.blogspot.com
There are 2 posts on the sacraments.
The S.A. soldiers and officers do not teach against the sacraments, they believe that these things are not necessary for salvation. . and that indeed the 'one baptism' that the church of God receives is the baptism of the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:4). . another interesting note is that the 'Last
Supper' was the Passover celebration. . the Seder. . now churches don't commemorate the Seder, and Jesus was wanting the people at that supper table to understand that HE was the passover lamb for the world. .
Anyway. . we want others to worship the Lord in holiness and reverence, we want to do that too. We don't disbelieve the value placed in these symbols. . but we recognize that we don't need them, they are aids, helps. . but their practice is not what brings us into covenant or communion with God. Baptism is a form of identification with a group, its beautiful symbolism is apparent, but its not 'magic'. . and water is nothing special. . its the Spirit who gives the baptism.
anyway. . no judging. . just different expressions. . God is praised and honoured and worshiped.
thanx for asking.
I appreciate the calm and courteous way in which you guys are explaining your faith to one another. Refreshing against the backdrop of so much bickering among followers of Christ these days. Agree always? Of course not. Love always? Speak kindly? Act gently? Of course we can. Or the love of God is not in us. (1 John 3)
Thanks,
SG
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