The Church and International Relations
Explorations in the Hardest Tension
Photograph: This statue is of the Dominican preacher Antonio Montesinos, the Spanish Dominican preacher who advocated before Spanish authorities on behalf of the Taino people, on what is now the island of Hispaniola. The statue sits outside of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Photo credit: Caballero1967 | CC4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Introduction
These resources explore moral and ethical challenges in international relations.
Messages and Essays on Christianity and International Relations
Christian Faith, Not Secularism, as the Basis for Transnational Reconciliation
An outline of a presentation with two parts. Part one shows how Christian teaching impacts the political ethics. Part two demonstrates how that played out in actual church history.
Other Resources on Christianity and International Relations
Cambridge Institute on Religion and International Studies (website)
Antonio Montesinos, Are Not the Indians Men (sermon, 1511; excerpted from Las Casas)
Bartolome de las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account (originally published 1552)
William Pierson Merrill, Christian Internationalism. Palala Press | Amazon page, 1915. See also Google book.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics. Amazon book, 1932. See also pdf book. See Robin Lovin, Reinhold Niebuhr and Christian Realism. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, Sep 2007. See also pdf book. See insightful critique of Niebuhr by David Fitch, Shall We Go Be Among The Oppressed? Reflections on James Cone’s, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” (Part 1). Missio Alliance, Apr 10, 2018.
Nicholas Kristof, Following God Abroad. New York Times, May 21, 2002.
Charles Colson, Earning a Second Look: The New Christian Internationalism. Break Point Colson Center, Aug 7, 2002.
David Bentley Hart, Ecumenical Councils of War. Touchstone, Nov 2004. A book review of Alexander F. C. Webster & Darrell Cole, The Virtue of War: Reclaiming the Classic Christian Traditions East and West.
Stanley Harakis, No Just War in the Fathers. Orthodox Peace Fellowship, Aug 2, 2005.
Dan Graves, Andrew: Soldier, Martyr, Hero. Christianity.com, Jun 2007. a story attributed to 302 AD
M. Daniel Carroll R., Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the State. Baker Academic | Amazon page, May 1, 2008.
Frederick M. Shepherd, Christianity and Human Rights: Christians and the Struggle for Global Justice. Lexington Books | Amazon page, 2009. See also (pdf file)
Andrew Wilson, With What Right and What Justice? The Cry for Justice in the New World Was First a Decree of Excommunication. First Things, Nov 2011.
Robert Woodberry, The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy. American Political Science Review, May 2012.
Andrew Preston, Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy. Anchor | Amazon page, Nov 13, 2012.
Mika Luomo-Aho, God and International Relations: Christian Theology and World Politics. Bloomsbury Academic | Amazon page, 2012.
Glenn Greenwald, MLK's Condemnations of US Militarism Are More Relevant Than Ever. The Guardian UK, Jan 21, 2013.
Stanley Goff, Capitalism and Christianity. Chasin’ Jesus blog May 2013.
Scot McKnight, The Early Church and Military Service. Patheos, Jul 8, 2013.
Esther D. Reed, Theology for International Law. T&T Clark | Amazon page, Oct 2013.
Michael B Kelley, This World Map Shows Where Press Freedom Is Strongest And Weakest. Business Insider, Feb 12, 2014.
Monica Toft, Daniel Philpott, Timothy Shah, God's Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics. W.W. Norton & Company | Amazon page, Mar 2014.
Christian Science Monitor Editorial Board, One Moscow Voice for Healing in Ukraine. Christian Science Monitor, May 4, 2014.
Michael Snyder, Why Does Christian Persecution Get Worse in Every Country the U.S. "Liberates". InfoWars, May 19, 2014.
Kristine Lowder, Ted Cruz Walks Out of Christian Dinner: "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you". Buzzpo, Sep 11, 2014.
Wesley Richards and Jonathan Witt, J.R.R. Tolkien's Vision of Just War. Imaginative Conservative, Nov 2014.
Philos Project (website) promoting positive Christian engagement with the Middle East, Interview with Juliana Taimoorazy (Philos Project video, Jan 26, 2015.
Benjamin Corey, When Theology is So Pro-Israel That It Becomes Anti-Christian. Patheos blog, Mar 18, 2015.
Zaid Jilani, Christian Chaplain Fired for Preaching Compassion and Love Over Violence of American Sniper. AlterNet, Mar 2015.
Ryan Reeves, The First Crusades. Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Mar 23, 2015. Important to consider because the Crusades were initially motivated by the desire to protect Christian pilgrim travelers to the holy land.
Russell Moore, Stop Pitting Security and Compassion Against Each Other in the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Washington Post, Nov 19, 2015.
