Christianity and violence

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Christians have held diverse views towards violence and non-violence through time. Currently and historically there have been four views and practices within Christianity toward violence and war: non-resistance, Christian pacifism, just war, and preventive war (Holy war, e.g., the Crusades).^[1] The early church in the Roman empire adopted a nonviolent stance when it came to war since imitating Jesus's sacrificial life was preferable.^[2] The concept of "just war", whereby limited uses of war were considered acceptable originated with earlier non-Christian Roman and Greek thinkers such as Cicero and Plato.^[3]^[4] This theory was adapted later by Christian thinkers such as St Augustine, who like other Christians, borrowed much of the justification from Roman writers like Cicero and Roman Law.^[5]^[6]^[7] Even though "Just War" concept was widely accepted early on, warfare was not regarded as a virtuous activity and expressing concern for the salvation of those who killed enemies in battle, regardless of the cause for which they fought, was common.^[8] Concepts such as "Holy war", whereby fighting itself might be considered a penitential and spiritually meritorious act, did not emerge before the 11th century.^[8]^[9]

Bible

Main article: Bible and violence

The Bible includes several texts regarding and describing violence.^[10]^[11]

Leigh Gibson^[who?] and Shelly Matthews, associate professor of Religion at Furman University,^[12] write that some scholars, such as René Girard, "lift up the New Testament as somehow containing the antidote for Old Testament violence". According to John Gager, such an analysis risks advocating the views of the heresiarch Marcion of Sinope (c. 85–160), who made a distinction between the God of the Old Testament responsible for violence and the God of mercy found in the New Testament.^[13]

Mahatma Gandhi embraced the concept of nonviolence which he had found in both Indian Religions and the New Testament (e.g. Sermon on the Mount), which he then utilized in his strategy for social and political struggles.^[14]

Christian violence

Wars

Attitudes towards the military before Constantine

The study of Christian participation in military service in the pre-Constantinian era has been highly contested and has generated a great deal of literature.^[22]^[23]^:4

Through most of the twentieth century, a consensus formed around Adolf von Harnack's view that the early church was pacifist, that over the second and third centuries a growing accommodation with military service occurred, and by the time of Constantine a just war ethic had arisen.^[23]^:4^[24]^[25]

This consensus was challenged mostly by the work of John Helgeland^[26] in the 1970s and 1980s. He said that early Christians mostly opposed military service due to the Roman religion and rituals of the Roman army, and not because of killing.^[22]^[23]^:5^[27] Helgeland also stated that there is a diversity of voices in the written literature, as well as evidence of a diversity of practices by Christians.^[23]^:5 George Kalantzis, Professor of Theology at Wheaton College,^[28] sided with Harnack in the debate writing that "literary evidence confirms the very strong internal coherence of the Church's non-violent stance for the first three centuries."^[23]^:7

David Hunter has proposed that a "new consensus" has emerged including aspects from both Helgeland and Harnack's views. Hunter suggests that early Christians based their opposition to military service upon both their "aboherrence of Roman army religion" (Helgeland's view) and their opposition to bloodshood (Harnack's view). Hunter notes that there is evidence that by the 2nd century Christian practices had started to diverge from the theological principles espoused in early Christian literature. Hunter's third point of the "new consensus" is the assertion that Augustinian just war theory reflects at least one pre-Constantinian view. Finally, to these three points, Kreider added that Christian attitudes towards violence were likely varied in different geographic locations, pointing out that pro-militarist views were stronger in border areas then they were in "heartland" areas more strongly aligned with the Empire.^[23]^:6

There is little evidence concerning the extent of Christian participation in the military; generalizations are usually speculation.^[29]^[30] A few gravestones of Christian soldiers have been found.^[31]^[30]

Just War

Just war theory is a doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin^[32]^[33] studied by moral theologians, ethicists, and international policy makers, that holds that a conflict can and ought to meet the criteria of philosophical, religious or political justice, provided it follows certain conditions.

The concept of justification for war under certain conditions goes back at least to Roman and Greek thinkers such as Cicero and Plato.^[3] However its importance is connected to Christian medieval theory beginning from Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas.^[34] According to Jared Diamond, Augustine of Hippo played a critical role in delineating Christian thinking about what constitutes a just war, and about how to reconcile Christian teachings of peace with the need for war in certain situations.^[35] Partly inspired by Cicero's writings, Augustine held that war could be justified in order to preserve the state, rectify wrongs by neighboring nations, and expand the state if a tyrant will lose power in doing so.^[6]

