Pacifism and the Question of Responsibility

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between pacifism and responsibility through conversations with four white U.S. women formed in historic peace church traditions. The conversations resist the dominant tendency to present pacifism and responsibility as dichotomies. For these women, responsibility is not an absolute criterion to which a pacifist position must answer; nor is it a worldly commitment shunned by faithful adherence to the gospel. Rather, responsibility is a crucial yet highly contextual consideration in the pacifist life one cannot but live. This article concludes that it is a mistake to utilize responsibility as an external criterion by which to judge pacifism and a mistake to deny the importance of responsibility in a pacifist life. Both of these dichotomous arrangements mischaracterize the lived experience and moral reflection of the interviewees. The question of responsibility is not whether one should be a pacifist, but how to live nonviolently in a violent world.     

中世纪西欧教会法对教会与国家关系的理解和规范

本文依据中世纪西欧《教会法大全》讨论当时教会与国家的关系。中世纪的教会法学家和教皇们有一种二元论的政治理论 ,认为世俗政权和以教皇为首的教会领导机构应该有各自不同的势力范围 ,前者负责国家的治理 ,后者负责宗教事务。他们以为这一理论有利于教会和国家保持良好的合作关系。为了划分清楚教会和国家的权威范围 ,教会法学家把教会法界定为独立的法律体系。在复杂的现实政治中 ,对世俗权力和宗教权力做这种区分是极为困难的。     

The Christian Peace of Erasmus

The aim of this essay is to show that Erasmus’s concept of peace should be understood as a form of irenicism rather than pacifism. I argue that Erasmus’s basic claims on war and peace do not qualify him as a pacifist, first of all because his concept of peace is non-universal: it is exclusively Christian since it does not include Muslims and Jews unless they have converted to Christianity. Secondly, Erasmus’s willingness to fight the Turks and his call for a Christian war against them suggests that he was not a pacifist. Since the peace Erasmus preached for was exclusively Christian, it cannot be identified as pacifism in its accepted universal sense, but rather as a commitment to the peace of Christendom, and therefore his concept of peace should more precisely be described as irenic. By shedding new light on Erasmus’s notion of war and peace, this essay suggests that his alleged religious tolerance should be considered anew.     

The naval battles of Roger of Lauria

Roger of Lauria's family was exiled from the kingdom of Sicily by Charles I of Anjou for its support of the Hohenstaufen cause but in the service of Aragon he became the most feared and renowned warrior of his generation. His six great naval victories during the War of the Sicilian Vespers closely determined the outcome of that struggle.Lauria's fame has been diminished by the minor place awarded to the War of the Vespers by modern medievalists and by its overshadowing by the Hundred Years War. But in fact it was an extremely important war in medieval history, witnessing the decline of the papacy and the kingdom of Sicily and the rise for a brief time of a new power in the Mediterranean: Aragon. Moreover, it was in this war that medieval warfare first began to acquire attributes characteristics of the later middle ages: supremacy of archers and infantry over mounted and mailed knights, appearance of disciplined and professional companies of mercenaries led by professional war leaders, and decline from chivalric warfare into nationalistic hatred and ferocity.Lauria's success lay in the superior qualities of his crews and in his own genius. Handling galley fleets successfully required mastery of the difficult nexus between land and sea for Mediterranean galley warfare was more amphibious than naval in the modern sense of the word. Lauria proved to be the greatest master of the science in the middle ages; a war leader deserving to be ranked with Richard Coeur de Lion, the Black Prince, and Nelson.     