Candida Moss, The Bible Is Crystal Clear About Refugees. Daily Beast, Nov 22, 2015.
Ronald J. Sider, The Early Church on War and Killing. Books & Culture: A Christian Review, Jan/Feb 2016. a very thorough historical analysis for early pacifism
Giles Fraser, Tolstoy’s Christian Anarchism Was a War On Both Church and State. Guardian, Jan 21, 2016.
Kyle Johnson, Is Non-Violence a Historic Christian Value? (Missio Alliance, Feb 22, 2016. On Ambrose of Milan - very worth reading
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, How Should Christians Disagree? Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians Try a New Model. Christianity Today, Feb 25, 2016.
Christopher Wright, Introducing the Larnaca Statement. Lausanne Movement, Feb 25, 2016.
Andrew Doran, When Christianities Collide: Persecuted Churches of the East Need Dialogue With the West. The American Conservative, Jun 9, 2016.
Tom Holland, All the East is Moving. First Things, Aug 2016.
Tim Fall, The Impossibility of a Christian Nation. Tim Fall's blog, Jun 12, 2017.
Ed Stetzer, Being Pro-Life Means Caring for All of Human Life. That Includes Being Pro-Refugee. Vox, Jun 26, 2017.
The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church of the USA, Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide (PCUSA) debated by Presbyterians for Middle East Peace
Philip Giraldi, Should AIPAC Register as a Foreign Agent? The American Conservative, Jul 28, 2017.
Mark Tooley, On North Korea, Christians Should Dial Back the Bellicosity. National Review, Aug 10, 2017.
Rod Dreher, Trump Is More In Touch Than You Think. The American Conservative, Aug 17, 2017. evangelicals favor nuclear war more than general population
Rod Dreher, White, Male, Educated - and Christianophobic. The American Conservative, Nov 4, 2017.
Diana Butler Bass, For Many Evangelicals, Jerusalem is about Prophecy, not Politics. CNN, Dec 8, 2017.
The Editors, Orthodox Christianity and White Supremacy In Its Own Words. Orthodoxy in Dialogue, Jan 27, 2018.
Amy Goodman, MLK’s Fight Against Racism, Militarism, and Capitalism: Historian Taylor Branch on King’s Final Years. Democracy Now, Apr 4, 2018. In a speech on April 4, 1967, King condemned the Vietnam War and the U.S. government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” To hear the speech, see Amy Goodman, Special: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In His Own Words. Democracy Now, Jan 20, 2020. In 1968, King spoke out for poor sanitation workers who took shelter in their garbage truck during a rainstorm, and were crushed by the compactor.
Julie Ingersoll, Trump’s Jerusalem Embassy Ceremony Was One Big Dog Whistle. Huffington Post, May 15, 2018.
Josiah Hesse, 'End Times Fatigue': Evangelicals Find Biblical Case for Israel Less Compelling. The Guardian UK, May 19, 2018.
Philip Bump, The Group Least Likely to Think the U.S. Has a Responsibility to Accept Refugees? Evangelicals. Washington Post, May 24, 2018.
Victor Gaetan, Pope Francis’ Holy Diplomacy in Ukraine. Foreign Affairs, Sep 5, 2019. “Why Washington and the Vatican Don’t See Eye to Eye”; draws attention to four principles Pope Francis expressed in Evangelii Gaudium.
Bronson Barringer, The Business of War: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Military-Industrial Complex. Wipf and Stock | Amazon page, Mar 2020. An outstanding collection of essays about U.S. militarism and its impacts on domestic and foreign affairs. Especially good are the chapters highlighting U.S. hegemony over Latin America, Korea, and elsewhere on the grounds of fighting “communism.”
Hal Brands, Peter Feaver, and William Inboden, In Defense of the Blob: America’s Foreign Policy Establishment Is the Solution, Not the Problem. Foreign Affairs, Apr 29, 2020. A perspective relating real geopolitics against pure neoliberalism.
David Albert Jones, Murder in the Cathedral: The Face of Christ in the Victims of Nagasaki. University of Notre Dame, Oct 20, 2020.
The Church and International Relations: Topics:
The section on The Church and International Relations includes: Christianity & IR lists Christian ethical reflections on international relations; Immigration and Refugees highlights moral and ethical challenges on human migration; Nuclear & Chemical War focuses on the development of, and politics surrounding, these types of warfare; American Imperialism examines the military, diplomatic, and economic consequences of U.S. policies; Global Issues highlights major geopolitical challenges facing the global community.
Some of the concerns and histories raised here overlaps with Church and Empire, especially the page on Nation-States.
