Returning to nonresistance

Abstract

I will not provide an historical description of the shape of nonresistance but will rather describe what I see as its inner spiritual and dogmatic logic. It had its nuances and internal disagreements among adherents, but the basic form I want to hold up here can be stated quite simply as the refusal of the church to kill, with the recognition that God has given the sword to the state to punish evil and maintain order. Or, in short, as imitators of Christ, we won’t kill, but at times the state probably should.