Seminary Conversation on Guns & Violence

in

INTRODUCTION

I (Jeff Boyd) have been invited to spend 90 minutes leading a seminary class discussion on violence and guns. Before I join the crew, the doctoral students will have read Beating Guns (Claiborne & Martin, 2019) and will have watched Us Kids (documentary, 2020). The professor has also highlighted The Fallout (R, 2021).

This is the description I was given for our session together: “In addition to thinking about God’s calling across the life span of individuals, we are also examining God’s calling to church organizations throughout their history, especially as they navigate cultural disruptions and transitions.” And the invitation is to spend an hour and a half exploring “the intersection of Peace Studies and Adventism and how we might discern God’s calling amid the unspeakable violence violence that is all too common—from American schools to Ukrainian cities and towns.”

Below are some of the themes and resources we will likely cover, but we’ll see where the conversation leads…. For this conversation, we presume the best intent in each other’s comments and hearts.

PREAMBLE

Isaiah 2:4 — He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Joel 3:10 — Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”

Micah 4:3 — He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 110.2-3 (Rome, mid-second century): For we Christians, who have gained a knowledge of the true worship of God from the Law and from the word which went forth from Jerusalem by way of the Apostles of Jesus, have run for protection to the God of Jacob and the God of Israel. And we who delighted in war, in the slaughter of one another, and in every other kind of iniquity have in every part of the world converted our weapons of war into implements of peace – our swords into ploughshares, our spears into farmers’ tools – and we cultivate piety, justice, brotherly charity, faith, and hope, which we derive from the Father through the Crucified Saviour.

Ellen White, The Great Controversy, 589: Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God. [compare with mass shootings and Psalm 46]

Art Gish holding a plow. Screenshot from “Old Radicals” (https://youtu.be/oHpTUhF_l3A).

PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION

DEFINITIONS OF PEACE:

SELECT PEACE/VIOLENCE THEMES: Nonviolence, pacifism, conscientious objection, selective conscientious objection, just war theory, Constantinian shift, self-defense, R2P responsibility to protect (UN), forgiveness, reconciliation, justice, interpersonal conflict, intrastate violence/war, interstate violence/war, terrorism, torture, conflict transformation, death penalty, just peacemaking, racism, intimate partner violence, mental health, interfaith issues, economic issues, gun violence….

FIVE-PART JOURNEY pastors should be aware of, with each level or sector influencing the others: individual/personal, congregational (sidebar to “cliche” below), denominational, national/societal (culture trumps religion. always?), and global.

CLICHE: Pastor holds a Bible in one hand and a newspaper (shorthand for info about the world, whether in current events, cultural values and movements, or history) in the other. The pastor who is concerned about peace can organize content from these sources (broadly defined) into three buckets: (1) pro peace, (2) anti violence, and (3) “but what about…?”

  • BIBLE:

    • Peace & violence in the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament

    • Narrative theology and the trajectory of scripture (trajectory hermeneutics)

  • HISTORY BOOK: The Early Church, later Christian history, early Adventist history, and recent Adventist history/culture.

  • NEWSPAPER: Gun violence in schools and wider society, and intrastate and interstate war. (Guns now leading cause of death for kids in the U.S. Fox News, WebMD)

SELECT ADVENTIST STATEMENTS on VIOLENCE:

ARTICLES:

PODCAST: Adventist Peace Radio

ADVENTIST PEACEMAKERS: Adventist Peace Fellowship List

See also: Lyndi Fourie Foundation, Story at The Forgiveness Project, Adventist Review (2006), Beyond Forgiving (documentary short)

APF PEACE CHURCH NETWORK:

DOCUMENTARY FILMS:

SELECT BOOKS:

By Adventists

  • Church and Society (Maier, ed., 2015)

  • Adventism and the American Republic (Morgan, 2001)

  • Adventists and Military Service (Hasel, Magyarosi, Hoschele, eds., 2019)

  • The Promise of Peace (Scriven, 2009)

  • Anarchy and Apocalypse (Osborn, 2010)

  • Seventh-day Adventists in Time of War (Wilcox, 1936)

  • The Peacemaking Remnant (Morgan, ed., 2005)

  • Should I Fight? (Bussey, ed., 2011)

  • I Pledge Allegiance (Phillips, Tsatalbasidis, 2007)

  • I’m Not Leaving (Wilkins, 2011)

  • Flee the Captor (Ford, 1966)

For Congregations

  • A Culture of Peace: God’s Vision for the Church (Kreider, Kreider & Widjaja, 2005)

  • Peace Ministry: A Handbook for Local Churches (Buttry, 1995)

