Ambrose on violence

There's a great post over at Missio Alliance taking a look at what Ambrose (340–397 AD) thought about violence and Christianity. By all means, read the whole thing; he doesn't offer any easy answers because there aren't any, but he comes down on the side of nonviolence. Here's the final paragraph:

Ambrose reminds us well: God loves all people equally, and we are called to do the same. This central conviction prevents us from finding any easy answers to questions of guns, war, and self-defense. However Christians ultimately settle on these particular issues, we are compelled to constantly return to peace and non-violence as central Christian values that lie at the heart of the Gospel message of a compassionate and self-giving God. These convictions should be protected, and privileged highly, as we make moral judgments; as Ambrose does.

Tolle! Lege! as Augustine (one of Ambroses's converts, by the way) would say.