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The Early Church on Killing: A Comprehensive Sourcebook on War, Abortion, and Capital Punishment
What did the early church believe about killing? What was its view on abortion? How did it approach capital punishment and war? Noted theologian and bestselling author Ron Sider lets the testimony of the early church speak in the first of a three-volume series on biblical peacemaking.
This book provides in English translation all extant data directly relevant to the witness of the early church until Constantine on killing. Primarily, it draws data from early church writings, but other evidence, such as archaeological finds and Roman writings, is included.
Sider taps into current evangelical interest in how the early church informs contemporary life while presenting a thorough, comprehensive treatment on topics of perennial concern. The book includes brief introductions to every Christian writer cited and explanatory notes on many specific texts.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2012
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About the author
Ronald J. Sider
81 books63 followersRonald J. Sider (PhD, Yale University) is the founder and president emeritus of Evangelicals for Social Action and distinguished professor of theology, holistic ministry, and public policy at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books, including The Early Church on Killing, the bestselling Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 22, 2023
Rigorous examination of the evidence from writings of the early church on this important subject. Honest and balanced. These are controversial topics, but the evidence from early, influential writers such as Tertullian, Celsus and Lactantius are cited and effectively set against those of opposing opinions to give the view of the early church on killing during the period leading up to and during the Roman Emperor Constantine who introduced religious freedom for the first time. One striking finding is that "up until the time of Constantine, there is not a single Christian writer known to us who says that it is legitimate for Christians to kill or join the military" (with reference). "second, there is a substantial number of passages written over a period of many years that explicitly say that Christians must not and/or do not kill or join the military. Nine different Christian writers in sixteen different treatises clearly explicitly say thar killing is wrong. Four writers in five treatises clearly agree thar Christians do not and should not join the military...". Reference is made to the "Apostolic Tradition": "The historian, of course, would welcome much more data than we have on the official teaching of the church. It would be exceedingly helpful if we could be reasonably certain how widely accepted was the teaching of the late second and early third-century church order known as the Apostolic Tradition, which rejects killing and Christian enlistment in the army. We lack the necessary evidence to know with certainty if this work represents the official teaching of the early churches, or merely reflects the personal views of a few authors.". Nonetheless. seen as a whole, this book seems to represent a view of abhorrence of killing of any kind (whether in the military, by abortion or capital punishment) that was consensual among the early church, but post-Constantine came to be rejected as the church became "nationalised" under the Emperor Constantine.
April 21, 2014
This is a great little sourcebook documenting what early Christians said about killing. It is comprehensive, covering all known writings that touch on these issues from the end of the New Testament to the time of Constantine. This was a time when the church as a whole was against killing in all forms, from abortion to capital punishment to the battlefield. Christians were pacifists, with very few exceptions. This changed with the conversion of Emperor Constantine and soon Christians were filling the army. There is much value in sources like this to point us to what Christian thinkers said on such issues prior to the 1500 year onset of Christendom. Despite what the title says, there is very little here on abortion as most deals with war or killing in the abstract. I suspect abortion would benefit from modern science more than the other topics. Capital punishment and war are about killing adults and an adult is an adult, whether in 200 AD or 2000 AD. But with science shedding so much light on what goes on in the womb, many questions are left unanswered. How early did the ancients know a person was pregnant? Were all abortions in the ancient world late-term? Does that even make a difference. Such questions are outside the purview of this book, but the reader should know not to expect too much here on abortion that would lend itself to present-day debates. The works on war and capital punishment can play into to present-day debates more clearly.
September 23, 2024
This book is a definitive resource for studying what the early church thought about these issues. The vast majority of the book is a collection of every possible relevant statement made by the early church on these subjects. They are all introduced briefly with biographical information about the author or works. Part of the beauty of the quotations is that they are not brief. He gives you the entire quote with all of the surrounding context. There is not an attempt to manipulate the data or present it only in the best light.
The author is a pacifist and makes his own position known. However, it is intellectually honest and charitable throughout. He makes his own summary argument at the end of the book, which is worth reading. I appreciated his perspective as an aspiring pacifist myself, but I think those who might disagree on war will still find much to appreciate.
What surprised me the most about the book is how uniform the church was in rejecting abortion and capital punishment. The idea of Christians serving in the military is a little more mixed, especially after Constantine. I was especially pleased to see how clearly the fathers believed life began at conception.
If you want to study what the early church thought on these issues yourself, then this is the place to start. It is not a book that will do the work for you. You will have to read and wrestle all of these relevant passages on your own. It will give you more than enough information to draw your own conclusion on what they believe.
The author is a pacifist and makes his own position known. However, it is intellectually honest and charitable throughout. He makes his own summary argument at the end of the book, which is worth reading. I appreciated his perspective as an aspiring pacifist myself, but I think those who might disagree on war will still find much to appreciate.