  • Christian Peacemaking (Buttry, 1994)

  • Shalom Church (Nessan, 2010)

  • Just Church (Martin, 2012)

  • Jeff Boyd, Additional Books (YouTube, 2017)

General

  • Jesus for President (Claiborne & Shaw, 2008)

  • Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution (Little, ed., 2007)

  • Peacemaking Power of Prayer (Robb & Hill, 2000)

  • Just Peacemaking (Stassen, 2008)

  • Peace Reader (Sider & Keefer Jr., eds., 2002)

History

  • The Early Church on Killing (Sider, ed., 2012)

  • Christian Attitudes toward War and Peace (Bainton, 1986)

  • Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution (Yoder, 2009)

Theology

  • Neglected Voices: Peace in the Old Testament (Leiter, 2007)

  • Covenant of Peace (Swartley, 2006)

  • Shalom: The Bible’s Word for Salvation, Justice & Peace (Yoder, 1987)

For Kids

  • My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (King III, 2013)

  • Teaching Peace to Children (Charissa Boyd, Jan. 24, 2020, Adventist Peace Radio podcast)

Documentary Looks at Operation Whitecoat

in

Kimberly Luste Maran interviewed Colonel Randall Larsen, USAF (Ret.) about his documentary Operation Whitecoat (Filmmaker talks about documentary on Adventist volunteers in Army's "Operation Whitecoat", NADAdventist.org, 21 June 2016). The article begins:

"Operation Whitecoat" is a documentary that tells the story of more than 2,300 Adventist, noncombatant conscientious objectors who volunteered for biodefense research studies from 1954-1973. These patriots are described as showing extraordinary commitment to their religious principles and great courage to participate in tests that produced outcomes reaching far beyond Army biodefense.
 
Through 151 medical studies during 19 years, a vast amount of data was gathered on naturally-occurring diseases. Thought the project is not without some controversy, thirteen important vaccines still used around the world were developed and tested for safety and efficacy during Operation Whitecoat. Vaccines still in use today include Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A, Plague, Tularemia, Typhus, Rift Valley Fever, Q Fever, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, Western Equine Encephalitis, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Chikungunya, and Adenovirus.

Maran and Larsen wrap-up the interview with the following two exchanges:

Who do you hope watches this, and why?
 
I made the film as a tribute to the commitment, courage, and contributions of the Whitecoats. The Whitecoats and their families are the primary audience. We also hope that the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church will learn more about these extraordinary men, and hope that the church will use the film as a teaching tool to facilitate discussion on non-combatant conscientious objectors, ethics, and service to one's community and country. We eventually hope to take this inspiring story to a broad audience who have not yet heard about Whitecoats, and who have little knowledge of the Adventist Church.
 
How can people watch the documentary film?
 
This film is available for purchase; for more information and to watch a trailer, go to: http://operationwhitecoatmovie.com.

To read the complete interview, visit NADAdventist.org.

Adventists Reflect on “Hacksaw Ridge”

in

In connection with the release of the Desmond Doss biopic film Hacksaw Ridge, Ronald Osborn—friend and former Director of the Adventist Peace Fellowship—briefly explains the shifting history of Adventists and war.

See Spectrum’s original post here: Young Adventists Speak: Ronald Osborn on Desmond Doss

Surrounding the release, several others have reflected on the film, the life of Desmond Doss, and Adventism’s relationship to war and non-violence. Here are some other articles on the topic:

Hacksaw Ridge: A Reflection (N. Brown)

in

Nathan Brown originally published this reflection on the Avondale News website (reprinted with permission). Nathan is Book Editor at Signs Publishing. He is a former magazine editor, a published writer and an author or editor of a dozen books. He is also a co-convener of Manifest, a community exploring, encouraging and celebrating faithful creativity.

IS IT MORE CONSCIENTIOUS TO BE AN “OBJECTOR” OF THAN A “COOPERATOR” IN WAR?

Watching Hacksaw Ridge is an ordeal—and probably should be. War is hell. Any storytelling painting the picture otherwise is disingenuous. Even more so when the central character is a United States Army medic, charged with patching up his wounded and shattered comrades. But the portrayal of the battlefield horrors in this new biographical film render the heroism and the faithfulness of conscientious objector and Seventh-day Adventist Desmond Doss more troubling than inspiring.

After an arresting opening glimpse of the carnage to come but with a Bible verse that also hints at the story of faith, we get to know Doss, who grows up in an abusive home with a father damaged by past war. Faith and love play increasing roles in the story, coinciding with Doss enlisting to serve in the army as World War II takes grip of the world.