In Ulrich Luz's formulation; "After Constantine, the Christians too had a responsibility for war and peace. Already Celsus asked bitterly whether Christians, by aloofness from society, wanted to increase the political power of wild and lawless barbarians. His question constituted a new actuality; from now on, Christians and churches had to choose between the testimony of the gospel, which included renunciation of violence, and responsible participation in political power, which was understood as an act of love toward the world." Augustine of Hippo's Epistle to Marcellinus (Ep 138) is the most influential example of the "new type of interpretation."^[36]

Just war theorists combine both a moral abhorrence towards war with a readiness to accept that war may sometimes be necessary. The criteria of the just war tradition act as an aid to determining whether resorting to arms is morally permissible. Just War theories are attempts "to distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable uses of organized armed forces"; they attempt "to conceive of how the use of arms might be restrained, made more humane, and ultimately directed towards the aim of establishing lasting peace and justice."^[37]

The just war tradition addresses the morality of the use of force in two parts: when it is right to resort to armed force (the concern of jus ad bellum) and what is acceptable in using such force (the concern of jus in bello).^[38] In more recent years, a third category — jus post bellum — has been added, which governs the justice of war termination and peace agreements, as well as the prosecution of war criminals.

Holy War

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II declared that some wars could be deemed as not only a bellum iustum ("just war"), but could, in certain cases, rise to the level of a bellum sacrum (holy war).^[39] Jill Claster, dean of New York University College of Arts and Science,^[40] characterizes this as a "remarkable transformation in the ideology of war", shifting the justification of war from being not only "just" but "spiritually beneficial".^[41] Thomas Murphy^[who?] examined the Christian concept of Holy War, asking "how a culture formally dedicated to fulfilling the injunction to 'love thy neighbor as thyself' could move to a point where it sanctioned the use of violence against the alien both outside and inside society".^{[citation needed]} The religious sanctioning of the concept of "holy war" was a turning point in Christian attitudes towards violence; "Pope Gregory VII made the Holy War possible by drastically altering the attitude of the church towards war... Hitherto a knight could obtain remission of sins only by giving up arms, but Urban invited him to gain forgiveness 'in and through the exercise of his martial skills'." A holy war was defined by the Roman Catholic Church as "war that is not only just, but justifying; that is, a war that confers positive spiritual merit on those who fight in it".^[42]^[43]

In the 12th century, Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: "'The knight of Christ may strike with confidence and die yet more confidently; for he serves Christ when he strikes, and saves himself when he falls.... When he inflicts death, it is to Christ's profit, and when he suffers death, it is his own gain."^[44]

Jonathan Riley-Smith writes,

The consensus among Christians on the use of violence has changed radically since the crusades were fought. The just war theory prevailing for most of the last two centuries — that violence is an evil which can in certain situations be condoned as the lesser of evils — is relatively young. Although it has inherited some elements (the criteria of legitimate authority, just cause, right intention) from the older war theory that first evolved around a.d. 400, it has rejected two premises that underpinned all medieval just wars, including crusades: first, that violence could be employed on behalf of Christ's intentions for mankind and could even be directly authorized by him; and second, that it was a morally neutral force which drew whatever ethical coloring it had from the intentions of the perpetrators.^[45]

Genocidal warfare

The Biblical account of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho was used by Oliver Cromwell to justify genocide against Catholics.^[46]^:3^[47] Daniel Chirot, professor of Russian and Eurasian studies at the University of Washington,^[48] interprets 1 Samuel 15:1–15:3 as "the sentiment, so clearly expressed, that because a historical wrong was committed, justice demands genocidal retribution."^[46]^:7–8

Inquisition

The Inquisition is a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy^[49] The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in popular literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. The total number of people who were processed by the Inquisition throughout its history was approximately 150,000; applying the percentages of executions that appeared in the trials of 1560–1700—about 2%—the approximate total would be about 3,000 of them were put to death. Nevertheless, it is likely that the actual death toll was higher, keeping in mind the data provided by Dedieu and García Cárcel for the tribunals of Toledo and Valencia, respectively.^{[citation needed]} It is likely that between 3,000 and 5,000 people were executed.^[50] About 50 people were executed by the Mexican Inquisition.^[51] Included in that total are 29 people who were executed as "Judaizers" between 1571 and 1700 out of 324 people who were prosecuted for practicing the Jewish religion.^[52]