The naval battles of Roger of Lauria

Roger of Lauria's family was exiled from the kingdom of Sicily by Charles I of Anjou for its support of the Hohenstaufen cause but in the service of Aragon he became the most feared and renowned warrior of his generation. His six great naval victories during the War of the Sicilian Vespers closely determined the outcome of that struggle.Lauria's fame has been diminished by the minor place awarded to the War of the Vespers by modern medievalists and by its overshadowing by the Hundred Years War. But in fact it was an extremely important war in medieval history, witnessing the decline of the papacy and the kingdom of Sicily and the rise for a brief time of a new power in the Mediterranean: Aragon. Moreover, it was in this war that medieval warfare first began to acquire attributes characteristics of the later middle ages: supremacy of archers and infantry over mounted and mailed knights, appearance of disciplined and professional companies of mercenaries led by professional war leaders, and decline from chivalric warfare into nationalistic hatred and ferocity.Lauria's success lay in the superior qualities of his crews and in his own genius. Handling galley fleets successfully required mastery of the difficult nexus between land and sea for Mediterranean galley warfare was more amphibious than naval in the modern sense of the word. Lauria proved to be the greatest master of the science in the middle ages; a war leader deserving to be ranked with Richard Coeur de Lion, the Black Prince, and Nelson.     

European national poetry,Islam and the defeat of the medieval Church

The Muslim conquest of the Holy Land from Christendom, the invasion of southwestern Europe in the eighth century, and the Christian struggle, ultimately unsuccessful, to regain the Holy Land from Islam in the Crusades dominated European culture, particularly its poetry, for centuries. From the Old French epic, The Song of Roland (c. 1100) to the Albanian epic, The Highland Lute (early twentieth century), a vast popular culture grew in European vernacular languages in response to Muslim invasions and conquests. This article attempts to elucidate in panoramic form a neglected area of nationalism. It argues that from the medieval period until the fall of the Ottoman empire, poetry was instrumental in the rise of European national identities, partly in reaction to centuries of ascendancy of Islam, which undermined the authority of the Pope, the universal Church, the Gospel and Latin. The defeat of the medieval Church opened the way to narrower, more national and cultural concerns, reflected in a cluster of vernacular European poetic traditions.     

Challenge,Decline and Revival: The Fortunes of Pacifism in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Newcastle

In view of the economic and to some extent the military interests of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Newcastle, one would not expect to find a significant pacifist presence there. Between 1817 and 1869, however, the town had an active branch of the national Peace Society, and in Robert Spence Watson (1837–1911) it boasted one of England’s leading pacifists in the decades prior to the First World War. After dwelling on the last twenty years of the life of the Newcastle branch of the Peace Society (when it was subjected to greater challenges than it had been in the first part of its existence), the paper points out that, despite the branch’s closure, Newcastle pacifists won a rare local victory over their opponents in a public debate of 1870 and the Franco-Prussian War marked the starting-point of the many peace-related activities of Spence Watson. Whilst confirming scholars’ general impression that the impetus underlying nineteenth-century British pacifism came largely from Nonconformity (especially from Quakers), the paper claims that because the Newcastle brand of pacifism was radical, and because Spence Watson took the local variety of pacifism on to the national stage, tracing the fortunes of the doctrine in the principal city of north-east England is of general as well as provincial significance.     

The right to social welfare in early medieval Iceland

As a rule poor relief in medieval Europe was practised in the form of charity by Church, monasteries and rich people. They distributed their alms to the poor, who received them gratefully and humbly. From early medieval Iceland elaborate social laws have come down to us that are remarkable in their originality for the period. We shall describe these laws, and investigate their history, development and the reason of their existence.     

The right to social welfare in early medieval Iceland

As a rule poor relief in medieval Europe was practised in the form of charity by Church, monasteries and rich people. They distributed their alms to the poor, who received them gratefully and humbly. From early medieval Iceland elaborate social laws have come down to us that are remarkable in their originality for the period. We shall describe these laws, and investigate their history, development and the reason of their existence.     

Marriage,Sex, and the Church of Scotland: Exploring Non‐Conformity Amongst the Lower Orders

The history of marriage amongst the Scottish lower orders in the eighteenth century has largely been a story of sexual discipline by the Kirk (Church of Scotland). As much of this history has been produced through kirk session records — the arm of the church that monitored sexual morality and marital conformity — this is often construed as a story of contest between the church and a resistant lower orders, trying to negotiate alternative forms of family life. Using kirk session and secular court records and popular literature, this article explores how religious belief shaped sexual and marital behaviour, particularly non‐conformity, during this period. It examines the Kirk's interpretation of chastity and marriage, how these ideas filtered into popular culture and were used by the lower orders to negotiate their own sexual and marital behaviour and relationship to the Church. It argues that the Kirk's varying attitude to marital and sexual non‐conformity meant that marital non‐conformity was less significant than sexual sin in the popular and religious imagination.     

