Christians and Violence

Jean Lasserre (1908-1983) was an internationally renowned pastor and peace theologian. He studied at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris before studying at Union Theology Seminary in New York. It is here he met Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who came to share in Lasserre's ardent pacifist beliefs. They continued to communicate through illegal letters during the Second World War. After the war, Lassere set up his pastoral ministry in working class communities, where the main cause of his life was the fight for peace. His book The War and the Gospel (1953) laid the foundations of a theology of nonviolence. Steve Hickey is Faculty Chair of Christian Ministries at Alaskan Christian College, USA.

Comments on the English Edition - Steve Hickey
Foreword - Christiane Lasserre
Preface - Frédéric Rognon


Introduction: Is There a Public Morality for the Christian?

Part One The Gospel and Violence

Chapter 1 Was Jesus the Prince of Peace?
Chapter 2 Jesus and Violence
Chapter 3 The Constantinian Heresy
Chapter 4 The Paganism of War

Part Two True and False Realisms

Chapter 5 Christians and the State
Chapter 6 State and Violence
Chapter 7 The Death Penalty
Chapter 8 A Brief History of War
Chapter 9 For a Real National Defense

Part Three A Heartrending Revision

Chapter 10 The Christological Foundation of Pacifism
Chapter 11 The Nonviolent Fight, an Evangelical Attitude
Chapter 12 For a New Reformation

Conclusion

Appendix I: Professions Forbidden to Third-Century Christians
Appendix II: “Give to Caesar What Is Caesar’s and to God What Is God’s”

Bibliography
Index