Christian Engagement in the Political Context of War

Miroslav Volf offers his personal reflections about the war on Ukraine. His theological and ethical commentary speaks to various facets of the situation, including: the global cultural clash between authoritarian nationalism and pluralistic democracy; the primacy and priority of God's universal and unconditional love for all humanity, including evildoers; the call to actively resist evil and guard our humanity; the importance of truth in an age of disinformation and suppression of real facts; the need for Christians to remain "unreliable allies" with governments or parties while remaining faithful to the humanity in the friend, neighbor, stranger, and enemy; but ultimately his message is one to soberly—and dare I suggest joyfully, with unabashed hope—lift up our hearts (and the hearts of those suffering through war, dislocation, death, and destruction) to the Lord.

Episode Art Provided by Fyodor Raychynets. "ні війні!" = "NO WAR!"

Show Notes 

• Gustavo Gutiérrez, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent
• Gustavo Gutierrez, The God of Life
• Miroslav’s experience in Yugoslavia in the 90s and how it is reflected in Ukraine
• The theological dimension of the war in Ukraine 
• “The war in Ukraine is part of a resurgence of nationalism as a global phenomenon”
• Two types of nationalism: exclusive nationalism, inclusive nationalism or patriotism
• Russian nationalism and the superiority of an ethnic group, the Russian Orthodoxy
• “What is the role of religion in the public sphere?"
• To what extent do Christians have stake in advocating for any position? 
• The birth of Russian Orthodoxy in Kyiv 
• The origins of faith and nation in Russia 
• “Such close ties between religion and religious sacred spaces have made religion complicit in the violence of the state”
• Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
• How Russian Orthodoxy is divided – the war is fought internally, rather than between Roman Catholicism + Protestantism and Orthodoxy on the other 
• the division between The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Muscovite Patriarchate is reflected in the divisions in global Orthodoxy
• The struggle within Orthodoxy for primacy in Moscow
• God is love
• “God does not simply love and therefore can love or not love, but God actually is love always and without exception. And therefore that the love of enemy is a central tenant of the Christian faith”
• Every single oppressed and suffering person and every single wrongdoer, no matter how heinous the crimes they've committed, every single individual is an object of God's unconditional love.”
• John 1:29  "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"
• “in secular terms, we ought to respect the humanity of each person, even the worst among us, and that we ought to care for them”
• God's love for the weak and assaulted 
• Love for the enemy
• How does this fit with the idea of Jesus’ teaching on non-resistance? 
• “Resistance against the aggressor can be, and I think ought to be, an expression of love, both for the victims of aggression and for the aggressor”
• The Just War Theory: there are different ways to transform an aggressor 
• “I myself do not subscribe to Just War Theory”
• I think that any engagement with the enemy has to be led by the command of love
• Oliver O’Donovan and love of the enemy 
• “The interest of the Christian faith is also interest in the good of the aggressor. And we cannot exempt the aggressor from the universality of the love of God”
• “It's crucial to keep careful watch over the state of our humanity. Evil is infectious, especially for those who struggle against it”
• Collective guilt
• “It has been said that truth is often the first victim of war”
• What is the place of emotions in war? 
• Job and suffering
• “What's really interesting is that Job dares to speak to God. He brings his anger, his lament, his disappointment, all of this displaced before God”
• How truth can transform anger 
• Psalm 137 “Blessed is the one who dashes your little ones against the rock”
• Karl Barth: “Christians and unreliable allies.” Their ultimate allegiance is to God, not to a political party 
• Ron Williams: “God has no particular interest of God’s own”
• The strength of pluralistic democracies 
• “One of the reasons for the rise of authoritarianism is a certain dysfunctionality of pluralistic democracies”
• Reconciliation 
• One way to reconcile is to enforced peace and suppress war 
• But reconciliation is a moral practice 
• “Naming the wrong that has been committed and finding ways to go beyond that, to live together in peace"
• How to sustain hope in the midst of such overwhelming powers of evil
• "sursum corda,”"lift up your hearts," or more literally "hearts up!"

Production Notes

• This podcast featured theologian Miroslav Volf
• Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa
• Hosted by Evan Rosa
• Production Assistance by Martin Chan, Nathan Jowers, Logan Ledman, and Annie Trowbridge
• A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about
• Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give