In the Portuguese Inquisition the major targets were those who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism, the Conversos, also known as New Christians or Marranos, were suspected of secretly practising Judaism. Many of these were originally Spanish Jews, who had left Spain for Portugal. The number of victims is estimated to be around 40,000.^[53]^[54] One particular focus of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions was the issue of Jewish anusim and Muslim converts to Catholicism, partly because these minority groups were more numerous in Spain and Portugal than they were in many other parts of Europe, and partly because they were often considered suspect due to the assumption that they had secretly reverted to their previous religions. The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Portuguese Inquisition acting in Portuguese India, and in the rest of the Portuguese Empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812.^[55] Based on the records that survive, H. P. Salomon and Rabbi Isaac S.D. Sassoon state that between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, some 16,202 persons were brought to trial by the Inquisition. Of this number, it is known that 57 were sentenced to death and executed, and another 64 were burned in effigy (this sentence was applied to those who had fled or died in prison; in the latter case, the remains were burned in a coffin at the same time as the effigy).^[56] Others were subjected to lesser punishments or penance, but the fate of many of those who were tried by the Inquisition is unknown.^[57]

The Roman Inquisition, during the second half of the 16th century, was responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes relating to religious doctrine or alternate religious doctrine or alternate religious beliefs. Out of 51,000 — 75,000 cases judged by the Inquisition in Italy after 1542, around 1,250 resulted in a death sentence.^[58]

The period of witch trials in Early Modern Europe^[59] was a widespread moral panic caused by the belief that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christendom from the 15th to the 18th centuries.^[60] A variety of punishments was imposed upon those who were found guilty of witchcraft, including imprisonment, flogging, fines, or exile.^[61] In the Old Testament, Exodus 22:18 states that "Thou shalt not permit a sorceress to live".^[62] Many people faced capital punishment if they were convicted of witchcraft during this period, either by being burned at the stake, hanged on the gallows, or beheaded.^[63] Similarly, in the New England Colonies, people convicted of witchcraft were hanged (See Salem witch trials).^[64] The scholarly consensus on the total number of executions for witchcraft ranges from 40,000 to 60,000.^[65]

The legal basis for some inquisitorial activity came from Pope Innocent IV's papal bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, which explicitly authorized (and defined the appropriate circumstances for) the use of torture by the Inquisition for eliciting confessions from heretics.^[66] By 1256, inquisitors were given absolution if they used instruments of torture.^[67] "The overwhelming majority of sentences seem to have consisted of penances like wearing a cross sewn on one's clothes, going on pilgrimage, etc."^[68] When a suspect was convicted of unrepentant heresy, the inquisitorial tribunal was required by law to hand the person over to the secular authorities for final sentencing, at which point a magistrate would determine the penalty, which was usually burning at the stake although the penalty varied based on local law.^[69]^[70] The laws were inclusive of proscriptions against certain religious crimes (heresy, etc.), and the punishments included death by burning, although imprisonment for life or banishment would usually be used. Thus the inquisitors generally knew what would be the fate of anyone so remanded, and cannot be considered to have divorced the means of determining guilt from its effects.^[71]

Except for the Papal States, the institution of the Inquisition was abolished in Europe in the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars and in the Americas, it was abolished after the Spanish American wars of independence. The institution survived as part of the Roman Curia, but in 1904, it was renamed the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". In 1965, it was renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.^[72]^[73]

Christian terrorism

Christian terrorism comprises terrorist acts that are committed by groups or individuals who use Christian motivations or goals as a justification for their actions. As with other forms of religious terrorism, Christian terrorists have relied on interpretations of the tenets of their faith – in this case, the Bible. Such groups have cited Old Testament and New Testament scriptures to justify violence and killing or to seek to bring about the "end times" described in the New Testament.^[74]

These interpretations are typically different from those of established Christian denominations.

Forced conversions

After the Constantinian shift, Christianity became entangled in government. While anthropologists have shown that throughout history the relationship between religion and politics has been complex, there is no doubt that religious institutions, including Christian ones, have been used coercively by governments, and that they have used coercion themselves.^[75] Augustine advocated government force in his Epistle 185, A Treatise Concerning the Correction of the Donatists, justifying coercion from scripture. He cites Jesus striking Paul during Paul's vision on the road to Damascus. He also cites the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:22–23. Such short term pain for the sake of eternal salvation was an act of charity and love, in his view.^[76]

Examples of forced conversion to Christianity include: the Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I,^[77] the forced conversion and violent assimilation of pagan tribes in medieval Europe,^[78] the Inquisition, including its manifestations in Goa, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain, the forced conversion of indigenous children in North America^[79] and Australia,^[80] and, since 1992, the forced conversion of Hindus in Northeast India.^[81]

Support of slavery

Early Christianity variously opposed, accepted, or ignored slavery.^[82] The early Christian perspectives on slavery were formed in the contexts of Christianity's roots in Judaism, and they were also shaped by the wider culture of the Roman Empire. Both the Old and New Testaments recognize the existence of the institution of slavery.

