book report: Jesus the Pacifist by Fleischer 2020

Matthew Fleischer did a great job surprising me with his previous book, The Old Testament Case for Non-violence. He follows the same methodology of considering New Testament texts of violent nature in their context and against the explicit teachings of Jesus in this new book while fairly considering other interpretations and following them to their logical ends.

I may have much in common with Fleischer especially being a big fan of Jesus. However, I'm no longer a fan of verse by verse argumentation. I used to do that. Not only am I tired of it but I can no longer ignore the humanity beset by time bound mores and prejudices wrapped up in these texts. Fleischer carries a burden I won't, which is every verse is God-breathed, even the terrible ones, while he tries to defend Jesus' pacifism. I arrive at the same conclusion, but my route is shorter than his. If the reader is of the "biblical christianity" background and persuasion, this is a book to wrestle with. If the reader is of the "mystical christianity" persuasion then this book may come across as tedious. Let the reader be warned.

I love this observation.

From the start, Jesus expresses a clear preference for nonviolent characteristics. Every one of those attributes is incompatible with using violence. He does not praise the powerful, the rulers of history, or the enforcers of justice. It is the humble, gentle, peaceful, submissive, sympathetic, forgiving, righteous, and persecuted who inhabit his kingdom, not those who wield force on his behalf.

Stuff like this is why I'm still a fan of Jesus. The sermon on the mount is so revolutionary. Turn the other cheek...bless your enemies....serve those who abuse you! These are the teachings Gandhi employed to liberate India from England.

Flesicher starts from Jesus' foundational teachings to force the reader to re-evaluate some of Jesus' parables using violent characters and the call to acquire a sword and the cleansing of the temple. He then turns his focus to the John's Apocalypse with it's four horsemen, Jesus in a bloody cloak and a sword coming out of his mouth, and all sorts of catastrophes. He spends three chapters on the Revelation. They are a well condensed summary of many sources found in his end notes. I appreciate the effort he made in all his research and I hope his readers who have not considered pacifism on biblical grounds will be forced to reexamine their assumptions.

I do have one area of disagreement with Fleischer. I do not know if he is anabaptist but the discussion of the Revelation does veer into participation in politics. I think it an unfortunate conflation of pacifism and political non-participation. Gandhi was pacifist and political. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pacifist and political. It's important to me to note these counter examples now as it is black history month in the US. If politics were not involved then black men would still be lynched to the cheers of white mobs. If politics were not involved then black children would not have made it into white schools if not escorted by armed officers of the law. I hope Fleisher will consider some of these examples in his next book.