WN: There are several short papers (hundreds) that I wrote in this or that context in the past. This is one such.
An excerpt:
One frequent argument from the non-pacifist historians went: If the early church was pacifist, how is it that by the era of Constantine (fourth century) it jettisoned that position effortlessly, with no record of a major theological controversy or a Church Council around/declaring such a dramatic reversal? I did not know then what I know now through my work with the Mennonite Central Committee Canada: the Mennonites of the Fraser Valley. They too have largely jettisoned their pacifism, and for similar reasons to Christians of the fourth century. In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine offered the Church a «Judas kiss» of legitimacy and power. There has been in the church ever since an inverse relationship between wealth and power and taking Jesus seriously.
Please click on: Peace and the Church