The earliest surviving Christian teachings about slavery are from Paul the Apostle. Paul did not renounce the institution of slavery, though perhaps this was not for personal reasons (similar to Aristotle). He taught that Christian slaves ought to serve their masters wholeheartedly.^[83] Nothing in the passage affirms slavery as a naturally valid or divinely mandated institution. Rather, Paul's discussion about the duties of Christian slaves and the responsibilities of Christian masters transforms the institution, even if it falls short of calling for slavery's outright abolition. In the ancient world the slave was a thing. Aristotle wrote that there could never be friendship between a master and a slave, for a master and a slave have nothing in common: “a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.” Paul's words are entirely different. He calls the slave a “slave of Christ,” one who wants to do “the will of God” and who will receive a “reward” for “whatever good he does”. Likewise, the master is responsible to God for how he treats his slave, who is ultimately God's property rather than his own. This is another way of saying that the slave, no less than the master, has been made in God's image. As such, he possesses inestimable worth and great dignity. He is to be treated properly. In such a framework slavery, even though it was still slavery, could never be the same type of institution that was imposed on non-Christians. It was this transformation (which came from viewing all persons as being made in God's image) that ultimately destroyed slavery.^[84] Tradition describes Pope Pius I (term c. 158–167) and Pope Callixtus I (term c. 217–222) as former slaves.^[85]

Nearly all Christian leaders before the late 15th century recognised the institution of slavery, within specific Biblical limitations, as being consistent with Christian theology.^{[citation needed]} ^[86]^{[better source needed]} In 1452, Pope Nicholas V instituted the hereditary slavery of captured Muslims and pagans, regarding all non-Christians as "enemies of Christ."^[87]

Genesis 9:25–27, the Curse of Ham, says: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem." This verse has been used to justify racialized slavery, since "Christians and even some Muslims eventually identified Ham's descendents as black Africans".^[82]^[88] Anthony Pagden argued that "This reading of the Book of Genesis merged easily into a medieval iconographic tradition in which devils were always depicted as black. Later pseudo-scientific theories would be built around African skull shapes, dental structure, and body postures, in an attempt to find an unassailable argument—rooted in whatever the most persuasive contemporary idiom happened to be: law, theology, genealogy, or natural science—why one part of the human race should live in perpetual indebtedness to another."^[89]

Rodney Stark makes the argument in For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery,^[90] that Christianity helped to end slavery worldwide, as does Lamin Sanneh in Abolitionists Abroad.^[91] These authors point out that Christians who viewed slavery as wrong on the basis of their religious convictions spearheaded abolitionism, and many of the early campaigners for the abolition of slavery were driven by their Christian faith and a desire to realize their view that all people are equal under God.^[92]

Modern-day Christians generally condemn slavery as wrong and contrary to God's will. Only peripheral groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other Christian hate groups on the racist fringes of the Christian Reconstructionist and Christian Identity movements advocate the reinstitution of slavery.^[82] Full adherents of Christian Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians.^[93]^[94]^[95] With these exceptions, all Christian faith groups now condemn slavery, and they see the practice as incompatible with basic Christian principles.^[82]^[86]

Violence against Jews

A strain of hostility among Christians towards Judaism and the Jewish people developed in the early years of Christianity, persisted over the ensuing centuries, was driven by numerous factors including theological differences, the Christian drive for converts^[96] decreed by the Great Commission, a misunderstanding of Jewish beliefs and practices, and a perceived Jewish hostility towards Christians.

These attitudes were reinforced in Christian preaching, art and popular teaching over the centuries which contained contempt for Jews.^[97]

Modern Antisemitism has primarily been described as hatred against Jews as a race with its modern expression rooted in 18th century racial theories, while anti-Judaism is described as hostility towards the Jewish religion, but in Western Christianity it effectively merged into antisemitism during the 12th century.^[98]

Domestic violence

Christian opposition to violence

Historian Roland Bainton described the early church as pacifist – a period that ended with the accession of Constantine.^[99]

In the first few centuries of Christianity, many Christians refused to engage in military service. In fact, there were a number of famous examples of soldiers who became Christians and refused to engage in combat afterwards. They were subsequently executed for their refusal to fight.^[100] The commitment to pacifism and the rejection of military service are attributed by Mark J. Allman, professor in the Department of Religious and Theological Studies at Merrimack College,^[101] to two principles: "(1) the use of force (violence) was seen as antithetical to Jesus' teachings and service in the Roman military required worship of the emperor as a god which was a form of idolatry."^[102]

In the 3rd century, Origen wrote: "Christians could not slay their enemies."^[103] Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Above all, Christians are not allowed to correct with violence the delinquencies of sins."^[104]^[105] Tertullian argued forcefully against all forms of violence, considering abortion, warfare and even judicial death penalties to be forms of murder.^[106]^[107]

