Living in a world of war and injustice

Message of historian and ethicist Guy F. Hershberger still resonates today

Print Article Email to a Friend

In the turbulent scene of human history that was the 20th century, historian and ethicist Guy Hershberger was a leading light for American Mennonites, never giving up his patient and persistent efforts at living and refining biblical pacifism.

Born in 1896, Hershberger lived through the major cataclysms of the 20th century—two world wars, the Cold War and the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Against that backdrop, the author of the seminal 1944 book War, Peace, and Nonresistance sought to show how Christians might live in a world beset by war and injustice.

Over the long length of his career, his thought and emphases grew and changed. But what never changed were a number of deep and enduring convictions that provided guidelines for his life—convictions that can still provide guidance for Christians today.

1. Christians are called to be faithful in life and practice. The frame for that conviction was the "Anabaptist vision," which was articulated by his colleague Harold S. Bender. Hershberger’s abiding accomplishment was to make that frame practical in ways large and small, translating faith into the patterns of daily life. 

2. Being faithful means being guided earnestly and directly by the Bible and its ethical teachings, especially the teachings of the New Testament. For Hershberger, Jesus' example and teachings were central, but the rest of Scripture was also important.

3. The goal of being faithful is to give witness. Faithful Christians, he said, offer alternatives to the ways and the evils of the world and point forward to the reign of God.

4. Witness must be the task of the whole church, not just individuals or advocacy groups within the church.

5. The church operates in its own ethical realm. While Hershberger's main emphasis and contribution was to call his church and other Christians to the social implications of the gospel, he stood squarely on a "two-kingdom" principle that ran through Mennonite history and thought.

6. The church should engage the world, not withdraw from it. Hershberger grew up at a time when his church used the language of separation and nonconformity as a way to disengage from the surround society. He valued those concepts, but his overriding goal was for the church to be engaged in the world to present Jesus' message.

7. The message of peace is a way for the church to exercise its social responsibility in the world. For him, pacifism was a way to bring wellness to all of society.

8. The means Christians use to promote God's kingdom must be as biblical and godly as the ends they are seeking. In addition to rejecting violence, Hershberger was skeptical about using coercion. For him, this included most strikes, boycotts and demonstrations or confrontations.

9. Christians should live their lives to do the will of God, to be disciples of Jesus the Christ and to build up the body of Christ, the church.

These lifelong principles formed a coherent and consistent whole for Hershberger, an integrated system of personal commitment, church and ethics. They are not above questions and critique, and they have been and will continue to be expanded upon. But through his life and principles, Hershberger has much to teach those of us living today—a time when similar states of chaos and upheaval and violence can be seen every day in the news.

By Theron Schlabach, author of War, Peace, and Social Conscience: The Life and Thought of Guy F. Hershberger (Herald Press), from which this article was adapted. For more information, visit www.mpn.net/hershberger

Current Stories

Articles

• Our new executive director
• Mutual impact
• Far from home
• Twists and turns
• Five reasons for Mennonite education
• Five ways to help Mennonite education
• Celebrating Sabbath in a busy world
• How affluenza affects the church
• Poem: At either end of the web

News stories, digests and Meno Acontecer

• From classroom, students converse with mission workers in Kosovo and Colombia
• Goshen College will play national anthem before sporting events
• If Obama's right, MLK was wrong
• Compassion more widespread than violence in Haiti
• Haiti updates from Franconia Conference
• MCC responding to Haiti earthquake, welcomes donations
• MCC staff on the ground, waiting for larger relief efforts to begin
• Mennonite work team and MCC staff safe in Haiti
• Mennonites agonize over Bolivian rape victims
• Mennonite Brethren Olympian on coin
• Hyattsville church denied ACC membership
• Peter J. Dyck leaves legacy of service
• Anglo Anabaptist congregations in the cities are growing
• Greensboro massacre survivors confront pain
• SOOPers, staff lend a hand for harvest
• Mother of MVSers says empty nest matured family
• Scholarship for Mennonite high school graduates
• MDS fixes forgotten homes
• Interview with Mennonite World Conference's leader
• Forgiveness in the Balkans
• Living in a world of war and injustice
• ¡Bienvenidos al Meno Acontecer de febrero, 2010!
• Meno Acontecer, para imprimir
• Domingo de la Educación Menonita
• IBA entrena tutores en Miami
• Haití en la mira
• Violaciones de derechos ¡Alerta!
• Una meditación bíblica
• Reflexiones Pastorales - 10ª Parte
• De nuestros lectores y colaboradores ... SUFRIMIENTO PSICOSOMATICO
• Sitios Hispanos Menonitas en el internet - Abril

Columns

• Extremists for love and justice
• Continuing education
• Turning the page
• January reviews
• Faith and fiction in Dostoevsky
• We can make music
• Blemished lambs at the altar
• Places of transformation
• Where faith and culture intersect

Readers Say

• How to read the Bible
• Between 'scholarly' and 'personal'
• Newest members will lead us
• Dismayed at listing of names
• Don't waste a crisis
• Great choice for cover