Grill a Christian

The Cross and the Sword

Can violence ever be done in God’s name and still be righteous? From the Crusades, especially the first, where motives were arguably clearer, to biblical conquest in Canaan, Conquistadors in the Americas, resistance to tyrants like Bonhoeffer’s stand against Hitler, and revolutions where Christians took up arms (the English Civil War, the American Revolution, even the Taiping Rebellion in China), where, if anywhere, does faith justify force? Should “holy violence” be limited to the state, or can individuals act for God’s cause? Do war, conquest, or overthrowing governments ever prepare the way for the gospel, or do they ultimately betray it?