Pacifist and violence-resisting traditions have continued into contemporary times.^[108]^[109]^[110]

Several present-day Christian churches and communities were established specifically with nonviolence, including conscientious objection to military service, as foundations of their beliefs.^[111] Members of the Historic Peace Churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Amish or Church of the Brethren object to war from the conviction that Christian life is incompatible with military action, because Jesus enjoins his followers to love their enemies and to refuse violence.^[112]

In the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr. adapted the nonviolent ideas of Gandhi to a Baptist theology and politics.^[113]

In the 21st century, Christian feminist thinkers have drawn attention to opposing violence against women.^[114]

Notes

^ Clouse, Robert G. (1986). War Four Christian views. Winona Lake, Indiana: BMH Books. pp. 12–22.
^ Duffey, Michael (2015-06-22). "2. Christianity From Peacemaking to Violence to Home Again". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9781118953426.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b "Religion & Ethics – Just War Theory -introduction". BBC. Retrieved 2010-03-16.}
^ Syse, Henrik (2010). "The Platonic roots of just war doctrine: a reading of Plato's Republic". Diametros. 23: 104–123.
^ Duffey, Michael (2015-06-22). "2. Christianity From Peacemaking to Violence to Home Again". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 58. ISBN 9781118953426. The purpose of war for Augustine was to preserve "good order". It was a long lasting influence of St. Augustine's teaching on war and violence that shaped mainstream Christianity for 1500 years. Augustine fathered the mainstream Christian view that violence was just a means for political ends...Indeed, Augustine's perspective was not based on the New Testament.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Wells, Donald, ed. (1996). An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics. Greenwood Press. pp. 30–31. ISBN 9780313291166. In 383, Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire, and Christians who had previously been aloof from political and social responsibility were compelled to rethink their role. Augustine, and his teacher St. Ambrose (340-397), in part inspired by the writings of Cicero (106-43 s.c.), developed just war criteria to show why Christians could consistently serve in the military as armed soldiers, at least in some wars. Although Augustine deplored the ambitions that promoted wars for sovereignty over others, he believed that there were conditions under which it was just to extend an empire... As instances of worthy causes Augustine named preservation of the well-being of the state, punishment of neighbor nations that had refused to make amends for wrongs committed by their subjects, to restore what had been taken unjustly, and even to expand an empire if one was taking land a way from a tyrant (Questions Concerning the Heputteuch. Question 10; and City of God. Book 4, Part 15).}
^ Bonney, Richard (2011). "Just War". The Encyclopedia of War. Encyclopedia of Wars. doi:10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow328. ISBN 9781405190374. Questions such as under which circumstances war may be legitimized, and the rules of war controlled, are the concern of just war theory in the Christian tradition from the writings of St. Augustine in the fourth century, through the scholastics of the Middle Ages (above all, St. Thomas Aquinas) and early modern period (Vitoria, Sua´rez, and Grotius) to modern commentators such as George Weigel and Michael Walzer. The early Christian writers in turn drew upon Roman Law and the writings of Cicero; indeed, in the view of Alex J. Bellamy, they “added little that was substantially new” (Bellamy 2006: 8).
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Peters, Edward (1998). "Introduction". The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials (2 ed.). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812216561.}
^ Duffey, Michael (2015-06-22). "2. Christianity From Peacemaking to Violence to Home Again". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781118953426.
^ Boustan, Ra'anan S. (2010). Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity. BRILL. p. 3.
^ Jenkins, Philip (March 8, 2009). "Dark Passages". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-11-26. the Bible overflows with "texts of terror," to borrow a phrase coined by the American theologian Phyllis Trible. The Bible contains far more verses praising or urging bloodshed than does the Koran, and biblical violence is often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. … If the founding text shapes the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost condemnation as religions of savagery.
^ "Shelly Matthews – Brite Divinity School". Retrieved 24 June 2017.
^ Gibson, Leigh; Matthews, Shelly (2005). Violence in the New Testament. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 1–3. Marcion's second-century distinction between the God of the Old Testament as responsible for violence and vengeance and the God of the New Testament as a God of mercy and love looms large in the consciousness of the West. [...] More troubling than studies of violence in the Bible that ignore the New Testament are those that lift up the New Testament as somehow containing the antidote for Old Testament violence. This is ultimately the case, for instance, in the work of Girard [...] But as John Gager shows in this volume through his examination of the work of Girard's disciple, Robert Hamerton-Kelly, such a line of thinking has the potential to reinscribe insidiously the prejudices of Marcion.
