If Jesus is Lord, by Ronald J. Sider

Ron Sider has been challenging Christians' thinking since at least 1977, when has controversial classic Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger was published.  Here's what I love about Sider: unlike many people who write from the "Christian left," I have no doubt that Sider is writing as an Evangelical, Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christian.  This is why, even though I don't fully embrace his conclusions in If Jesus is Lord: Loving Our Enemies in an Age of Violence, I can thoroughly recommend it for anyone grappling with the question of Christian pacifism.

If you are a follower of Christ, grappling is what you must do with If Jesus is Lord.  As a Christian pacifist, Sider asserts that "it is simply contrary to the facts of history to say that there are only two options: to kill or do nothing in the face of tyranny or brutality."  Giving specific examples from the Sermon on the Mount, Sider shows that "the commanded response is neither violent nor passive.  Jesus calls his disciples not to turn aside passively or hit back but rather to confront the evil nonviolently." 

This third way is the application of Jesus' pacifism.  But the core is more simple: Jesus said "Love your enemies."  Sider points out that loving your enemies while you are trying to kill them is really difficult.  Sider does not see "how it is possible to seek to kill people and at the same time be engaged in inviting them to accept Christ."  In terms of violence, there is little question as to Jesus' perspective.  "Jesus's actions and teaching reject the use of violence.  And he seems to expect his disciples to do the same. . . . The evidence of the New Testament is quite clear.  Jesus called his followers to love their enemies, not kill them." 

I am not prone to violence, and I have never served in the military.  But I have always tended to support the military and police, with the necessary violence that those roles infer, and have always thought that one might, when faced with personal violence, be justified in a violent response.  Sider reviews and debunks Just War theory, and makes a strong case for pacifism based on Jesus' life and teaching.  But as much as he made me think and challenged my previous notions on violence, I don't feel like he adequately answered the questions, What are we to do in the face of a figure like Hitler?  Or, What am I to do in the face of an individual threatening immediate violence to my family?  Never having faced that situation, the third way does elude me. . . .  Nevertheless, I am grateful to Sider's calling me to deeper faith and deeper, more faithful thought about violence.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!