Military, War, Armed Conflict

The World’s Two Kingdoms (God or Satan; grace or sin) 1. God’s Kingdom. “God created humankind in his image.” (Gen. 1:27) [1] Insights from Christian Tradition. All persons made in their Creator’s holy and loving image are commanded to live in love as a universal human family in peace, justice and freedom under God. They […]

[1] The enemy in traditional warfare is a nation-state with military forces and an arsenal of weapons that threaten our national security. The tenets of just war thinking presuppose this traditional form of war-making, addressing such questions as a proper declaration of war, the obligation to refrain from mobilization until it is apparent that there […]

Church Council Meeting: Wednesday Sept. 19th, 2001 An item not on the agenda: “Can we put the flag back in the Sanctuary?” Pastor (17 months in ministry): “I would counsel against that, but I don’t think we should discuss it now.” [1] In my now-29 months in ministry I have been surprised at the power […]

[1] I cried for a time, thinking about the horrible deaths of all of the innocent people trapped in the World Trade Center, and of the rescuers who gave their own lives to save others. But as I cried I became increasingly angry, not only at the terrorists, but also at the root cause of […]

[1] Six years ago our church adopted a social statement, “For Peace in God’s World,” intended to reflect the consensus view of how we as a Community for Peace should pursue that goal. As we reflect upon the horrible disaster of September 11, 2001, I believe it would do us all good to re-read that […]

[1] Mary Solberg, associate professor of religion at Gustavus Adolphus College, has done historians, theologians, and ethicists a great favor by selecting, editing, and translating more than twenty documents relating to the “German Christian” movement in Nazi Germany. The documents cover the period from 1932 to 1940, but are primarily from the early to mid-1930s. […]