^ Rynne, Terrence J. (2008). Gandhi and Jesus: The Saving Power of Nonviolence. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1-57075-766-2. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
^ J. Denny Weaver (2001). "Violence in Christian Theology". Cross Currents. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
^ see e.g.: John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration on Protestant England 1558–1689, 2000, p.22
^ Volf, Miroslav (2008). "Christianity and Violence". In Hess, Richard S.; Martens, E.A. (eds.). War in the Bible and terrorism in the twenty-first century. Eisenbrauns. pp. 1–17. ISBN 978-1-57506-803-9. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
^ Volf 2008, p. 13
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Mark Juergensmeyer (2004). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24011-7.}
^ Smith, Ted (2015). "Religious Violence? Politics of a Higher Law". The Christian Century. 5: 24–27 – via Ebsco host.
^ Girard, Rene. The Scapegoat. p. 204.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Kreider, Alan (2003). "Military Service in the Church Orders". The Journal of Religious Ethics. 31.3 (Winter, 2003): 415–416. doi:10.1111/1467-9795.00146. JSTOR 40008336.}
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kalantzis, George (2012). Caesar and the Lamb: Early Christian Attitudes on War and Military Service. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books. ISBN 978-1608992539.}
^ Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1953). A History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500. 1. HarperSanFransisco, a division of Harper Collins. pp. 242–243.
^ Sider, Ronald J. (2012). Ronald J. Sider (ed.). The Early Church on killing. Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Publishing Group. Afterword. ISBN 978-0-8010-3630-9.
^ Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and History at North Dakota State University: "Helgeland – History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies (NDSU)". www.ndsu.edu. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
^ Helgeland, John (1979). H. Temporini and W. Haase (ed.). Christians and the Roman Army from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine. 23. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 724–834.
^ College, Wheaton. "George Kalantzis – Wheaton". www.wheaton.edu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
^ Leithart, Peter J. (2009). Defending Constantine. Madison, Wisconsin: InterVarsity Press. p. 260.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Shean, John F. (2010). Soldiering for God: Christianity and the Roman Army. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 183. ISBN 978-9004187313.}
^ Leclerq, Henri (1933). "Militarisme". In Cabrol, Fernand; Leclerq, Henri (eds.). Dictionnaire d'archéologie chretienne de le liturgie. XI/1. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. pp. 1107–1181.
^ Lazar, Seth (24 June 2017). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^ "Just War Theory [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]". Iep.utm.edu. 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
^ Christians and War: Thomas Aquinas refines the "Just War" Theory ArchivedFebruary 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^ Diamond, Jared (2008). 1000 Events That Shaped the World. National Geographic Society. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4262-0314-5.
^ Ulrich Luz, Matthew in History, Fortress Press, 1994, p26-27
^ "JustWarTheory.com". JustWarTheory.com. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
^ "Home > Publications >". Eppc.org. 1998-09-01. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
^ "Christian Jihad: The Crusades and Killing in the Name of Christ". Archived from the original on 2008-07-09.
^ "Favorite Professors: Remembering Jill Claster (WSC '52, GSAS '54)".
^ Claster, Jill N. (2009). Sacred violence: the European crusades to the Middle East, 1095–1396. University of Toronto Press. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN 978-1-4426-0060-7.
^ E. Randolph Daniel; Murphy, Thomas Patrick (1978). "The Holy War (review)". Speculum. 53 (3): 602–603. doi:10.2307/2855169. JSTOR 2855169.
^ Thomas Patrick Murphy, editor (1976). The holy war. Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Ohio State University Press.
^ Bernard of Clairvaux, In Praise Of The New Knighthood, ca. 1135
^ Smith, Jonathan R. "Rethinking the Crusades". Catholic Education Resource Center.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Daniel Chirot. Why Some Wars Become Genocidal and Others Don't (PDF). Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2008.}
^ Robert Carrol; Stephen Prickett (1997). The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha. Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 9780192835253. oliver cromwell joshua ireland.
^ "Daniel Chirot - Department of Sociology - University of Washington". soc.washington.edu. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
^ Peters, Edward. "Inquisition", p. 54.
