Must Christianity Be Violent?

Must Christianity Be Violent? PDF Author: Kenneth R. Chase
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725219794
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The Crusades. The Conquest of the Americas. U.S. Slavery. The Jewish Holocaust. Mention of these events evokes a variety of responses from Christians, including guilt, defensiveness, and bewilderment. Given such a tangled historical relationship to aggression and injustice, how can Christians answer those who argue that our faith is inherently violent, or that Christian doctrines inevitably lead to sacrifice, conquest, and war? In Must Christianity Be Violent? editors Kenneth R. Chase and Alan Jacobs have gathered pointed essays that provide specific responses to these arguments. Divided into "histories," "practices," and "theologies," the essays explore the historical causation of Christian violence and discuss practices that promote what one contributor calls "just peacemaking." The contributors explore the history of Christian violence and advocate the need for an uncompromised biblical theology in our search for peace. This timely collection will appeal to readers of Christian history, ethics, and theology, and those who want to better understand the specifically Christian response to violence and cultivation of peace.

Must Christianity Be Violent?

Must Christianity Be Violent? PDF Author: Kenneth R. Chase
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725219794
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Crusades. The Conquest of the Americas. U.S. Slavery. The Jewish Holocaust. Mention of these events evokes a variety of responses from Christians, including guilt, defensiveness, and bewilderment. Given such a tangled historical relationship to aggression and injustice, how can Christians answer those who argue that our faith is inherently violent, or that Christian doctrines inevitably lead to sacrifice, conquest, and war? In Must Christianity Be Violent? editors Kenneth R. Chase and Alan Jacobs have gathered pointed essays that provide specific responses to these arguments. Divided into "histories," "practices," and "theologies," the essays explore the historical causation of Christian violence and discuss practices that promote what one contributor calls "just peacemaking." The contributors explore the history of Christian violence and advocate the need for an uncompromised biblical theology in our search for peace. This timely collection will appeal to readers of Christian history, ethics, and theology, and those who want to better understand the specifically Christian response to violence and cultivation of peace.

Disarming the Church

Disarming the Church PDF Author: Eric A. Seibert
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1620328879
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
If Christians follow the Prince of Peace, why do they often behave so violently? What can be done to transform the church so that it looks more like Jesus? Eric Seibert explores these questions in this important and timely study. He builds a biblical and practical case for living nonviolently in all areas of life and urges Christians to reexamine their most fundamental attitudes toward violence, warfare, and killing. Through true stories and careful analysis, Seibert demonstrates that it is possible to resolve conflict, correct injustice, and stop oppression without resorting to violence. Many nonviolent alternatives are discussed throughout the book, alternatives that can be used in a wide range of situations, from dealing with an unwanted intruder at home to removing a dictator from power. In a world filled with so much violence, hate, and fear, alternatives like these are desperately needed. This book offers hope that a better way is possible, one that has the potential to transform the church and change the world. So read on and join in!

Christianity and Violence

Christianity and Violence PDF Author: Lloyd Steffen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108848826
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
How Christian people have framed the meaning of violence within their faith tradition has been a complex process subject to all manner of historical, cultural, political, ethnic and theological contingencies. As a tradition encompassing widely divergent beliefs and perspectives, Christianity has, over two millennia, adapted to changing cultural and historical circumstances. To grasp the complexity of this tradition and its involvement with violence requires attention to specific elements explored in this Element: the scriptural and institutional sources for violence; the faith commitments and practices that join communities and sanction both resistance to and authorization for violence; and select historical developments that altered the power wielded by Christianity in society, culture and politics. Relevant issues in social psychology and the moral action guides addressing violence affirmed in Christian communities provide a deeper explanation for the motivations that have led to the diverse interpretations of violence avowed in the Christian tradition.

Mercy for Today

Mercy for Today PDF Author: Jonathan Parnell
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1535959266
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
You cannot make it without God’s mercy. Do we just need God’s grace in dark and shameful moments? Are prayers for mercy only for those times when we really mess up? Jonathan Parnell says we need God’s mercy all the time. In fact, contrary to many church cultures, Parnell shows that asking God for mercy should be as regular as asking God for our daily bread. There’s no doubt that David was in a terrible predicament when he first prayed the words of Psalm 51. It was a dark and shameful moment in the Bible, and one so dark and shameful it seldom feels relevant to us today. But David’s most desperate prayer is really a prayer for all of us—and not just for our worst moments, but for our every moment. In these pages, you'll discover: how to pray a daily, memorable prayer derived from Psalm 51 how to practice daily repentance and soul care how to pursue God and experience his joy in the Christian life This is God’s mercy, and it’s Mercy for Today.

