Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Plough Quarterly • Spring 2016 45 the sword, or who is a civil magistrate wearing the purple either let him cease or be cast out [as a baptismal candidate]. If a [baptismal] candidate or a believer wishes to become a soldier, let them be cast out, for they have despised God. 20 I must emphasize: this church order never applied to the whole church. All the same, it shows that Jesus’ rejection of violence had not completely disappeared from Christians’ consciousness, including in regard to military service. Although the Apostolic Tradition takes the existence of Christian soldiers as a given, it still insists that one who has become a catechumen (baptismal candidate) may no longer sign up as a soldier. Love of Neighbor The topic of love for neighbor is widely misunderstood. Nowadays we’re constantly being told, “You can only love others if you first love yourself.” This mantra isn’t just repeated by psychologists and psychotherapists; it’s also become the domi- nant theme of twenty-first century devotional literature. And it is not completely wrong. Yet the commandment to love others “as you love yourself” cannot be trotted out as a reason to embrace self-love and self- acceptance. Love of neighbor in the Bible is never based on self-acceptance. The Bible does not speak a word about self-acceptance; it speaks of repentance. It also doesn’t speak a word about reconciling with oneself, but rather of reconciling with God and with one’s neighbor. In the Bible, the command “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” does not refer to the individual “I” in the modern sense. Rather, the “I” here means one’s family. This observation is illustrated beautifully in the account of the calling of Abraham. God says to Abraham: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Gen 12:2). 12 Athenagoras, Legatio 11, trans. George Kalantzis. 13 Sources: A. v. Harnack, Militia Christi (Tübingen, 1905; Darmstadt, 1963); H. v. Campenhausen, “Der Kriegs­ dienst der Christen in der Kirche des Altertums,” Universitas 12 (1957), 1147–1156; H. Karpp, “Die Stellung der Alten Kirche zu Kriegsdienst und Krieg,” Evangelische Theologie 17 (1957), 496–515. Especially: H. C. Brennecke, “‘An fidelis ad militiam converti possit?’: Frühchristliches Bekenntnis und Militärdienst im Widerspruch?”, Die Weltlichkeit des Glaubens in der Alten Kirche, ed. D. Wyrwa (De Gruyter, 1997), 45–100. 14 Tertullian, De corona 1 (solus fortis inter tot fratres commilitones), 42–43; Tertullian, Apology 5,6; 37,4; 42,3; Euse- bius, Church History VI 41:22–23; VII 11:20; VII 15–16; VIII 1:7. 15 Campenhausen, “Kriegsdienst,” 1148: “Not one single church father expressed doubts that in the world as it is, wars must be fought, and they therefore found no reason to single out the military profession for condemnation.” 16 Apart from Origen, see Tertullian, De corona und De idololatria 19; see also Lactantius, Institutiones divinae VI 20,15–17. Thus the discussion of whether a Christian may be a soldier first starts in the third century. 17 Origen, Contra Celsum VIII 68.73.75. 18 By contrast, the canons of Elvira are silent on the question of military service by Christians, although they address in detail questions of Christian life amid pagan society. See Brennecke, “Frühchristliches Bekenntnis,” 93. 19 In the Roman empire, civil and military authority were not separated. The term militia can mean either. Miles normally refers to a soldier, but can also refer to an armed imperial official. 20 Hippolytus, On the Apostolic Tradition, trans. Alistair Stewart-Sykes. The Bible does not speak a word about self- acceptance; it speaks of repentance.