Rhetoric and morale: a study of battle orations from the central middle ages

Courage and morale are often overlooked factors in medieval warfare. Nevertheless, they were as important in the middle ages as they are today. Although there is no psychological evidence of the type compiled in recent wars, the chroniclers of the central middle ages do provide a considerable amount of information about the different factors that stimulated the fighting spirit of medieval armies. They wrote hundreds of battle orations, harangues to the knights before or during combat, that show in detail the kinds of motive appeals the chroniclers believed would be most effective in building morale. This article analyzes battle orations as a rhetorical genre for the psychological insights they provide into the mentality of the medieval man at arms.     

An aborted reformation: Germans and the papacy in the mid-fifteenth century

Why did the Reformation not occur in mid-fifteenth century Germany? The Germans had already become very angry with the papacy, and began a movement to force the curia to allow them to reform their own Church in their own way. The curia, which had its own plans for reform, of course refused. Each side began to develop weapons; but the struggle, which came close to a crisis, quickly fizzled. I maintain that the reason was that the Germans, who detested heresy, were unable to focus their anger against the curia sufficiently to carry out their program, chiefly because localism was so strong that no program could be agreed on for more than a few months. The event that brought about the crisis was the Turkish advance in Europe, which both the papacy and the Germans wished to use for their own purposes. Gradually the incipient revolt simmerend down, but the underlying causes remained. Fifty years later, this anger was able to achieve direction, and the stored-up feeling, now focussed, was able to explode.     

King John's military reputation reconsidered

A measure that medieval chroniclers used for judging kings was success in battle. King John obviously failed this test with his loss of Normandy, 1202–04, and the failure of his 1214 continental campaign. Modern scholars prefer to depict the king as an able administrator, downplaying his military activity; they continue to follow medieval writers in labelling John an incompetent general, lacking boldness, even cowardly. In fact, John's poor military reputation is based on only a few comments in chronicles and verse narratives. While his defense of Normandy from the French was a disaster, partly because of his own failings, factors beyond his control contributed heavily to his loss of the duchy, such as the superior wealth of Philip Augustus. Critics neglect the link between the English king's warfare and his administrative activity, which aimed at raising men, money and other resources for wars. John conducted campaigns capably before and after the loss of Normandy. Some moderns accept traditional condemnation of his military skill, because of a misunderstanding of the nature of medieval warfare. Pitched battles were rare, and war consisted of seemingly aimless plundering raids and sieges of castles. John's supposed lack of boldness merely reflects a medieval commander's caution. His plans for the relief of Château Gaillard in 1203 and his 1214 two-pronged attack on Philip illustrate skill in strategy. Unlike many medieval generals John was skilled at siegecraft, seen at Rochester Castle in 1215. While King John's two greatest campaigns failed, costing him most of his continental lands, his failures in warfare are due neither to incompetence nor to cowardice.     

Sexism and the celestial gynaeceum — from 500 to 1200

One indirect index of attitudes toward women, as well as their actual position in the medieval Church, can be gained through a collective study of saints' lives. For on one level, membership in the heavenly city reflected the earthly society of the middle ages. Although in theory the Church professed a policy of spiritual egalitarianism, in reality it was much more difficult for women than for men to transcend their sex and enter the ranks of the celestial hierarchy. The rather wide discrepancy in sanctity (approximately 85% of the saints of this period were male), can be explained in part by the exclusion of women from leadership roles in the secular Church hierarchy. However, certain periods were more conducive than others to the making of women saints. Women had a greater prominence, as reflected by their selection as saints, in the initial stages of the various movements of the Church. As the Church became more secure, right- minded and ultimately regularized and reformed, the premature enthusiasm for women waned. A backlash resulted in which women were viewed as liabilities and generally suspect. They were denied opportunities for a prominence in the religious community, a ‘visibility’ upon which sanctity was predicated.     

