U.S. scholar: Christians must not respond to violence with violence

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U.S. scholar: Christians must not respond to violence with violence

By Gavin Abraham
Catholic News Service

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNS) -- Christians must resist the temptation to respond to violence with violence, said a U.S. biblical scholar.

Dominican Sister Barbara Reid is a New Testament professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She gave a series of talks in New Zealand and Australia in June that included the annual Pompallier Lecture sponsored by the Catholic Institute of Theology in Auckland.

Sister Barbara said she tries to examine topics that affect people in their everyday lives. And although the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were not the catalyst for her focus on violence and responses to violence, that day and the years since helped provide context for her message.

"As a biblical scholar, I look at how people of faith can be a force to counter the violence that has become so rampant in our world," Sister Barbara said.

Some people interpret the Bible in a way that appears to support and "unwittingly feeds into" the cycle of violence, she said.

"I cannot find in the Gospels any justification for returning violence for violence," she said. "There is nothing in the Gospels that gives us a warrant for violence."

Part of the problem, Sister Barbara explained, is an apparent laziness on the part of people in power.

"Violence is not the way to end violence, but most people don't put the energy into finding other ways of resolving conflict," she said. "The majority of Christians haven't learned the skills of nonviolent resolution. We haven't learned from Jesus' example, so our responses are imperfect."

The Sermon on the Mount provides the example of a "loving God, a God who is gracious to all peoples without limit -- a God that does not return violence, refuses to return hatred and preaches love of haters and persecutors," Sister Barbara said.

"There is a tension between the God in the Sermon on the Mount and what is portrayed in the parables, but it's not a changed God," she said. "The violence in some of the parables is metaphorical and is dealing with end-time scenarios."

A thrust of Sister Barbara's research is how some interpretations of the cross can foster violence. Even some spiritual advisers fail to understand Jesus' message, she said.

"I have heard stories of women who are being abused by their husbands being told by priests or religious that is the cross they are called to carry with Jesus. I am trying to show people that is not what Jesus meant when he said 'Take up your cross and follow me.'

"He was talking about his disciples being willing to accept the negative consequences of being disciples," she explained.

"There is no room for Christians to return violence, and I am urging Christians to take that to heart," Sister Barbara said.

She added that in a peaceful country like New Zealand her message is more readily accepted than in her homeland.

"The message in the Gospel isn't any different in New Zealand than it is in the United States, but the context is different. While I'm here I can reinforce that the country is doing the right thing by not responding with violence," she said.

In the United States, she said, she is often confronted by people who support the war in Iraq and subscribe to the just-war theory. She said that especially during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican has been narrowing the conditions for the just-war theory. The Vatican has particularly added the requirement that all peaceful means of resolving a conflict be exhausted first and that the support of the United Nations is necessary for claiming a war was invoked by a legitimate authority.

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