Jesus the Warrior?: Historical Christian Perspectives & Problems on the Morality of War & the Waging of Peace

 

William Michael Slattery

Marquette University Press, 2007-08-30 - 267 pages

 

The early followers of Christ desisted from carrying and using weapons that threaten and cause physical violence. None of the Church leaders and patristic writers was in favor of participating in armies and militias. But by the fourth century CE, with Christianity becoming the dominant religion in Eurasia, the Christian stance towards war and violence changed from non-acceptance to approval. Was this a result of a rectification of the misinterpretation of Christ's teachings by his early followers or by the later theologians? If that is the case, did the early Christians deliberately misinterpret Christ's teachings because of the precarious political position they found themselves in or did they actually see in Christ's teachings an exhortation towards non-violence? What are the arguments given by the later Christian thinkers in favour of just war? These are some of questions tackled by W. Michael Slattery in his book Jesus the Warrior?

 

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