133 - Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace

Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace
by Roland H. Bainton
299 pp. New York, Abington Press, 1960. $4.75.

Coming at a time when many people have relegated atomic warfare to fate or oblivion, above the sphere of personal responsibility, it is striking and disturbingly refreshing to encounter a book which, though mainly historical in content, presents the issues of war and peace on the plane of the Christian conscience. Professor Bainton is aware of the depth of the dilemmas facing the Christian as he stands before the conflicting demands of the personal and public realms. He is also aware of the apparent futility of doing anything about a problem which seems to have passed beyond human control. Nevertheless, he insists that the immensity and the complexity of the problem of war in the atomic age increases rather than decreases the necessity for individual decision and action. For the Christian it means that he must adopt an attitude which is, above all, Christian.

This book is, of course, largely devoted to an account of the historical emergence and development of Christian attitudes toward human conflict. Its mood is objective and dispassionate, though not without the charm and lucidity of a great narrator. Nevertheless, it is obviously motivated, though not dominated, by a passionate concern for peace and for a distinctly Christian approach to the greatest and most pathetic problem of our world. Professor Bainton resists, both directly and indirectly, a widely held attitude of despair which ironically paralyzes the conscience in direct ratio to the horrors of war and which induces Christians to adopt attitudes, albeit unconsciously, which correspond more nearly to the fluctuations of national policies and popular passions than to Christian principles. As if the shift from the objective to the subjective and from the dispassionate to the passionate needs to be justified, the author introduces the final chapter, in which he defends his personal position, with the question, "Why should not a historian be profoundly concerned over behavior which threatens to bring an end to history?" (p. 16).

Professor Bainton holds that the diverse attitudes of Christians regard-

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ing war and peace reflect three basic positions, namely, pacifism, the just war, and the crusade. One of the values of the book is its sympathetic understanding of the theological and historical roots of each position. The author has long ago transcended the tendency to view attitudes toward war on a simple scale of bellicosity or of Scriptual fidelity or of social responsibility. Each position has its Scriptual and its historical rationale which must be understood sympathetically in order to be evaluated critically. The truth is that the "Biblical view" is not self-evident, love does not take absolutely fixed forms, and social responsibility is a far more ambiguous relationship to the state than is usually recognized. The upshot of this is that the issues of war and peace bring to the fore in a dramatic and critical fashion some of the basic problems of Biblical interpretation, ethical theory, and the interpretation of history. Therefore only a serious and informed approach to the problem will suffice.

Christianity in its earliest manifestation was clearly pacifist. However the pacifism of the early Church was not absolutist. There were varieties of pacifism in the early Church each stemming from an emphasis on love an aversion to killing. The pacifism of the early Church did not of course take the form of a developed theory since its social consequences were not discernible to the Church as a persecuted minority. Nevertheless the distinction between the Church and the world was a vivid one involving moral, eschatological, and ontological differences. Pacifism was therefore not merely the result of the logical extension of the sayings of Jesus but also the logical consequences of a view of the world and of history.

The transition from pacifism to the theory of the just war as a result of the Constantinian revolution is, of course, well known. With the Church and the Roman empire as partners Christian peace and pax Romana were identified. "There practice of early Christianity was so far reversed by the early fifth century that under Theodosius II those polluted by pagan rites were excluded from the army-only Christians could serve" (p. 88). The Christian ethic of the just war appears first in the writings of St. Ambrose and then more fully in St. Augustine. In St. Augustine's struggles to show the relation between the state and the Church, as coextensive though essentially different realities, there appear many of the characteristic interpretations of Scripture and history which support the classical theory of the just war. These include a somber attitude toward human perfection, the severity of the state, and the distinction between the inward intention and the external act as expressed in military service and juridical practice. St. Augustine may also be credited for the fundamental ethical rationale of the just war as an expression of Christian love. "Love does not exclude wars of mercy

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waged by the good." Professor Bainton considers St. Augustine's position to be one of extreme importance because "it continues to this day in all essentials to be the ethic of the Roman Catholic Church and of the major Protestant bodies" (p. 99).

The Middle Ages saw a shift from the just war theory to the crusade. Historically the crusade originated in the Old Testament concept of Holy War though "the crusade went beyond the holy war in the respect that it was fought not so much with God's help as on God's behalf, not for a human goal which God might bless but for a divine cause which God might command" (pp. 44-45). The shift from the just war to the crusade during the Medieval period corresponded, however, not so much to the heightening of religious ardor as to the unconverted passions of barbarian princes. "The barbarians militarized Christianity." Hence much of the work theory by an appeal to natural law. Of course pacifism continued alongside other practices though confined mainly to sectarian groups and monastic orders.

It is impossible to trace here the recurrence of the various attitudes toward war in later periods. In broad outline this is well known. Suffice to recall that Luther rejected the crusading idea and reworked the just war theory. "All the Protestant state churches appropriated the just-war theory, but within its terms the Reformed churches reinstated the crusade . . . Pacifism, as in the late Middle Ages, was an affair of the sects-the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, the Quakers in the seventeenth, and the Brethren in the eighteenth" (p. 136).

Skipping to the First World War, "after a century of comparative peace" we are reminded that the passionate hate for the Germans resulted in a revival of the crusading ideal. Quotations from sermons and pronouncements indicate how easily the just war takes on crusading qualities. World War II, however, was fought in a mood of sadness, basically as a just war but without the support of the classical code. By this time the "progressive degradation of warfare" had turned the "just" war into just "war".

In his evaluation of the traditional Christian positions, Professor Bainton claims that the situation in which they were originally conceived no longer exists. With the advent of the atomic bomb and the increasing dehumanizing of war, an essentially new era has come during which the issues of war and peace must be examined afresh. At this point the author expresses his misgivings about the just war and the crusade. The just war can no longer be just since we have no assurance that war can be limited. Under present conditions "the limited war in possible only

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within a framework of unlimited war" (p. 231). The crusade with atomic warheads is simply too repulsive to be considered seriously. Pacifism alone remains, but of course this raises the question of the kind of pacifism with respect to both its theology and its practical implications. "The choices that confront the pacifist are almost as grim as those which confront the soldier, and he is not to delude himself by supposing that by his stand he can avoid inflicting all hurt" (p. 251).

Finally the troublesome question of political responsibility is raised as Professor Bainton holds that the pacifist need not disassociate himself from political life. Rejecting both absolutism with its political irrelevance and realism with -its moral. capitulation, an attempt is made, in Quaker fashion, to show how a pacifist may contribute to the political life of the state which cannot be expected to accept the Cross. He will not hold the most crucial positions of power but he will nevertheless remain close enough to the power situation to leaven the lump of political reality. He will constantly walk a tight rope between political necessity and personal Christian morality.

What is most urgently needed today is the "will to peace" by both Christians and non-Christians, pacifists and nonpacifists. "At the present time there is more need for peace than pacifism. If peace is preserved it will be through the efforts not of pacifists, but of peace-minded nonpacifists, who do not renounce war absolutely, but who oppose war in our time on grounds of the humanitarian and the pragmatic."

It would probably be beside the point to evaluate this volume with the usual canons of historical criticism. Professor Bainton's reputation is here sustained for his accuracy and completeness of his materials and for his crisp and buoyant style. This reviewer cannot, however, resist mention of an inaccuracy on page 152 where it is claimed that "in the colonial period in Pennsylvania the Mennonites would not vote." Actually Mennonites did vote in large numbers even though consistency may have ruled otherwise. Also one may wish that a book which purports to give a running account of historic attitudes toward peace and war would now include some reference to the attitudes of the Qumran community and its possible influence upon the New Testament.

This reviewer feels that the significance of this book, notwithstanding its historical contribution, lies chiefly in its mood of urgency and its moral concern. Despite the fact that his own position has its difficulties and the theological basis for his pacifism seems rather thin, Professor Bainton rightly reminds both pacifists and nonpacifists, that they should turn their attention quickly to the problem of war while it is day. Not only is human existence at stake but also the Christian religion, for if the Christian faith, however it may be interpreted, cannot provide the frame of

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reference by which atomic war is viewed, one may wonder where to turn next.

J. Lawrence Burkholder
Harvard Divinity School
Cambridge, Massachusetts