20世纪30年代美国的和平主义运动

20世纪30年代,在人们对第一次世界大战进行反省和日益恶化的国际形势的影响下,美国社会出现了一股与孤立主义既相联系又相区别的和平主义思潮。和平主义者主要由妇女、宗教界人士和在校大学生组成。他们反对战争和军备,主张以和平的手段和方式解决国际纠纷。在法西斯主义猖獗的时代背景下,和平主义者的理念及其实践显得与现实严重脱节,最后只能以失败而告终。     

The pattern of lordship and feudal settlement in Cumbria

One indirect index of attitudes toward women, as well as their actual position in the medieval Church, can be gained through a collective study of saints' lives. For on one level, membership in the heavenly city reflected the earthly society of the middle ages. Although in theory the Church professed a policy of spiritual egalitarianism, in reality it was much more difficult for women than for men to transcend their sex and enter the ranks of the celestial hierarchy. The rather wide discrepancy in sanctity (approximately 85% of the saints of this period were male), can be explained in part by the exclusion of women from leadership roles in the secular Church hierarchy. However, certain periods were more conducive than others to the making of women saints. Women had a greater prominence, as reflected by their selection as saints, in the initial stages of the various movements of the Church. As the Church became more secure, right- minded and ultimately regularized and reformed, the premature enthusiasm for women waned. A backlash resulted in which women were viewed as liabilities and generally suspect. They were denied opportunities for a prominence in the religious community, a ‘visibility’ upon which sanctity was predicated.     

Waltharius and Carolingian morality: satire and lay values

Some recent interpretations of the early medieval Latin poem Waltharius have seen it as offering a clerical critique of warrior culture. While the poem is difficult to date accurately, it seems more likely to belong to the ninth than the tenth century. When the poem is analysed in the context of contemporary Frankish works providing moral instruction to lay noblemen, its attitudes towards pride, wealth and warfare can be shown to lie within the mainstream of Carolingian reformers' thought. The notoriously bloody ending to the poem is also best seen as emphasizing Walter's successful heroism rather than undermining it.     

Embargoing ‘heretics' in fifteenth-century Central Europe: the case of Hussite Bohemia

ABSTRACT

This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites. It posits that this anti-Hussite embargo was simultaneously a means of economic warfare and an expression of the longer tradition of the papal embargo. Based on this twofold understanding, a set of sources is interrogated both from the perspectives of economic and cultural history. To this end a research methodology is employed that differentiates between the instrumental and symbolic dimensions of agency. This allows for a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite embargo, both as an instrumental means of warfare and as a communicative process. The article thus contributes to political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in fifteenth-century Central Europe. Above all, however, it offers a transferable research methodology for the study of medieval embargoes in general.     

A Study of the Folklore on the Coasts of Connacht,Ireland

During the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, it was commonplace among historians that the common people of medieval England had remained substantially pagan in their religious beliefs. Christianity, according to this view, was essentially the faith of the elite, with the populace embracing what was at best a dual allegiance to the new and old religions. This view has now disappeared, and the time seems right to take stock of medieval popular religion in England with a view to solving three problems: why did the concept of a pagan medieval populace develop, flourish for so long and then decline; what is the actual evidence for medieval popular belief; and what new perspectives can be taken on medieval English Christianity by employing comparisons with paganism?     

Geistliche bildung und laienbildung. Zur überlieferung der schulschrift Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi (Compendium veteris testamenti) des Petrus von Poitiers (1205) in England

Historians and philologists alike seem to be all too often preoccupied with the study of texts that they, for one reason or another, regard as ‘important’. It is obvious, though, that this approach may miss the medieval reality. There are texts that have been given very little attention in modern times even though they once enjoyed a far greater resonance than others. A case to make this point is the Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi by Peter of Poitiers, a radically shortened version of biblical history, in pedigrees and diagrams, with short explanatory notes. This little work seems to have been rather popular as an introduction to the Bible, for clerks and laymen alike, and was also continued as a chronicle from the times of the apostles onwards. This paper argues that the Compendium became lay reading even in its Latin original form during the course of the thirteenth century, and that this may have been partly the effect of the moves by the official Church to ban the growing new class of literate laymen from reading the Holy Scripture on their own.