Sword in the Stars

Sword in the Stars PDF Author: Wayne Thomas Batson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781974639038
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description
The difference in their uncanny eyes could not be easily discerned. In the rays of the setting sun, both Aravel's and Morlan's eyes appeared gold. In the pale moonlight...yellow. Seemingly the same. Such inscrutable likeness is the way of things with identical twins. But all who knew the two brothers well noted unmistakable differences, peculiarities more experienced than seen. Those who stood before King Aravel's gaze felt the glad firelight of a cozy inn. But those who fell under Morlan's stare felt the gleam of winter moonlight on the cold, white stone monuments in a boneyard. FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DOOR WITHIN TRILOGY comes an epic tale of two powerful kings whose rivalry threatens to tear the world of Myriad apart. Into this chaos of treachery and war, strides ex-assassin Alastair Coldhollow whose quest for redemption leads him to the one foe he cannot defeat with a thrust of his sword. Everything may hinge on an age-old prophecy, but after thousands of years, will the Sword appear in the Stars at last? With the aid of Abbagael Rivynfleur, a not-so-naive girl from the forest villages, Alastair will tread forgotten roads, face legendary creatures, and meet mysterious new races of people, all in an effort to find Myriad's Halfainin. So begins the sweeping seven-volume Myridian Constellation. Read on to discover what happens when the Sword is in the Stars, and the moon is blood red...

Nonviolence

Nonviolence PDF Author: Preston M. Sprinkle
Publisher: David C Cook
ISBN: 0830782516
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In a unique narrative approach, Sprinkle begins by looking at how the story of God as a whole portrays violence and war, drawing conclusions that guide the reader through the rest of the book. With urgency and precision, he navigates hard questions and examines key approaches to violence, driving every answer back to Scripture. Ultimately, Sprinkle challenges the church to "walk in a manner worthy of our calling" and shape our lives on the example of Christ. Nonviolence: The Revolutionary Way of Jesus is biblically rooted, theologically coherent, and prophetically challenging. It is a defining work that will stir discussions for years to come.

Our Violent World and the Ethics of Jesus

Our Violent World and the Ethics of Jesus PDF Author: John Dudley Willis
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1684712289
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
This book is driven by forty years of study on 1700 years of Christian violence. The historical section, Part 1, opens with, "Christianity is the most homicidal religion in the history of the world...Half a Billion men, women, children, infants, elderly, sick, and disabled slain." You read how Christians were and are taught to obey their governments more than Jesus Christ, whether killing as soldiers, torturing for governments, or harming innocent citizens as police. You read the words of Christian European Kings, Queens, and Popes to their Christian explorers sent into world, "Discover, subdue, and conquer."

Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror

Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror PDF Author: Philippe Buc
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812246853
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror examines the ways Christian theology has shaped centuries of violence from Christianity's first centuries up to our own day, through the crusades, the French Revolution, and more recent American wars.

Sacred Violence

Sacred Violence PDF Author: Brent D. Shaw
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521196051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 931

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Book Description
Employs the sectarian battles which divided African Christians in late antiquity to explore the nature of violence in religious conflicts.

How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian

How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian PDF Author: John Dominic Crossan
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062203622
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
The acclaimed Bible scholar and author of The Historical Jesus and God & Empire—“the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation” (John Shelby Spong) —grapples with Scripture’s two conflicting visions of Jesus and God, one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God, and explains how Christians can better understand these passages in a way that enriches their faith. Many portions of the New Testament, introduce a compassionate Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But the Jesus we find in Revelation and some portions of the Gospels leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true revelation of the Messiah—and how can both be in the same Bible? How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian explores this question and offers guidance for the faithful conflicted over which version of the Lord to worship. John Dominic Crossan reconciles these contrasting views, revealing how different writers of the books of the Bible not only possessed different visions of God but also different purposes for writing. Often these books are explicitly competing against another, opposing vision of God from the Bible itself. Crossan explains how to navigate this debate and offers what he believes is the best central thread to what the Bible is all about. He challenges Christians to fully participate in this dialogue, thereby shaping their faith by reading deeply, reflectively, and in community with others who share their uncertainty. Only then, he advises, will Christians be able to read and understand the Bible without losing their faith.