Is there a theology of conflict? Tough one. If theology is the consideration of anything and everything in relation to God, then there must be. Conflict exists. But what would such a theology look like? I have no answer to that question, but it’s nevertheless worth reflecting on – not only because of the horrific, intractable conflicts of today which threaten to destabilise the world (think Gaza, Ukraine), but because conflict is fundamentally interwoven into the fabric of human history and identity.
Histories are structured around wars, empires, great conflicts and their after-effects. So where is God in conflict zones? With the fighters, the victims, the bystanders, the leaders?
We may be more familiar with conflict theology than we think. Christians take positions on conflicts like everyone else – positions that need to be rationalised and thought-out. The ‘just-war theory’ we learned in school no longer seems fit for purpose. Back to the Bible?
The Bible seems no help at all! Jesus commanded, ‘Love your enemies’; yet God instructed Israel to ‘destroy the Canaanites’. Jesus demonstrated God’s infinite love and forgiveness on the cross. Yet he promised to return with the armies of heaven to destroy the kingdom of antichrist (Rev 19:11-21). Ecclesiastes tells us, ‘there is a time for war and a time for peace.’ Is he a God of love or a God of justice? Clearly both. How can we resolve this?
Brilliant theologians have long attempted to reconcile the conflicting ideals of love and justice, war and peace, conflict and forgiveness. They’ve justified, rationalised, and theologised conflict both in the Bible and church history – successfully, accurately, truthfully – yet… unsatisfactorily. We’re no closer to agreeing how we should respond to conflict today.
Perhaps we grossly undervalue how God works in human history. God works through human beings, through existing power structures, cultures, worldviews, expectations – a messy undertaking! God worked differently in the OT not because God was so different, but because ancient civilizations were. Conflict involved ‘our god (or gods) vs your god’. In Medieval times, kings raised armies believing ‘might made right’.
Nation-states developed professional armed forces. Modernity brought aircraft, bombs, weapons of mass destruction. The ‘rules’ governing conflict changed radically in each scenario. Today’s conflicts involve great powers over vast distances, using ‘proxies’, missiles, drones, AI. The situation has again changed radically. We desperately need a renewed theology of conflict, not a bumper-sticker of ‘God, guns, and patriotism’.
