Ulrich Luz, Feindesliebe und Gewaltverzicht. Zur Struktur und Problematik neutestamentlicher Friedensideen, Paderborn 2009 (p. 137-149)

The New Testament and it’s essential commandments seem to be incompatible with any violent actions or even thoughts. Nevertheless, in the course of history, the potential of Christianity as a peace-strenghtening religion was often overshadowed by aggression.

This fundamental contrast is the subject of the 2009 article “Feindesliebe und Gewaltverzicht. Zur Struktur und Problematik neutestamentlicher Friedensideen“ by Ulrich Luz, professor emeritus for New Testement studies at the University of Bern. The article is part of the volume “Krieg und Christentum – Religiöse Gewalttheorien in der Kriegserfahrung des Westens“ edited by Andreas Holzem. The volume documents the results of a conference of the “Tübinger Sonderforschungsbereiches 437: Kriegserfahrungen – Krieg und Gesellschaft in der Neuzeit” and approaches the topic “War and Christianity” by means of an experiential-historical approach (“erfahrungsgeschichtlicher Ansatz”).

Luz addresses the contrast mentioned above in two steps. At first, he deals with two essential commandments of the New Testament, loving one’s enemies and the renunciation of violence, as well as with their later reflection. (p. 137–144) According to Luz, in the course of the development of Christianity from an eschatological movement to a religion, there was decisive re-accentuation of these commandments already in Christian texts of the 1st century AD. In the case of the renunciation of violence, the increasing focus on the passion of the Christ as an archetypal example of nonviolent behavior had early on put the aspect of suffering in the center of the commandment. Now, no longer violence-interrupting behavior, but rather violence-enduring suffering was the crucial aspect of the imitatio Christi. (p. 141–142) This shift in emphasis, as the editor of the volume explains, had a significant influence on the later relationship between Christianity and war: The participation in wars could now also be understood as a Christ-like suffering. (p. 30)

In a second step, Luz detects three areas where already in the New Testament ideas of love are combined with aggressive overtones: the Christian mission, the aggressive imaginations (“phantsaierte Aggressionen“, p. 147) that can be found especially in the Apocalypse of John and finally the handling of apostates and heretics. (p. 144–147) In the last case, Luz points out the strong verbal aggressions expressed, for example, in the invectives as well as the defamations of false teachers in the Second Epistle of Peter. (p. 146)

Overall, the article of course cannot (and does not want to) provide the reader with a satisfactory overview of the“aggressive potential“ of the New Testament. Nevertheless, the broad definition of “aggression“ applied by the author, taking into account also various forms of verbal aggression, enables him to put the above mentioned contrast between the New Testament and Christian aggression into perspective. Thus, the article not only provides very fruitful approaches to further research, it also makes a quite important contribution to one of the main goals of the entire volume: A profound renewed reflection of Christian theories of war in the Western societies. (p. 16)
The article is therefore worthwhile reading for anyone who would like to approach the topic of “war and Christianity“from a theological or historical perspective.