Pacifism and the Passion
[Some say,] “But pacifism is so impractical!” As if Christian ethics were utilitarian, as if there were a calculus for shalom! … In any case, it is not as if the whole church has tried pacifism and found it wanting, the fact is that the whole church has not tried pacifism at all.
- Kim Fabricius, Propositions on Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank (Amazon)
“The whole church has not tried pacifism at all,” and yet that is precisely the life that Jesus led. If Jesus is to be our model, what happened?
I encourage anyone who is serious about living the Gospels rather than just quoting them to this Lent give pacifism some serious consideration. After all, on Palm Sunday we will hear the first reading of the Passion. What did Jesus say while suspended from the cross by spikes through his wrists and ankles? He didn’t say, “Damn you! Don’t you know who I am?”
No. He said, “Forgive them.”
Pax et bonum.
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We haven’t tried it because it IS so impractical, so foreign to our fallen human condition. It’s not normal. It doesn’t make sense. If we’re pacifists… we lose. We get killed. We lose our churches and our power. We can’t feel the rush of cracking the neck of our enemies. Pacifism sucks!
“No. He said, ‘Forgive them.’” He did indeed. But again, we haven’t given ourselves up enough to be transformed into the people who can do that. We’d rather damn them, kill them, crush them, call fired down on them. You know, Thom, you can get in trouble talkin’ ’bout all this stuff.
Pacifism is against our innate instinct to preserve our lives and our loved ones’ lives. If there is a god who made us, why implant an immensely powerful instinct and then tell us not to use it?
There are Pacifist fundamentalists (including the vegetarians), the sex fundamentalists (including the birth control/abortion people) and the intellectual fundamentalists. All are somewhere on the christian spectrum; all are reasons I stay away from religion. We all have brains as well as instincts; we don’t need to have people in stupid clothes telling us what to do with our genitals, our intellects or our fists. You don’t know any more about it than the rest of humanity.
Alan, you’re exactly right. And if trouble is what this gets me, bring it on.
Brad, who says that pacifism “is against our innate instincts?” Do you act on every impulse you have, or have you mastered your body, even just a little bit?
Thom,
Yes, it has not been tried. This is a sad witness. In our Byzantine liturgy we sing “By death he trampled death”. He did not trample death through any other means that were at His disposal. This should be a sobering reminder to all of us who are so quick to use the violent means at our disposal.
Can I nitpick for a second? Can you link to the book through something other than Amazon? Perhaps the publisher’s website or a local bookstore?
Thanks for sharing, as always.
Tim, I’ve always liked that line from the Byzantine liturgy, and how appropriate it is. Regarding Amazon, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I’ll probably in future start linking to books with WorldCat. Thanks for the tip.
I don’t know that I am a fan of pacifism. I think I prefer non-violence. Now before you think I am just splitting hairs…I have always thought of pacifism as being willing to appease in the interest of avoiding a fight, whereas non-violence (in my mind at least) means taking positive action to solve the problem.
I sometimes think that one of the most difficult hurdles to discussing non-violence is the belief that violence = action and pacisfism/non-violence = non-action. It seems to me that Jesus was very active in addressing the evils of his day. However, he didn’t address evil by taking up arms, he addressed evil by healing the sick, feeding the hungry and other acts of nonviolence.
Kevin, I’m glad you pointed out some of the differences between pacifism and nonviolence. I prefer to think in terms of pacifism, because while that certainly includes nonviolence, pacifism also addresses motive, whereas a nonviolent person’s motives could be far from the ideal that Jesus presents. Pacifists may resist, but the motivations and methods may differ from those who embrace nonviolence only. When the discussion gets this specific, what to do and what not to do becomes much more subjective. Thanks again for bringing this up.
Thanks for the thoughts on motive, I think I will mull that over for a while, I think that deserves its own blog post.
I’m interested to see what you have to say about it.
brad – what you suggest is called naturalistic error – deriving ought from is. Just because something occurs, doesn’t mean it’s ok. We, as human beings, are equipped with some innate instincts but it can’t indicate how to survive. The implementation is up to us. That’s why you can’t simply dismiss pacifism – specially if you are prejudiced against it. Of course you can disagree with pacifists but you need to express it in more mature, reasonable way. Such simplistic reductions bring only confusion.
As for fundamentalism – just because you’re not religious, doesn’t mean you can’t be fundamentalist, not to mention other non-religious people. Fundamentalism is about people not ideas.
My biggest problem with pacifism is that I have no idea what it is. Is there one definition or many? If many, are they compatible with each other? Etc.
Peter, we’re in full agreement. I like being able to say that.
What a surprise, isn’t it?
Thom – thanks for the vote of confidence, I just wrote a post and had your blog in mind for at least part of it.