Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Withdrawal? Hardly!

Pacifism isn’t quietism or withdrawal or inactivity, and it isn’t simple submission. Pacifism’s root is connected to the peacemaking beatitude, rooted in love and expressed when the follower of Jesus actively seeks peace. Pacifism isn’t a lack of interest or noninvolvement, but the hard work of seeking peace. Pacifism is nonviolent resistance, not nonresistance. What Jesus teaches his followers to do illustrates the sort of pacifism he advocates: turn the other cheek, surrender even more clothing, go the extra mile, lend and do not charge interest or require a payment back. Hardly the stuff of the inactive. These acts subvert the Roman system.— Sermon on the Mount, pages 131-132

<idle musing>
And, I would add, subvert the American system as well...

It's too bad that pacifism sounds so much like passive. I've found the work of Glen Stassen on just peacemaking very helpful. I just ran across this on the SBL website while looking for the previous link. Looks interesting...
</idle musing>

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