Non-Violence
What I – a Pacifist – Would say to Obama About the Crisis In Syria
Category: Essays
Tags: Current Events, Essay, Government, Just War, Non-Violence, Pacifism, Peace, The Sword, War
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Over the last week many of you have written ReKnew asking me to weigh in on the crisis in Syria. Does being a pacifist mean that I am opposed to America violently intervening to keep…
The “Third Way”: Seeing God’s Beauty in the Depth of Scripture’s Violent Portraits of God
Category: Essays
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Essay, Non-Violence, Picture of God, Third Way
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
A publishing house recently sent me an advance copy of a book written by a well known scholar on the topic of the non-violent God revealed in Jesus, asking me to endorse it. (Publishing protocol…
Getting Behind the “Letter” of Violent Portraits of God
Category: Essays
Tags: Bible, Character of God, Cruciform Theology, Essay, Hermeneutics, Jesus, Matthew Bates, New Testament, Non-Violence, Old Testament, Reformed Theology, Scripture, Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
“I will do to you what I have never done before… in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents…” Ezek. 5:9-10 In my previous post I offered a brief review…
Peaceworks
Category: General
Tags: Non-Violence, Peace
We’re excited about an upcoming video series by Peaceworks, a new youth movement for peace. It will inspire you and give you the tools you need to make a difference in your life and the…
Are You Guilty of Marcionism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, Cruciform Theology, Heresy, Jesus, Non-Violence, Old Testament, Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
Greg responds to the question of whether or not his cruciform hermeneutic is anything like the heresy of Marcion, who basically advocated throwing out the Old Testament. (Spoiler: it’s not.)
A Guide to the Book of Revelation
Category: General
Tags: Book of Revelation, Kurt Willems, Left Behind, Non-Violence, Rapture, Revelation
Marc Nozell via Compfight Kurt Willems posted this excellent guide for reading the Book of Revelation as it was intended to be read. As Kurt points out, this is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted book…
God’s Aikido Way of Defeating Evil
Category: Essays
Tags: Atonement, Christus Victor, Demons, Essay, God, Jesus, Love, Non-Violence, Redemption
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement
Greg continues his thoughts on the atonement with this installment highlighting the way God uses the evil intentions and actions of his enemies to bring about good. And because this strategy is based in love,…
Sermon: Blood and Water
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Anabaptists, Baptism, Communion, Greg Boyd, Non-Violence, Persecution, Woodland Hills Church
In this sermon clip, Greg Boyd talks about how question in baptism and communion have cause division in the church throughout history. In the rest of the sermon he discusses why baptism and Communion are…
The Rorschach Test
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, God, Non-Violence, Open Theism, Rorschach Test, Truth
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
The choices we make will either increase or decrease our ability to recognize light when we see it. As we choose goodness, we increase our capacity for goodness. What do you see when you read the…
Swords into Plowshares
Category: General
Tags: Non-Violence, Peace, Peacemaking, Swords into Plowshares, War
Eneas De Troya via Compfight Kelley Nikondeha over at SheLoves wrote a penetrating essay on the work of peace and the prophet’s dreams of replacing the work of war into the work of feeding people. Peace…
Violence: What Did Jesus Do?
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Non-Violence, Suffering, The Way of the Cross, Upside-Down Kingdom
Thomas Quine via Compfight Here’s a spot-on reflection on what Jesus taught us about responding to violence. Whatever you think about the justification of violence in particular situations, as Christians we simply cannot escape the fact…
Following Jesus from the Margins
Category: General
Tags: Anabaptists, Christianity, Culture, Jesus, Justice, Kurt Willems, Non-Violence, Subversive
D. Sharon Pruitt via Compfight Kurt Willems posted a reflection today entitled From the Margins: Following Jesus in a post-Christian culture. I hope everyone will read this. It’s a perspective from the anabaptist tradition that…
Video Q&A: What if violence is necessary to protect a loved one?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Greg Boyd, Non-Violence, Video Q&A
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
We recently posted a video Q&A on open theism and we received a lot of positive feedback. We’re happy to share another of these today on the question of non-violence. Greg has answered this question…
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Category: General
Tags: Non-Violence, Peacemaking
We recently watched a show on Frontline (PBS) called The Interrupters. This two hour long documentary follows several “Interrupters” as they attempt to peacefully resolve conflict in their oftentimes violent neighborhoods in Chicago. The group…
Shane Claiborne on How Bad Theology Can Be Deadly
Category: General
Tags: Non-Violence
David D Flowers shared this video over at The Centrality and Supremacy of Jesus Christ and we thought it was worth sharing here too. Theology matters.
Should Christians really only use non-violent resistance to things like war/genocide?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Non-Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: Greg Boyd describes himself as a pacifist. I am curious to know what he thinks about wars or any other situation where genocide is happening. When such evil things are being done by force and…
Would God Kill a Baby To Teach Parents a Lesson?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Non-Violence
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
Question: We have a group of guys that are going through your book “Is God to Blame” and a question came up that I would be curious how you would look at it. In the beginning…
Where are the Blessed Peacemakers?
Category: General
Tags: Non-Violence, Peacemaking
Religion Dispatches Magazine posted an article recently on embracing non-violence in the Christian tradition. In it, Elizabeth Drescher argues that the violent imagery in Paul’s writing accounts for a great deal of the violent posturing…
“I’m Angry, Too”
Category: General
Tags: Hate Speech, Non-Violence, Peacemaking, Politics
A reader (thanks, Jen!) sent us this blog post by Rachel Pieh Jones, an ex-pat from Minnesota living in Djibouti. She has some incredibly insightful and sad thoughts about the hateful responses to the recent…
Little Pacifism
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Non-Violence
Richard Beck spoke about something he names Little Pacifism on his Experimental Theology website. It’s so easy, in the name of peacemaking, to become angry and aggressive. I suppose this is just part of what…