Comments on: Pagan Values: Ecology, Environmentalism & Practical Pacifism http://druidjournal.net/2009/06/05/pagan-values-ecology-environmentalism-practical-pacifism/ Guidance and Inspiration from Nature and the Ancient World. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:13:30 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Michelle http://druidjournal.net/2009/06/05/pagan-values-ecology-environmentalism-practical-pacifism/comment-page-1/#comment-165882 Michelle Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:22:18 +0000 http://druidjournal.net/?p=964#comment-165882 Hi Jeff a friend sent me an interesting blog and I thought you might enjoy taking a look too. http://owlsdaughter.blogspot.com/ Hi Jeff

a friend sent me an interesting blog and I thought you might enjoy taking a look too.

http://owlsdaughter.blogspot.com/

]]> By: Matt Stone http://druidjournal.net/2009/06/05/pagan-values-ecology-environmentalism-practical-pacifism/comment-page-1/#comment-163948 Matt Stone Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:44:55 +0000 http://druidjournal.net/?p=964#comment-163948 I snese we'd agree on many things. Empire corrupts. I find too many wealthy Christians have a split-level Christianity. They trust Christ in the private sphere but not the public sphere. They affirm the supremacy of Christ but relativize his teaching when it comes to politics and economics, elevating the Old Testament over the New Testament, reversing the revelation. In many ways this is a denial of the gospel, the affirmation that Jesus changes everything. You are right to reject that anemic Christianity, I do as well. I snese we’d agree on many things. Empire corrupts. I find too many wealthy Christians have a split-level Christianity. They trust Christ in the private sphere but not the public sphere. They affirm the supremacy of Christ but relativize his teaching when it comes to politics and economics, elevating the Old Testament over the New Testament, reversing the revelation. In many ways this is a denial of the gospel, the affirmation that Jesus changes everything. You are right to reject that anemic Christianity, I do as well.

]]> By: Ali http://druidjournal.net/2009/06/05/pagan-values-ecology-environmentalism-practical-pacifism/comment-page-1/#comment-163873 Ali Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:44:33 +0000 http://druidjournal.net/?p=964#comment-163873 Matt, Thanks for your response, and you have a really nice collection of quotes there! I completely agree that Jesus himself and early Christianity was very much a religion of nonviolence. Perhaps you missed it, but above I linked to an <a href="http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/402/what_jesus_would_do" rel="nofollow">interview with John Dear</a>, a Jesuit priest who founds his pacifism and civil disobedience on his Christian faith. In the full print article, he says: "I don’t believe you can be a Christian and support war in any form — or, for that matter, greed that leads to global poverty or any form of injustice, racism, or sexism. Christians are supposed to be peacemakers. <i>The only thing you can say for sure about Jesus is that he was nonviolent.</i>" I think that the development of Just War theory within Catholicism was very likely an attempt to reconcile this most basic nonviolence in the heart and history of Christianity with the imperial power the Church inherited from the Roman Empire. Personally, I've always been drawn to the early Christianity and its small communities striving for goals of simple, peaceful living. Taking Jesus seriously, along with Gandhi and King, is one reason why I'm a committed pacifist today. Matt,

Thanks for your response, and you have a really nice collection of quotes there! I completely agree that Jesus himself and early Christianity was very much a religion of nonviolence. Perhaps you missed it, but above I linked to an interview with John Dear, a Jesuit priest who founds his pacifism and civil disobedience on his Christian faith. In the full print article, he says:

“I don’t believe you can be a Christian and support war in any form — or, for that matter, greed that leads to global poverty or any form of injustice, racism, or sexism. Christians are supposed to be peacemakers. The only thing you can say for sure about Jesus is that he was nonviolent.”

I think that the development of Just War theory within Catholicism was very likely an attempt to reconcile this most basic nonviolence in the heart and history of Christianity with the imperial power the Church inherited from the Roman Empire. Personally, I’ve always been drawn to the early Christianity and its small communities striving for goals of simple, peaceful living. Taking Jesus seriously, along with Gandhi and King, is one reason why I’m a committed pacifist today.

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