Peace

I attended a conference last week titled, "Preaching peace in a Constantiinian world." It was sponsored by a group called "preachingpeace". I think a better title would have been practicing peace in a Constantinian church. The basic thought, espoused by most historic peace churches (Mennonites, Amish, Brethren...) is that before the Constantinian edict of Milan, the Christian movement was a peaceful movement, characterized by a non-violent polemics against the empire of Caesar. "Jesus is LORD" was a radical olitical statement of non-allegiance to the Roman emperor. Allegiance to Jesus the Messiah, Lord, and King, savior of the world, and prince of peace meant that one's life was bound to his death and resurrection. This meant that suffering at the hands of a persecuting empire was an act of faith. But under the rule of Constantine, the church goes from being a persecuted body to a politic that persecutes others in the name of Jesus. Constantine beleives that the cross gives him victory over his enemies, thereby uniting the sword and the cross as a weapon of conquest. Triumphalism becomes the theology of the church/state under Constantine. The result is 1,700 years of church collusion with the militant empires of this world. To our own day and the United States. The civil war proved that one cannot use the bible to justify warfare. When scripture authorizes violence against ones own brother then I think the rule of the house divided against itself cannot stand applies.
And yet, righteous imperialism thrived in the early 20th century. And with good cause, for there were atheistic enemies in the world--socialists and communists.
And now, are we fighting a Crusade, a holy war with Islamic extremism? Who will call Christian imperialism what it is---an extremist element within the Christian church?
I am a Lutheran. We have cited Augustine's just war as part of our self-understanding. God's peace is eschatological. In the interim, there is sometimes a righteous cause for violence--to protect the innocent. But, in today's world--who is innocent and who is guilty? Who is a civilian and who is an enemy combatant? Ever since Vietnam, warfare has become a gray, messy battlefield. And what doe Jesus command to "love your enemies" entail for us? To turn uor swords into plough shares is a sign of the kingdom of GOD according to the OT prophets. If Jesus is the prince of peace who came to bring not peace but a sword, how do we reconcile these things? I think Jesus came to bring spiritual division between one generation of Jews and the next. And what he means by generation, by parent vs. child, is that the family of GOD will be divided by His coming among us. And so it was. The children of Abraham were divided in their allegiance. Some followed Jesus as Christ and some did not. But I digress.
I have ben somehow converted by the teachings of this conference. I was always, I think a Christian pacifist, but now I am also aware of the impications of this theological position in this age.
Brian McLaren spoke about the stories or myths or paradigms that shape our worldview, understandings, realities. He named a number of them and placed them alongside the gospel. Christians are people who are telling an alternative story, a hopeful story, good news. if the Constantinian story has been one of triumph through military power, the gospel story is resurrection from the dead. The gospel story is about the "triumph" of evil and death; and the rising of true, divine power after evil's "triumph". I would like to read N.T. Wright's book Jesus and the Victory of GOD in response to what I have heard and seen.
I did leave the conference with questions? What is peace? is it possible before th eschaton? Is God peaceful? Is government good and, if so, what government? I think democracy has had a positive effect on the humanitarian rights of women, children, the outcasts. And yet it too is an interim reality. Ultimately, the church and the Kingdom of GOD is a strange kind of monarchy or a united trinitarian leadership that is not authoritarian or domineering in their use of power, but power exercised through self-giving love. How do we embody that when there is so much violence globally? Should the church have a greater role in quelling violence through nonviolent protest? How many Christian martyrs will there be before the end of the age? Will I be one? What if I'm not? MLK, Jr. said its not enough to hate war and violence, one has to love peace and pursue it.