Caesar and the Lamb: Early Christian Attitudes on War and Military Service
Ebook
Overview
Through the available patristic writings Caesar and the Lamb focuses on the attitudes of the earliest Christians on war and military service. Kalantzis not only provides the reader with many new translations of pre-Constantinian texts, he also tells the story of the struggle of the earliest Church, the communities of Christ at the margins of power and society, to bear witness to the nations that enveloped them as they transformed the dominant narratives of citizenship, loyalty, freedom, power, and control. Although Kalantzis examines writings on war and military service in the first three centuries of the Christian Church in an organized manner, the ways earliest Christians thought of themselves and the state are not presented here through the lens of antiquarian curiosity. With theological sensitivity and historical acumen this companion leads the reader into the world in which Christianity arose and asks questions of the past that help us understand the early character of the Christian faith with the hope that such an enterprise will also help us evaluate its expression in our own time.
"Kalantzis's skills as a historian shine in this remarkable,
illuminating history. But his narration is much more than a fine
historical survey; it is also a profound engagement with the
theological and ethical reasons on why this history matters.
Historians, theologians, ethicists, and anyone interested in
discovering the witness of the early church are in his debt for
such careful work. Any future discussion on the early church's
response to war, and the Constantinian shift that occurred, must
now pass through Caesar and the Lamb, or be ignored as
incomplete."
--D. Stephen Long, Professor of Systematic Theology, Marquette
University
"Caesar and the Lamb is a wonderful collection of pertinent
voices from the early church on war and military service that will
be of interest to laity, students, and scholars. But it is also
much more than this. Kalantzis brings new insight to these texts
with his brilliant introduction, placing the conversation in its
proper context of identities, worldviews, and ways of life. The
result is a collection with surprising and refreshing relevance
today."
--Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Professor of Theology and Ethics, Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary
"Caesar and the Lamb offers a valuable deepening of our
understanding, not only of early Christian teachings and practices
related to violence, but also the social-cultural-religious
practices of the Roman Empire and the Roman military. This book
contains both a helpful collection of the primary Christian texts
and a substantial interpretive discussion. A significant addition
to a growing Christian library of resources on this critical
issue."
--David P. Gushee, Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer
University
"In this careful presentation of the evidence for early Christian
attitudes and practices surrounding war and military service,
George Kalantzis questions the notions that objections to military
service were narrowly religious in a modern sense, or that
nonviolence was the minority opinion of the church's intellectual
elite. . . . Kalantzis makes no claims about the relevance of the
ancient Christian understanding for modern believers, but the
challenge to the contemporary church should be obvious."
--L. Edward Phillips, Associate Professor of Worship and Liturgical
Theology, Emory University
Product Details
- Title : Caesar and the Lamb: Early Christian Attitudes on War and Military Service
- Author: Kalantzis, George
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2012
- ISBN: 9781621894483
George Kalantzis is Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College where he also directs The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies. He specializes in fourth- and fifth-century historical theology, and has written extensively on Theodore of Mopsuestia, Cyril, and the Nestorian controversy. His has recently co-edited The Sovereignty of God Debate (Cascade 2009), Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective (2010), and Evangelicals and the Early Church: Recovery, Reform, Renewal (Cascade 2011).