Newness

Here's your standard blog intro post. What's to say?

I'm just beginning the next phase of my life's journey right now. On Tuesday I begin my first semester as a Ph.D. student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (http://www.ltsp.edu/). My major concentration is Contemporary Theology, and my minor is in Scriptural Theology. I hope to do my dissertation in the field of Christian Ethics, offering a gospel-centered critique of war and violence as well as an alternative proposal for how those who claim to follow Jesus ought to respond to evil without embracing the "dark side" of coercive violence. St. Paul put it best: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!"

Along the way, I'll be posting things of a more personal nature, such as my daily struggle with type 1 diabetes, my work for my home congregation Doylestown Mennonite Church, the antics of my African Grey parrot Sam, interactions with the immense amount of theological reading and research I have to do for my degree, and the joy that I experience as a disciple of Jesus and redeemed child of God. Don't expect posts here every day, for I am notoriously undisciplined and shamefully, rather lazy, but I hope to be here weekly at the very least.

You (whoever you are!) are welcome to interact with me here via the comments feature, or via email or AIM (TrpsNThere is my screenname. Long and obscure story behind that one.).

As for where the present moment finds me, I've decided to get jump start on my research before classes begin on Tuesday. I've checked out Roland Bainton's 1960 monograph Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace: A Historical Survey and Critical Re-evaluation as well as Aldolf von Harnack's study from 1905 Militia Christi: The Christian Religion and the Military in the First Three Centuries, two classic studies that explore the early church's attitudes toward war and peace. I was referred to them by a really excellent book by Jean-Michel Hornus, It is Not Lawful for Me to Fight: Early Christian Attitudes Toward War, Violence, and the State.

As I discovered while doing research for my master's thesis, the official teaching of the Christian Church in the first three centuries involved a complete rejection of violence in all its forms as acceptable options for faithful Christian disciples. From abortion and infanticide, to capital punishment, gladiatorial combat, and particularly the violence of military service, all forms of the destruction of human life were rejected as inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus. The closest modern parallel is that which has been called the "Seamless Garment of Life" approach (see here for some basics and background on it: http://www.wau.org/about/authors/scullion1.html). In future posts, I hope to explore the implications and meaning of such a consistently pro-life ethic, grounded firmly as it is in the revelation of God to humanity in Jesus Christ.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully that should give ya'll a flavor of what this blog will be all about. I'm going out to dinner now with Mom, my brother and sister-in-law, and my beautiful wife Lori to celebrate my 27th birthday tonight. The grace of Jesus Christ be with you all. :)