As Americans, we take many things for granted. For example, we tend to think the answer to poverty in developing nations is getting them adequate resources. Of course, things like food and medicines are badly needed. But there is something more foundational that we tend to miss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/opinion/brooks-the-republic-of-fear.html
Wars are not simply military affairs. For the Christian, they are theological to the core. Mark Noll has made that clear with the various ways ministers interpreted the Civil War (see The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, University of North Carolina Press).
Last year, James Byrd of Vanderbilt released his Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: the Bible and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press). It received a book of the year award from Christianity Today.
My interview with Professor Byrd of Vanderbilt appeared this past Saturday on JesusCreed:
It is interesting to note how the Bible has been used to not only justify war, but to justify a particular position of a war. Two books I highly recommend in this regard are The Civil War as Theological Crisis by Mark Noll and Sacred Scripture, Sacred War by James Byrd. I will be reviewing Byrd’s book in the upcoming weeks for Jesus Creed.
Andrew Bacevich is a graduate of West Point, Vietnam veteran, holds a Ph.D from Princeton, teaches at Boston University, and is a prolific writer. He is a conservative who has much to share about why war is many times a misguided option. Bacevich’s son was killed in Iraq.
From what I have heard, Bacevich articulates my own view. More surprisingly, Phil Donahue’s view also seems to be similar to mine!
I believe it is theologian David Wells who said television perhaps more than anything else has challenged the Christian view that God is in charge of all things.
In “real time” (a weird neologism) we can see all kinds of evil unfold. We can vicariously sense the terror of those going through war as we did when CNN correspondent, Bernard Shaw, reported from Baghdad. As the bombs fell, the tremor in Shaw’s voice was unmistakeable.
Even secular scholars have written books describing the destructive effects of being exposed to certain types of evil. Roger Shattuck’s Forbidden Knowledge is one such book and the anti-moralists were not happy that one of their own would raise questions about the value of reading certain works of literature.
Bringing this principle home is what caused me to get rid of our D.H. Lawrence books. I’m no prude, and yes, I have read books which have stuff about sex in them…like the Bible! I got rid of Lawrence even in my quest to “read the best which has been thought and said” because it seemed the defiling potential of Lawrence was greater than the positive payback. I could be wrong and gladly invite push backs.
In any case, how do we determine not only how much we watch television, but more to the point, what kinds of shows?
I am sure many of you will remember the famous anti-Vietnam song which was first sung by The Temptations.
Syria got me thinking about whether the song was correct in saying war is good for “absolutely nothing.”
It is maddening navigating with wisdom in a chaotic, confused, and fallen world.
No doubt there are issues of justice and charity to grapple with when it comes to grotesque events like the war in Syria, but what are we as Americans to do?
I am not so sure our overall philosophy (do we even have one?) of military might is the right one.
I am not a full-blown pacifist, but I do think we get involved militarily in far too many wars. Precious resources, most prominently human life, get squandered far too often.
Perhaps a debate about our overall philosophy is due, an extended conversation where Americans from all parties meet at the table of ideas. Naive I know to dream about such things, but anything shy of it seems to perpetuate the problem we regularly find ourselves in: a selective and inconsistent strategy that has us calling on the military when there are other non military options which should have been employed.
What do you think?
It is a well-known and regularly retrieved saying, but do we really believe “the pen is mightier than the sword?”
It seems the sword is being employed a lot these days. It also seems right to conclude that the sword being used so often is proof that it works. Why else use it?
Christians extol the power of the Word. God’s Word is “…living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Heb. 4:12)
When I observe governments grabbing the sword as the first or only option, I know their ideas must not be very compelling.
Poet, playwright, writer/Czech Republic president (in that order!) said, “I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions.”