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Christian Non-Resistance
Book by Ballou
- GenresSocial Justice
113 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 19, 2012
Leo Tolstoy considered Adin Ballou Americas greatest writer. At his own expense he had this book translated into Russian and published in his own country. He uses Adins work as a starting point for his own non-fiction magnum opus The Kingdom of God is Within You.
It is the simplest and most strait forward defense of pacifism based on Christian principles I have so far read. Unlike Tolstoy’s work it treats those who would object to pacifism with respect, and it attempts to answer every possible objection they might raise to the principles of non-resistance calmly and reasonably.
Ballou influenced Tolstoy. Tolstoy influenced Gandhi. Gandhi influenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Adin writes in his introduction that this is a book not for his times, but to to serve as a guide for future generations. He could not have been more right.
It is the simplest and most strait forward defense of pacifism based on Christian principles I have so far read. Unlike Tolstoy’s work it treats those who would object to pacifism with respect, and it attempts to answer every possible objection they might raise to the principles of non-resistance calmly and reasonably.
Ballou influenced Tolstoy. Tolstoy influenced Gandhi. Gandhi influenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Adin writes in his introduction that this is a book not for his times, but to to serve as a guide for future generations. He could not have been more right.
September 5, 2021
This book is amazing. I read through it every year. It touches on most of the aspects I think are important to nonviolence as a Christian, and does a particularly good job on showing the priority of the NT over the OT. I don't think there is a better, succinct, yet deep defense of Christian nonviolence out there - and Ballou even spends the last chapter talking about government, since he's said all he needs to say about nonviolence in the previous chapters. It's a great stepping stone to Christian anarchism. Ballou shows that if you're nonviolent, it's going to be impossible for you to participate in the state.
January 17, 2026
I found this book by doing a mistaken search for a book by Adin Ballou's *cousin* Hosea Ballou. I had read that Adin had written a book on Christian Socialism, and this was the book I was looking for. But in searching for books by Hosea, I discovered this one. It is short enough, I thought, and I felt it was interesting enough historically to be worth a read. And indeed it was!
Much of the book was devoted to success stories of Christian non-resistance, which tended to leave me cold. For each such story, surely one could find a dozen stories where Christian non-resistance was a spectacular failure. Nonetheless, some of these stories were interesting.
Certainly the most interesting parts of the book had to do with H. Ballou's conception of how a Christian should relate to government. Sadly the edition of this book that I read omitted parts that would have interested me. The editors said, "The passages omitted are in relation to the bearing of the question on Human Governments; and, having more especial reference to the Constitution and circumstances of the United States, do not appear to be of general application." Perhaps it is the present (2025) circumstances that make the relationship between Christians (and others) to the United States to be of special interest to me, as people discuss what their reactions should be to the actions of the Trump administration, especially ICE.
After asserting that Jesus's command to non-resistance comes from the injunction, "resist not evil," Matt. v. 39, Ballou draws seven corollaries to this, of which I found the following the most interesting:
4- He cannot be an officer or private chaplain or retainer, in the army, navy, or militia of any nation, state, or chieftain.
5- He cannot be an officer, elector, agent, legal prosecutor, passive constituent, or approver of any government, as a sworn or otherwise pledged supporter thereof whose civil constitution and mndamental laws require, authorize, or tolerate war, slavery, capital punishment or the infliction of any absolute personal injury.
6- He cannot be a member of any chartered corporation, or body politic, whose articles of compact oblige or authorize its official functionaries to resort for compulsory aid, in the conducting of its affairs, to a government of constitutional violence.
What of Paul's injunction in Romans 13 to be subject to the governing authorities? Ballou has an interesting theory concerning this. He makes a distinction between government per se, government de jure, and government de facto. Government per se refers to the fact that God is the supreme power. Government de jure occurs when human government actually governs the way God intends for it to. Government de facto is human government as it actually exists. Concerning government de facto, Ballou says, "And on this very account it requires the disciples of Christ to keep themselves disentangled from all such human governments as are fundamentally repugnant to the divine government, — all such as are not dejure, according to the law of God declared by Jesus Christ," and "they are to be true to the kingdom of God, faithful in their allegiance to the great law of Christ, never departing from it for the sake of assuming the reins of any human govemment, or obtaining its honours, emoluments, advantages, approbation, or protection," and "If they [Christians] lower themselves down, by renouncing or compromising their principles, for the sake of participating in any fundamentally anti-Christian government, hoping thereby to elevate the moral tone of such government, they will infallibly be disappointed. They will sink themselves, and with them the government will sink still lower than before. They must everlastingly insist on the principles and precepts of Jesus Christ ; and whatever will not come to those, leave to its own genius and doom. God will take care of all the rest."