^ this is roughly comparable to the number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe during the same time span as the Inquisition (estimated at c. 40,000–60,000, i.e. roughly ten times higher in a territory with a population roughly ten times higher). Data for executions for witchcraft: Levack, Brian P. (1995). The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (Second Edition). London and New York: Longman, and see Witch trials in Early Modern Europe for more detail.
^ Jose Rogelio Alvarez, ed. Inquisicion (in Spanish). Enciclopedia de Mexico. VII (2000 ed.). Mexico City: Sabeca International Investment Corp. ISBN 1-56409-034-5
^ Chuchiak IV, John F. The Inquisition in New Spain, 1571–1820: A Documentary History Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, p. 236
^ Saraiva, António José (2001), "Introduction to the English edition", The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536–1765, Brill, p. 9.
^ Murphy, Cullen (2012). God's Jury. New York: Mariner Books – Houghton, Miflin, Harcourt. p. 150.
^ Zimler, Richard (14 September 2005). "Goa Inquisition was most merciless and cruel". Rediff India Abroad (Interview). Retrieved 10 May 2017.
^ Saraiva (2001/1975), The Marrano Factory, p. 107
^ Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536–1765 (Brill, 2001 reprint/1975 revision), pp. 345–7.
^ Andrea Del Col: L'Inquisizione in Italia. Milano: Oscar Mondadori, 2010, pp. 779–780. ISBN 978-88-04-53433-4.
^ mostly in the Holy Roman Empire, the British Isles and France, and to some extent in the European colonies in North America; largely excluding the Iberian Peninsula and Italy; "Inquisition Spain and Portugal, obsessed with heresy, ignored the witch craze. In Italy, witch trials were comparatively rare and they did not involve torture and executions." Anne L. Barstow, Witchcraze : a New History of the European Witch Hunts, HarperCollins, 1995.
^ Thurston, Robert W. (2001). Witch, Wicce, Mother Goose: The Rise and Fall of the Witch Hunts in Europe and North America. Edinburgh: Longman. p. 1. ISBN 978-0582438064.
^ Scarre, Geoffrey; Callow, John (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe (second ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave. p. 34. ISBN 9780333920824.
^ Scarre & Callow 2001, p. 12.
^ Scarre & Callow 2001, pp. 1, 21.
^ Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, edited by Ronald H. Fritze and William B. Robison. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 978-0-313-28391-8. (p.552).
^ Hutton 2010, p. 247. Scarre and Callow (2001) put forward 40,000 as an estimate for the number killed.(Scarre & Callow 2001, pp. 1, 21) Levack (2006) came to an estimate of 45,000. Levack, Brian (2006). The Witch Hunt in Early Modern EuropeThird Edition. Longman. Page 23. Hutton (2010) estimated that the numbers were between 40,000–50,000,(Hutton 2010, p. 247) Wolfgang Behringer and Lyndal Roper had independently calculated that the number was between 50,000–60,000.(Behringer 2004, p. 149; Roper 2004, pp. 6–7) In an earlier unpublished essay, Hutton counted local estimates, and in areas where estimates were unavailable, he attempted to draw extrapolations from nearby regions with similar demographics and similar attitudes towards witch hunting. "Estimates of Executions (based on Hutton's essay 'Counting the Witch Hunt')"..
^ Bishop, Jordan (2006). "Aquinas on Torture". New Blackfriars. 87 (1009): 229–237. doi:10.1111/j.0028-4289.2006.00142.x.
^ Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity, (Boydell and Brewer Ltd, 2012), 22; "In 1252, Innocent IV licensed the use of torture to obtain evidence from suspects, and by 1256, inquisitors were allowed to absolve each other if they used instruments of torture themselves, rather than relying on lay agents for the purpose...".
^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". legacy.fordham.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
^ Peters writes: "When faced with a convicted heretic who refused to recant, or who relapsed into heresy, the inquisitors were to turn him over to the temporal authorities – the "secular arm" – for animadversio debita, the punishment decreed by local law, usually burning to death." (Peters, Edwards. "Inquisition", p. 67.)
^ Lea, Henry Charles. "Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded". A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages. 1. ISBN 978-1-152-29621-3. Obstinate heretics, refusing to abjure and return to the Church with due penance, and those who after abjuration relapsed, were to be abandoned to the secular arm for fitting punishment.
^ Kirsch, Jonathan (2008-09-09). The Grand Inquisitors Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God. HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-081699-5.
^ Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith". Vatican: Author. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
^ Pope Paul VI (7 December 1965), Apostolic letter: Given motu proprio: Integrae servandae, retrieved 10 May 2017
^ B. Hoffman, "Inside Terrorism", Columbia University Press, 1999, pp. 105–120. ISBN 978-0231126991
^ Firth, Raymond (1981) Spiritual Aroma: Religion and Politics. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 582–601
^ Jonathan Ebel (2011). Andrew R. Murphy (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-1405191319.
^ "Paganism and Rome". Penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
^ Bernard Hamilton, The Crusades, Sutton Publishing, United Kingdom, 1998. See Chapter 9: Later Crusades
^ "Wound: The Legacy of Native American Schools". Amnesty International USA. Retrieved February 8, 2006". Archived from the original on 2011-05-17.
^ Read, Peter (1981). The Stolen Generations:(bringing them home) The Removal of Aboriginal Children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969 (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs (New South Wales government). ISBN 978-0-646-46221-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-09.
^ Bhaumik, Subhir (April 18, 2000). "Church backing Tripura rebels". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b ^c ^d Robinson, B. A. (2006). "Christianity and slavery". Retrieved 2007-01-03.}
^ Ephesians 6:5–8
^ James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 218–219.
^ Catholic Encyclopedia Slavery and Christianity
^
Jump up to:^{^a ^b Ostling, Richard N. (2005-09-17). "Human slavery: why was it accepted in the Bible?". Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News. Retrieved 2007-01-03.}
^ "Africans and Native Americans", by Jack D. Forbes, p.27
^ Curp, T. David. "A Necessary Bondage? When the Church Endorsed Slavery".
^ Pagden, Anthony (1997-12-22). "The Slave Trade, Review of Hugh Thomas' Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade". The New Republic.
^ Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery ISBN 978-0-691-11436-1 (2003)
^ Lamin Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa, Harvard University Press ISBN 978-0-674-00718-5 (2001)
^ Ostling, Richard N. (2005-09-17). "Human slavery: why was it accepted in the Bible?". Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
^ Martin, William. 1996. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. New York: Broadway Books.
^ Diamond, Sara, 1998. Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right, New York: Guilford Press, p.213.
^ Ortiz, Chris 2007. "Gary North on D. James Kennedy" Archived 2009-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, Chalcedon Blog, 6 September 2007.
^ Nancy Calvert Koyzis (2004). Paul, monotheism and the people of God : the significance of Abraham traditions for early Judaism and Christianity. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-08378-4.
^ "The Origins of Christian Anti-Semitism". Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs.
^ "After the evil: Christianity and Judaism in the shadow of the Holocaust", Richard Harries, p. 16, Oxford University Press, 2003
^ Roland Bainton, quoted in Robin Gill, A Textbook of Christian Ethics, 3rd ed, Continuum, 2006, ISBN 0-567-03112-8, p. 194.
^ "No known Christian author from the first centuries approved of Christian participation in battle; citations advocating pacifism are found in → Tertullian, → Origen, Lactantius, and others, and in the testimonies of the martyrs Maximilian and Marcellus, who were executed for refusing to serve in the Roman army. Grounds for opposition to military service included fear of idolatry and the oath of loyalty to Caesar, as well as the basic objection to shedding blood on the battlefield.", Fahlbusch, E., & Bromiley, G. W. (2005). Vol. 4: The encyclopedia of Christianity (2). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill.
^ "Mark Allman – Merrimack College". www.merrimack.edu.
^ Allman, Mark J. (2008). Who Would Jesus Kill?: War, Peace, and the Christian Tradition. Saint Mary's Press.
^ Origen (1885) [248]. Against Celsus . Translated by Crombie, Frederick. VII.XXVI..
^ Stanton, Rachel (21 January 2007). "The Early Church on Violence". Retrieved 10 May 2017.
^ "Clement of Alexandria". earlychristianwritings.com.
^ Osborn, Eric (2003). Tertullian, First Theologian of the West. Cambridge University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-521-52495-7. Tertullian rejects all forms of violence, even killing by soldiers or killing by courts of law, any form of abortion, and even attendance at the amphitheatre.
^ Nicholson, Helen J. (2004). Medieval warfare: theory and practice of war in Europe, 300–1500. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 24. At the beginning of the third century, Tertullian recorded that some Christians did fight, but he indicated that he did not approve. He argued that God's command not to fight overrode Paul's command to obey the authorities that God had appointed. Tertullian observed that one of the last words of Christ before he was led away to be crucified was his instruction that Simon Peter put away his sword.
^ "Members of several small Christian sects who try to literally follow the precepts of Jesus Christ have refused to participate in military service in many nations and they have been willing to suffer the criminal or civil penalties that followed."Encyclopædia Britannica 2004 CD Rom Edition — Pacifism.
^ John Paul II (25 March 1995), Evangelium Vitae, retrieved 10 May 2017
^ "Orthodoxy and Capital Punishment". Incommunion.
^ Speicher, Sara and Durnbaugh, Donald F. (2003), Ecumenical Dictionary:Historic Peace Churches
^ "5 Beliefs That Set the Bruderhof Apart From Other Christians". Newsmax. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
^ King, Jr., Martin Luther; Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07950-2.
^ Hood, Helen (2003). "Speaking Out and Doing Justice: It's No Longer a Secret but What are the Churches Doing about Overcoming Violence against Women?"(PDF). EBSCO Publishing. pp. 216–225. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2010.

References

Avalos, Hector. Fighting Words. The Origins of Religious Violence. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2005.
Schwartz, Regina M. The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.