Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'

Widely showered with superlatives when it was first published in 1996, and now commonly regarded as a masterpiece, Richard Hay's <em>The Moral Vision of the New Testament</em> (1996) constructs a pacifist reading of the New Testament. To date, Hay's reading has provoked no syst...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Biggar, N
Other Authors: Society for the Study of Christian Ethics
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2009
Subjects:
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author Biggar, N
author2 Society for the Study of Christian Ethics
author_facet Society for the Study of Christian Ethics
Biggar, N
author_sort Biggar, N
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description Widely showered with superlatives when it was first published in 1996, and now commonly regarded as a masterpiece, Richard Hay's <em>The Moral Vision of the New Testament</em> (1996) constructs a pacifist reading of the New Testament. To date, Hay's reading has provoked no systematic refutation from proponents of the doctrine of just war. This essay hopes to offer such a refutation. Its argument has three main planks. First, that Hay's reading of the New Testament stories about god-fearing soldiers, who persist in their profession, is not compelling; second, that he fails to specify sufficiently the meaning of Jesus' teaching and conduct in terms of Jesus' own context (particularly the option of armed violence in the service of religiously inspired nationalism); and third, that Hay's normative moral concepts are often too crude, suffering from a failure to employ valid moral distinctions. The essay concludes by arguing that the doctrine of just war is better able than pacifism to make adequate sense of all the relevant New Testament data.
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spelling oxford-uuid:d463e306-78ca-45ff-aafe-266c9b3befb12022-03-27T08:18:06ZSpecify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d463e306-78ca-45ff-aafe-266c9b3befb1Theology and ReligionEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetSAGE Publications2009Biggar, NSociety for the Study of Christian EthicsWidely showered with superlatives when it was first published in 1996, and now commonly regarded as a masterpiece, Richard Hay's <em>The Moral Vision of the New Testament</em> (1996) constructs a pacifist reading of the New Testament. To date, Hay's reading has provoked no systematic refutation from proponents of the doctrine of just war. This essay hopes to offer such a refutation. Its argument has three main planks. First, that Hay's reading of the New Testament stories about god-fearing soldiers, who persist in their profession, is not compelling; second, that he fails to specify sufficiently the meaning of Jesus' teaching and conduct in terms of Jesus' own context (particularly the option of armed violence in the service of religiously inspired nationalism); and third, that Hay's normative moral concepts are often too crude, suffering from a failure to employ valid moral distinctions. The essay concludes by arguing that the doctrine of just war is better able than pacifism to make adequate sense of all the relevant New Testament data.
spellingShingle Theology and Religion
Biggar, N
Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title_full Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title_fullStr Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title_full_unstemmed Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title_short Specify and distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on 'non-violence'
title_sort specify and distinguish interpreting the new testament on non violence
topic Theology and Religion
work_keys_str_mv AT biggarn specifyanddistinguishinterpretingthenewtestamentonnonviolence