Society of Vineyard Scholars
Annual Conference => SVS 2018: Theology and Place: Context, Community, and the Kingdom of God => Previous Conferences => Papers & presentations => Topic started by: Corey Farr on July 05, 2018, 03:17 PM
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Abstract:
The intent of this paper is to survey the attitudes of the early (pre-Constantinian) church towards violence, military service, and martyrdom and bring them into dialogue with contemporary US-American evangelical views and practices. I will examine this both in terms of the more passive and prohibitive critiques of culture and the more “active” affirmation of the merits of martyrdom. In doing so, I hope to show that the church had not only the negative/passive witness of refusing to engage in violent acts, but also the positive/active witness of being willing to accept and even embrace violence done to themselves – in a way that is less pathological than it sounds – in imitation of their cruciform king.
The full paper is attached to this post.