Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
In this CT article, Were the Church Fathers Consistently Pro-Life?, Ron Sider tries to make a case that in the early church those fathers who wrote anything about killing were unanimously against it, and they should be listened to as they were closer to what Jesus and the apostles actually said than later centuries.
The article states that he will be updating his former book on nonviolence, and then will write what he says is his “best book on biblical pacifism”.
Now pacifism is not my view, but I would be interested in seeing a refutation of where Sider’s scholarship is going, namely, a complete pacifistic stance which he says is based on Scripture.
I know the Westminster Standards are clear on this, but I would like to see a Scriptural refutation of this view – for that is what must be marshaled against his claims. And I should add, from the New Testament primarily, as therein are the “marching orders” for the saints in Christ.
The article states that he will be updating his former book on nonviolence, and then will write what he says is his “best book on biblical pacifism”.
Now pacifism is not my view, but I would be interested in seeing a refutation of where Sider’s scholarship is going, namely, a complete pacifistic stance which he says is based on Scripture.
I know the Westminster Standards are clear on this, but I would like to see a Scriptural refutation of this view – for that is what must be marshaled against his claims. And I should add, from the New Testament primarily, as therein are the “marching orders” for the saints in Christ.