As we see more of Doss’ faith—portrayed in a way that shows rather than tells—the Bible is depicted as central. Doss is committed to Sabbath-keeping and his refusal to even touch a gun in training is the dominant tension. Doss always argued against his classification as a “conscientious objector”—he preferred “conscientious cooperator.” His stand is admirable. His determination to serve his country and fellow men in even the worst of circumstances is heroic. But the ordeal of the battlefield tests the assumptions we might prefer, the image of the American hero director Mel Gibson seeks to portray and how we as Adventists might respond to this film.

The graphic rendering of the battle for Hacksaw Ridge—regarded as one of the bloodiest of the war—emphasises the absurdity of going into such an environment unarmed. Undoubtedly, Doss served faithfully and it seems God worked with his faithfulness to save both Doss and many of his men.

But this large-scale retelling of Doss’ story also raises questions about the conscientious role he played, whether cooperator or objector. On a number of occasions, Doss is depicted being rescued from an attacking soldier by a bullet fired by one of his fellow soldiers (it’s hardly a spoiler to report Doss survives the battle). As viewers, we’re expected to applaud these deaths at the same time as honouring Doss’ commitment not to kill.

And this is the tension. In his survey of different Christian stances in relation to war, John Howard Yoder singled out the traditional Seventh-day Adventist position as one of the most fraught: “The obligation is absolute, but it is also arbitrary. One can, like the Seventh Day Adventists [sic], refuse to kill and yet be willing to participate in the military enterprise, since it is only the act of doing the killing oneself which is forbidden.” (Nevertheless: The Varieties and Shortcomings of Religious Pacifism, Second Edition, Herald Press, 1976, page 96). Perhaps this “immature vision”—as Yoder describes it—has laid the groundwork for the growing abandonment of it by Adventist members of the military in some parts of the world.

But would Doss have been more faithful if he’d simply chosen to stay home, safely away from the war, as he had the option to do? Would he have been any less a beneficiary of those who were killing on behalf of his nation? And is this similar to the situation many of us find ourselves in as beneficiaries of the violence committed to ensure our freedom and lifestyles?

These questions are not answered simply. Doss’ story does little to help us with them, except to remind us our highest call is always to faithful service, to “conquer evil by doing good” (Romans 12:20, NLT), whenever and whatever our circumstances. While we might examine the theology of his stance, we cannot question the faithfulness and trust with which he did what he felt he was called to do.

But Hacksaw Ridge’s graphic depiction of the horrors and futility of war should also remind us of the Bible’s call to faithful peacemaking in the larger and the smaller contexts of our lives. When it comes to war and peace, the Bible offers stark alternatives: “Those who use the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52, NLT); or “those who work for peace . . . will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9, NLT), although this is certainly not a formula for everything to go smoothly, easily or safely.

Hacksaw Ridge should prompt us to ask whether it is more conscientious to be an “objector” than a “cooperator” with the tragic business of war. In a violent and conflicted world, we must continue to applaud faithfulness and service. But we must also find ways to champion faithful, courageous and creative peacemaking wherever it can be found and fostered.

 

Adventist History Podcast: Civil War, Part 1

in

Matthew Lucio, host of the Adventist History Podcast, recently posted an episode on the American Civil War (episode link, Facebook link).

Episode 19: The War Between the States

In this episode, we learn about how the new Seventh-day Adventist Church coped with the American Civil War.

An important part of the early story was an editorial James White wrote about the draft. I was glad to hear Lucio cover this aspect of the church’s struggle. One meaningful reaction against White’s argument — which was to follow the state’s orders because the moral blame lies on the government that commanded it — was someone who pointed out this was the exact logic the church was arguing against in the context of Sunday laws. Clearly, there were good reasons to oppose James’ early views on the topic.

The amount of debate demonstrates that there were mixed views in the early group about how Adventists should respond to war and the draft. However, the denomination’s official stance became clear:

May 17, 1865… While we thus cheerfully render to Caesar the things which the Scriptures show to be his, we are compelled to decline all participation in acts of war and bloodshed as being inconsistent with the duties enjoined upon us by our divine Master toward our enemies and toward all mankind.

(GC declaration quoted from Douglas Morgan, “The Beginnings of a Peace Church: Eschatology, Ethics, and Expedience in Seventh‐day Adventist Responses to the Civil War,”Andrews University Seminary Studies 45, no. 1 [Spring 2007]: 36.)

That this pronouncement was prescriptive and not entirely descriptive is most certainly true.

For more on Adventists and the Civil War, see these resources.