Christian Ethics

Christmas alone is perfectly congruous, for Christmas brings to the surface those imperishable values for which men in all this struggle of power are really groping. It focuses men’s thoughts, at least for the moment, upon the secret of ultimate power.

Pure partisanship—or political sectarianism—consists of commitment to an uncontested view of reality and fidelity to one’s ideological compatriots over the whole of one’s polity. Christian realists should not be such partisans.

The November 27 killing of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a roadside ambush near Absard, Iran, has engendered conversation about the morality, legality, and prudence of assassination.

Reinhold Niebuhr in 1945: “For only a full understanding of the practically insuperable difficulties which confront us can arm us with the humility and the courage to seek for a solution of this problem radical enough to prevent the annihilation of civilization.”

Atomic power is here to stay for the remainder of human history. Unless man can control himself as well as atomic power according to the moral law, both will no doubt terminate within a comparatively few years.

John C. Bennett, who co-founded “Christianity and Crisis” with Reinhold Niebuhr, said that “Christians cannot identify the Kingdom of God, or their cause, in an absolute way with any human program.” So what should their cause be? He elaborated 75 years ago.

There is no more dismal aspect of human history than the behavior of victors. However just their cause, they never fail to cast doubt upon its righteousness by the manner in which they exploit their victory.

In this volume, Nathan Scot Hosler looks to Stanley Hauerwas, one of the most outspoken pacifist theologians of our time, as inspiration for contemporary “peacemaking” and “peacebuilding” efforts.

Today would be the 300th birthday of colonial pastor Jonathan Mayhew—a pastor, citizen, and prophet who articulated a rationale for self-defense by British citizens in North America.