What surprised me the most about the book is how uniform the church was in rejecting abortion and capital punishment. The idea of Christians serving in the military is a little more mixed, especially after Constantine. I was especially pleased to see how clearly the fathers believed life began at conception.
If you want to study what the early church thought on these issues yourself, then this is the place to start. It is not a book that will do the work for you. You will have to read and wrestle all of these relevant passages on your own. It will give you more than enough information to draw your own conclusion on what they believe.
September 10, 2019
This was a much more engaging book than expected, given that it is a source book for original writings on the subject. The arguments from early Christians are extremely clear against abortion, infanticide, or capital punishment. While the author seems to believe that the arguments are equally as strong regarding Christians in the military, I am not convinced – even as I would share much of the authors Anabaptist/Mennonite view. This is an excellent resource to fit with my Christian history library.
October 5, 2023
SUMMARY: The Early Church on Killing is a comprehensive collection of writing from early church fathers on killing, abortion, and war that is suited for those doing an academic paper or have a keen interest in reading the original writings of the early church fathers. With the proper expectations this book is extremely useful, but it is not for the average reader. Although there are gems of wisdome to be unearthed reading the original text can be tedious.
While this book serves as a reference for many books on the consistent life ethic (CLE), we do not recommend it as a starting point for learning about the CLE or about the ancient church's views on killing.
To learn about the CLE, we recommend Rehumanize by Aimee Murphy and for the early church's view on killing we recommend Consistently Pro-Life by Rob Arner.
KEY QUOTE: "Killing was widespread and acceptable in the world where the early Christians lived. Roman culture of course accepted and glorified killing by the Roman army. Capital punishment via the sword and crucifixion was also the norm. In addition, Greco-Roman culture in the first three centuries justified and accepted widespread abortion, infanticide, and suicide. And one of the most popular “sports” events of the time was the gladiatorial contests, where trained gladiators fought to the death, cheered on by thousands of spectators. That was the context in which the early Christians developed their own witness on killing."
MORE: Visit SundaytoSaturday.com where we curate topics for a disillusioned church.
While this book serves as a reference for many books on the consistent life ethic (CLE), we do not recommend it as a starting point for learning about the CLE or about the ancient church's views on killing.
To learn about the CLE, we recommend Rehumanize by Aimee Murphy and for the early church's view on killing we recommend Consistently Pro-Life by Rob Arner.
KEY QUOTE: "Killing was widespread and acceptable in the world where the early Christians lived. Roman culture of course accepted and glorified killing by the Roman army. Capital punishment via the sword and crucifixion was also the norm. In addition, Greco-Roman culture in the first three centuries justified and accepted widespread abortion, infanticide, and suicide. And one of the most popular “sports” events of the time was the gladiatorial contests, where trained gladiators fought to the death, cheered on by thousands of spectators. That was the context in which the early Christians developed their own witness on killing."
MORE: Visit SundaytoSaturday.com where we curate topics for a disillusioned church.
April 10, 2019
Sider pretty much destroys the last four decades of prevarication on the "true" teachings of the Early Church on war.
August 31, 2015
This book was pretty much what it set out to be: a definitive collection of all the quotes we have from the Early Church Fathers on abortion, war, and capital punishment. The quotes on abortion were the most interesting, as I appreciated seeing how our forefathers handled this issue; unfortunately, they were also the least discussed, but whenever the issue was mentioned, the ancients' thoughts were often appreciated.
Another thing I really appreciated about this book was Sider's honesty at the beginning of the book about his own theological position that he was coming to the book with (pacifism), even though he attempted to be as neutral as possible with his commentary on the soures that he had compiled. While I thought at times he stretched the authors' intent to prove his point, his commitment to openness about his own potential biases, I think, laudable.
In the end, the primary documents make it pretty clear that the early church fathers were nearly-consistent on their view that all forms of killing were wrong, even in times of war or as capital punishment. I wasn't convinced by Sider that all of them believed this. But it seemed to be the consensus. This book was a fascinating look at the early church on this topic. The topic perhaps won't interest most readers. But for those that it does, this is definitely a worthy book to read.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
Another thing I really appreciated about this book was Sider's honesty at the beginning of the book about his own theological position that he was coming to the book with (pacifism), even though he attempted to be as neutral as possible with his commentary on the soures that he had compiled. While I thought at times he stretched the authors' intent to prove his point, his commitment to openness about his own potential biases, I think, laudable.
In the end, the primary documents make it pretty clear that the early church fathers were nearly-consistent on their view that all forms of killing were wrong, even in times of war or as capital punishment. I wasn't convinced by Sider that all of them believed this. But it seemed to be the consensus. This book was a fascinating look at the early church on this topic. The topic perhaps won't interest most readers. But for those that it does, this is definitely a worthy book to read.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews