Not in this Lifetime:
A review of Blessed are the Pacifists: The Beatitudes and Just War Theory by Thomas Trzyna. Published by Herald Press, Scottdale, PA,
2006.
One of the major divides within the Christian community has
been around issues of war and peace.
More specifically, Just War and pacifism. The debate has raged for centuries, with neither side scoring a
decisive victory, nor escaping criticism completely unscathed. In his book "Blessed are the Pacifists: The Beatitudes and Just War Theory", Thomas
Trzyna compares and contrasts these two theories and tries to make sense of
just what Jesus wanted us to do in cases of war. The analysis here is not deeply theological or academic, save
some references to a few philosophers and theologians of past centuries. Many of the conclusions for the book come
from Trzyna's own honest and no nonsense examination of what it means to be
Christian and live how Jesus taught us to live.
One overarching theme jumps out at you as you read. Trzyna argues that pacifism and Just War
theory operate in different temporal planes.
Just War theory, and war in general, seeks immediate results. Pacifism is a more long-term approach that addresses
the root causes of conflict. Indeed
those who remain pacifist to achieve their goals may seem to have failed in the
short term, perhaps never seeing "success" in their own lifetime. But when measured across the broad swath of
history, success becomes more apparent.
Over that same time, war's folly becomes starkly real.
Trzyna's examination
is not completely flawless, however. He
argues that living out the beatitudes and following pacifism means that
civilization is not worth saving.
Indeed it is precisely because Jesus calls us to act as agents of
reconciliation in the world that we engage civilization using his model
(pacifism) as our guide. Civilization
in all its human forms may fall short of the ideal. But in as much as humans are created in the image of God,
civilization or other human creations are at least to some extent using what
God has given us (intellect, creativity, kindness, patience) to live in
communities. Pacifism does not reject
civilization. It actually values
civilization highly. But a pacifist
will not kill for civilization, even if they might die trying to save it.
Ultimately, Trzyna comes to the conclusion that to truly
follow Christ, to be Christian, means to be pacifist. This means understanding one's role in the broad scope of history
and emptying oneself so that one may learn what God would have us do. This is the strongest point of Trzyna's
book. We are on a journey, responding
as best we can to situations that arise around us. Being faithful is difficult, and success is fleeting as many in
this world define it. But we take
solace in the fact that we are a part of the forward march of time. A march that will lead eventually to that
perfect peace.
