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I’m currently reading Jesus: First-Century Rabbi, written by Rabbi David Zaslow, with Joseph A. Lieberman

“Appendix B Comparison of the Speeches of Pope Urban II 1095) and Usamah Bin Ladin (1998)” (Christian Jihad, pp. 228-232) @Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear I’m not going to quote the comparisons. I’ll simply say here that the authors nailed it. Look at the comparison yourself sometime...

“Still, Augustine’s view of anthropology is clearly evident at this point. In his view, no war can ever be completely justified, since humanity is fallen. Conversely, Augustine believed the death of a pagan can never be fully justified if all of humanity, however fallen, is still in the imago...

“Augustine noted in Contra Faustum that the believer must live within the boundaries of nonretaliation, which demand a passive posture. Enlisted into warfare, the Christian must hasten to seek a non-violent response first, and in last resort, enlist the sword.” (Christian Jihad, p. 225)...

“As Atkinson notes, Augustine and Aquinas’s classic guidelines for just war can be summarized: ... 8. The good consequences to be expected from going to war must outweigh the evil incurred. …” (Christian Jihad, p. 224,225) @Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear They concede that war incurs...

“Before the second Christian millennium began, the Just War criteria had faced the test of Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne and the onset of the perpetual Christian-Muslim conflict. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) revisited the topic of warfare and built upon Augustine’s principles to address his...

“In his allegiance to Cicero, Augustine also agrees ...” (Christian Jihad, p. 221) @Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear I have no allegiance to Cicero. Jesus and the apostles had no allegiance to Cicero. Whether you are aware of it or not, you have allegiance to Cicero. My simple advice...

“In The City of God, Augustine holds that humankind, immersed in sin, is incapable of true peace. Evil is inherent in the thoughts of men and women and must be restrained. Therefore, warfare is not only understandable, it is inevitable.” (Christian Jihad, p. 219) @Wrangler @Armour of God...

“As the church continued to grow in number and influence, the pacifistic response to martyrdom became replaced with the desire to see civil codes enacted to shape social interaction. The key question that led to the formulation of the Just War criteria was: Is it ever justified to defend oneself...

“The Roman philosopher-orator Cicero (106-43 B.C.), whose work was a foundation on which Augustine could build, obviously contributed much to the Christian theologian’s thinking.” (Christian Jihad, p. 218) @Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear The foundation, your foundation, is rooted in...

“Augustine lived in a time of barbarian invasion. In fact, as he lay on his death bed in 430, Vandals were at the gates of Hippo. He concluded that, to be considered just, warfare must have the purpose of vindicating justice. Augustine, though, clearly considers only Christian duties and...

Jesus and the apostles didn’t teach, preach nor model “Just War” theory. “Ambrose, the bishop of Milan during the formative Christian years of Augustine, provided a foundation to a theory that Augustine would later deepen.” (Christian Jihad, p. 217) Ambrose is writing in the 4th century...

“Less than a century before Augustine, the Christian community had risen from the status of the hunted to the status of the protected. There was now the dilemma of reconciling the teachings of Jesus Christ to warfare. Following Constantine‘s authorization of Christianity, it had become the...

I don’t think it’s necessary for me to post this but I will since the authors want to make it clear to their readers - “So that the reader does not assume that this book is yet another in a long line of antiviolence, pacifistic tomes, bent upon calling all men to a polyannic peacefest, the...

“Certainly the Crusade period, and indeed all acts of forced conversion, have done no great service to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. … The authentic Christian cannot defend the Crusades, the Inquisitions, or other horrible movements in Church history. Genuine authenticity demands a...