One passage that Ballou quoted that really struck me was Matt. x. 16. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." So the ICE agent who shot Renee Good was a Christian? How is that being harmless as a dove? Of course there are those who say Christian non-resistance is an impractical idea, and that "we must turn back from this vision [of non-resistance], and listen again to the scoffs of scepticism, the growls of frowning bigotry, and the jargon of Babylon the great. We must hear those who make the sword, the gibbet, and the dungeon their gods, denounce the doctrines of mercy, and extol the efficacy of cruelty."
Much of the book was devoted to success stories of Christian non-resistance, which tended to leave me cold. For each such story, surely one could find a dozen stories where Christian non-resistance was a spectacular failure. Nonetheless, some of these stories were interesting.
Certainly the most interesting parts of the book had to do with H. Ballou's conception of how a Christian should relate to government. Sadly the edition of this book that I read omitted parts that would have interested me. The editors said, "The passages omitted are in relation to the bearing of the question on Human Governments; and, having more especial reference to the Constitution and circumstances of the United States, do not appear to be of general application." Perhaps it is the present (2025) circumstances that make the relationship between Christians (and others) to the United States to be of special interest to me, as people discuss what their reactions should be to the actions of the Trump administration, especially ICE.
After asserting that Jesus's command to non-resistance comes from the injunction, "resist not evil," Matt. v. 39, Ballou draws seven corollaries to this, of which I found the following the most interesting:
4- He cannot be an officer or private chaplain or retainer, in the army, navy, or militia of any nation, state, or chieftain.
5- He cannot be an officer, elector, agent, legal prosecutor, passive constituent, or approver of any government, as a sworn or otherwise pledged supporter thereof whose civil constitution and mndamental laws require, authorize, or tolerate war, slavery, capital punishment or the infliction of any absolute personal injury.
6- He cannot be a member of any chartered corporation, or body politic, whose articles of compact oblige or authorize its official functionaries to resort for compulsory aid, in the conducting of its affairs, to a government of constitutional violence.
What of Paul's injunction in Romans 13 to be subject to the governing authorities? Ballou has an interesting theory concerning this. He makes a distinction between government per se, government de jure, and government de facto. Government per se refers to the fact that God is the supreme power. Government de jure occurs when human government actually governs the way God intends for it to. Government de facto is human government as it actually exists. Concerning government de facto, Ballou says, "And on this very account it requires the disciples of Christ to keep themselves disentangled from all such human governments as are fundamentally repugnant to the divine government, — all such as are not dejure, according to the law of God declared by Jesus Christ," and "they are to be true to the kingdom of God, faithful in their allegiance to the great law of Christ, never departing from it for the sake of assuming the reins of any human govemment, or obtaining its honours, emoluments, advantages, approbation, or protection," and "If they [Christians] lower themselves down, by renouncing or compromising their principles, for the sake of participating in any fundamentally anti-Christian government, hoping thereby to elevate the moral tone of such government, they will infallibly be disappointed. They will sink themselves, and with them the government will sink still lower than before. They must everlastingly insist on the principles and precepts of Jesus Christ ; and whatever will not come to those, leave to its own genius and doom. God will take care of all the rest."
One passage that Ballou quoted that really struck me was Matt. x. 16. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." So the ICE agent who shot Renee Good was a Christian? How is that being harmless as a dove? Of course there are those who say Christian non-resistance is an impractical idea, and that "we must turn back from this vision [of non-resistance], and listen again to the scoffs of scepticism, the growls of frowning bigotry, and the jargon of Babylon the great. We must hear those who make the sword, the gibbet, and the dungeon their gods, denounce the doctrines of mercy, and extol the efficacy of cruelty."
September 5, 2018
Ballou, the unitarian, certainly makes Christ to be God in this defense of nonresistance.
October 9, 2013
Such an awesomely detailed book. Mr. Ballou takes us through quite a few of the typical objections to non-resistance and gives amazing responses that do a fantastic job at supporting the stance. I will highly suggest this to anyone looking for more detail to an age old debate.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews