The Christian and War
| Published date | 01 October 1962 |
| Date | 01 October 1962 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786200200603 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
378
THE
CHRISTIAN
AND
WAR
G.
I. A. D.
DRAPER
War,
considered
as
an
activity
of
men
in
society,
is
not
only
older
in
time
than
the
Christian
Church
but
is
also
more
universal
in
its
practice.
By
the
time
of
the
birth
of
Christ
the
world
was
well
versed
in
the
arts
of
war
and
in
the
painful
experience
of
its
manifest
and
variable
cruelties.
Man
had
gloried
in
this
activity.
The
temples
of
Pharonic
Egypt
are
covered
with
boastful
and
de-
tailed
accounts
of
the
wars
and
campaigns
of
the
Pharohs
against
the
enemies
of
the
Kingdoms
of
Upper
and
Lower
Egypt.
Likewise,
the
carvings
show
in
graphic
manner
the
cruelties
suffered
by
the
prisoners
and
defeated
enemies
of
the
Pharohs.
In
the
temple
of
Medinet
Habu,
Rameses
III
is
depicted,
many
sizes
larger
than
his
enemies,
with
his
foot
upon
a
squirming
heap
of
the
defeated.
The
inscription
relates
to
the
great
sea
battle of
about
1190
B.C.
Therein
Rameses
III
compares
’himseif
to
Mont,
the
god
of
war.
It
reads
in
part:
-
&dquo;As
for
those
who
have
reached
my
boundary,
their
seed
is
not.
Their
hearts
and
their
souls
are
finished
unto
all
eternity.
Those
who
came
forward
together
upon
the
sea.
the
full
flame
was
in
front
of
them
at
the
rivermouths,
and
a
stockade
of
lances
surrounded
them
on
the
shore ...
a
net
was
prepared
for. them
to
ensnare
them,
those
who
entered
into
the
rivermouths
being
confined
and
fallen
within
it,
pinioned
in
their
places,
butchered
and
their
corpses
hacked
up.&dquo;
This
is
not
untypical
of
the
vaunting
style
of
the
inscriptions
of
the
XXth
dynasty
and
is
in
the
Pharonic
tradition,
delighting
in
war
and
relating
with
vainglorious
pride
the
fate
of
their
defeated
enemies.
It
is
not
difficult
to
see
where
the
descriptions
of
battles
in
the
Old
Testa-
ment
find
their
o.rigin
and
inspiration.
Some
of
the
specifically
Egyptian
practices
in
the
treatment
of
their
enemies
are
accurately
reflected
in
the
Old
Testament.
The
counting
of
the
dead
of
the
uncircumcised
enemy
by
cutting
off
their
foreskins
and
piling
them
up
before
the
victorious
Pharoh
seems
to
’have
been
carried
out
by
David
w’hen
’he
wished
to
impress
his
future
father-in-law.
It
may
be
important
to
bear
in
mind
that
Christ,
a
profound
Scholar
of
the
Old
Testament,
would
have
been
aware
of
the
history
of
His
own
people
and
of
their
conduct
in
warfare,
as
related
in
the
books
of
the
Old
Testament.
The
immediate
background
of the
civilisation
into
which
Christ
was
born
was
Jewish,
Hellenic
and
Roman.
On
balance,
the
practices
of
the
Greeks
in
warfare
and
their
attitude
to
war
was
considerably
more
civilised
than
that
of
the
Jews.
I:
cannot
be
said
that
monotheism,
or
the
doctrine
of
the
Messiah
or
the
sense
of
the
divine
mission
of
a people
chosen
by
God,
restrairned
the
Jewish
people
in
their
resort
to
war
or
in
379
their
conduct
of
warfare.
Jn
some
ways
the
fact
that
they
were
surrounded
by
polytheistic
peoples
made
their
conduct
worse.
The
Greeks,
who
may
be
called
the
architects
of
civilised
thought
and
living,
were
highly
conscious
of
their
common
ethnic
stock.
War
between
Greeks
was
considered
a
barbarious
proceeding.
In-
deed,
Greek
thinkers
considered
that
war
should
be
limited
to
conflicts
with
barbarians.
War
among
Greeks
was
seen
by
Socrates
as
nothing
but
&dquo;disease
and
discord&dquo;.
If
that
event
unfortunately
happened
then
it
should
be
conducted
with
restraint.
Certain places,
such
as
the
temple
of
Apollo
at
Delphi
were
inviolable
and
were
treated
as
sanctuaries
in
time
of
war.
It
is
one
of
the
tragedies
of
history
that
at
a
later
stage
the
Greeks
conducted
their
wars
with
outstanding
brutality.
In
the
Greek
Eastern
Empire
of
the
Middle
Ages
it
was
normal
custom
to
blind
prisoners
of
War.
This
was
a
practice
resorted
to
after
centuries
of
the
Christian
tradi~tion
and
teaching.
The
Romans
can
claim
the
credit
of
having
introduced
the
most
important
religious
and
legal
concept
of
war
in
the
history
of
human
thought.
To
them
we
owe
the
idea of
the
&dquo;just
and
pious
war&dquo;
which
has
for
centuries
characterised
and
influenced
Western
Christendom’s
thinking
and
practice
in
relation
to
war.
Originally
it
was
the
function
of
a
special
college
of
priests
in
pagan
Rome
to
carry
out
the
somewhat
elaborate
law
and
pro-
cedure,
the
jus
fetiale,
connected
with
the
declaring
of
war
and
peace
between
the
Roman
people
and
their
enemies.
These
priests
had
to
determine
whether
the
duties
owed
to
Rome
by
her
neighbours
had
been
violated,
that
is,
whether
or
not
Rome
had
been
wronged.
If
they
came
to
a
positive
conclusion
satisfaction
was
demanded
from
the
wrongdoing
community.
This
demand
was
supported
by
an
oath
of
the
priests,
a
very
solemn
affair,
formally
committing
the
Roman
gods
to
the
justness
of the
Roman
cause
of
complaint.
Conversely,
and
equally
serious,
the
execration
of
the
Roman
gods
was
invoked,
should
it
transpire
that
the
cause
of the
Roman
people
was
unjust.
It
can
thus
be
seen
how
the
intimate
relation
between
the
&dquo;just&dquo;
and
the
&dquo;pious&dquo;
became
established
under
this
practice.
The
offending
state
or
city
was
given
a
period,
if
it
so
demanded,
within
which
to
consider
the
demand
for
satisfaction.
This
period
was
normally
33
days.
If
by
the
end
of
that
period
satisfaction
had
not
been
made
the
priests
reported
back
to
the
Roman
Senate
and
people
whose
function
it
was
to
make
the
formal
decision,
war
or
peace.
War
declared
in
such
circumstances
was
considered
&dquo;just
and
pious&dquo;.
Bearing
in
mind
that
the
wrath
of
the
gods
had
been
invoked
by
solemn
oath
if
the
Roman
cause
should
prove
to
be
unjust,
a
defeat
would
be
considered
as
the
clear
answer
of
the
gods.
In-
d~eed,
the
Romans
regarded
all
the
ensuing
miseries
as
the
proper
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