Were the Church Fathers Pacficists?

If you ask noted pacifist John Howard Yoder, the answer is unequivocally “yes.”  Writes Yoder:

The answer of the pre-Constantinian church was negative; the Christian as an agent of God for reconciliation has other things to do than to be in police service. . . . Christians saw their task as one of patient suffering, not taking over themselves the work of the police. . . . The post-Constantinian church obviously accepted government service by Christians, but for reasons which cannot be deemed adequate.

That judgment has been repeated often, even by those who are sympathetic to just-war theory as a legitimate development of Christian doctrine.

But the pre-Constantinian church’s understanding of the relationship between Christians and the police functions of the state may be more complex than Yoder and others indicate.

So argues J. Daryl Charles in the latest issue of Logos.