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Militant Nonviolence: A Spirituality for the Pursuit of Social Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

James P. Hanigan
James P. Hanigan*
Affiliation:
Duquesne University
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Abstract

This essay suggests that a clearer understanding of violence and nonviolence as means to be used in the pursuit for justice will be achieved if we move the discussion of nonviolence to the domain of spirituality rather than ethics. A distinction is made between militant nonviolence and historic forms of pacifism and nonresistance, and it is argued that militant nonviolence only makes sense as a spirituality, rather than as an ethical demand. Finally it is argued that such a spirituality is essential for the pursuit of justice and some practical implications are drawn.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 1982 , pp. 7 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1982

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References

1 Cited in Gremillion, Joseph (ed.), The Gospel of Peace and Justice (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1976), p. 514.Google Scholar

2 The name militant nonviolence I owe to Erikson, Erik H., Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence (New York: Norton, 1969).Google Scholar

3 I refer not simply to King himself, but to all the activities of the period for which King was both spokesman and symbolic center.

4 See Lee, Umphrey, The Historic Church and Modern Pacifism (New York and Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1943)Google Scholar, and Bainton, Roland H., Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace (Nashville: Abingdon, 1960).Google Scholar

5 Arendt, Hannah, On Violence (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1969), pp. 44–56.Google Scholar

6 For a contemporary version of this position see Lasserre, Jean, War and the Gospel, trans. Coburn, Oliver (Scottsdale, PA: Herald, 1962).Google Scholar

7 The scriptural references are, in order: Jn. 13:34-35; Mt. 5:30-39; Rom. 12:17-21; Mt. 18:21-22.

8 This approach is developed in Macgregor, G. H., The New Testament Basis of Pacifism (Nyack, NY: Fellowship Publications, 1960).Google Scholar

9 This position parallels Augustine's objection to any right of self-defense unless one happens to be a soldier or a public functionary. See Epistole XLVII, 5.Google Scholar

10 For contemporary versions of this see Ellul, Jacques, Violence: Reflections From a Christian Perspective (New York: Seabury, 1969)Google Scholar and Yoder, John Howard, The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1972).Google Scholar

11 Lee, pp. 64-65.

12 Ibid., pp. 100-18; see also the story in 2 Sam. 7:1-16.

13 I refer to the demand to Frs. Drinan and Cornell not to seek reelection to the House of Representatives. The rationale for such exemption varies, historically, but the essence of the position is that violence is not fitting for such a vocation.

14 A postolicam Actuositatem, 7 Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. Flannery, Austin O.P., (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1975), pp. 773–74.Google Scholar

15 For an example of this position vis-à-vis King himself see King, Martin Luther Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), pp. 97–98.Google Scholar

16 Niebuhr, H. Richard, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper and Row, 1956).Google Scholar

17 Among the many discussions of this I find the single best discussion to be Curran, Charles E., “Is There a Catholic and/or Christian Ethic?” Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 29 (1974), 125–54Google Scholar, and the responses to Curran given by James M. Gustafson (155-60) and Richard McCormick (161-64).

18 Barclay, Robert, Barclay's Apology in Modern English, ed. Freiday, Dean (No publishing data, 1967), p. 435.Google Scholar Also see King, p. 83.

19 See Rom. 12:3-8.

20 For some typical discussion see Ramsey, Paul, War and the Christian Conscience (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1961)Google Scholar; Bennett, John C., Nuclear Weapons and the Conflict of Conscience (New York: Scribner's, 1962)Google Scholar; Murray, John Courtney S.J.,, We Hold These Truths (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Image, 1964), pp. 238–61Google Scholar; Wasserstrom, Richard A. (ed.), War and Morality (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1970)Google Scholar; for King's own attitude in this regard, pp. 77-79; a typology and evaluation of the various responses to the question is contained in Hanigan, James P., “The Theology of War and Vietnam,” Chicago Studies 7 (Summer 1968), 127–42.Google Scholar

21 This change is reflected in various works. The dates alone would prove instructive. See Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. Farrington, Constance (New York: Grove, 1968)Google Scholar; Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin White Masks, trans. Markmann, Charles Lam (New York: Grove, 1967)Google Scholar; Marcuse, Herbert, “Ethics and Revolution,” in Ethics and Society, ed. George, R. T. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor, 1966), pp. 133–47Google Scholar; Marcuse, Herbert, An Essay on Liberation (Boston: Beacon, 1969)Google Scholar; the whole issue of New Theology No. 6, eds. Marty, M. E. and Peerman, D. G. (New York: Macmillan, 1969)Google Scholar is pertinent; two important works from Latin America are Gutierrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1972)Google Scholar, and Segundo, Juan Luis S.J.,, A Theology for Artisans of a New Humanity (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1972).Google Scholar

22 Fanon, , The Wretched of the Earth, pp. 73–106Google Scholar; “We have seen that it is the intuition of the colonized masses that their liberation must, and can only, be achieved by force” (p. 73).

23 Arendt, Hannah, On Revolution (New York: Viking, 1965), pp. 31–70Google Scholar has a clear exposition of what the problem of liberation entails and why it is a distinct problem.

24 Marcuse, , “Ethics and Revolution,” pp. 140–43.Google Scholar

25 The reader is reminded that a reasonable hope of success is one of the criteria of the just war theory. The best formal presentation of the just war theory can be found in McKenna, Joseph C. S.J.,, “Ethics and War: A Catholic View,” The American Political Science Review 54/3 (September 1960), pp. 647–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for the question about the relevance and weight of some of the principles see Douglas, James, The Non-Violent Cross (London: MacMillan, 1969), pp. 155–78.Google Scholar

26 Niebuhr, Reinhold, Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York: Scribners, 1932), pp. 171–75.Google Scholar

27 Washington, Joseph R. Jr.,, The Politics of God (Boston: Beacon, 1969), pp. 131–50Google Scholar; Cone, James H., Black Theology and Black Power (New York: Seabury, 1969), pp. 138–52.Google Scholar

28 For a documentation of this tendency see Knox, Ronald A., Enthusiasm (New York: Oxford University Press, 1961)Google Scholar; also see Umphrey Lee.

29 Reinhold Niebuhr, p. 264.

30 Merton, Thomas (ed.), Gandhi on Non-Violence (New York: New Directions, 1964), p. 48.Google Scholar

31 For a similar statement of the tasks of ethics, see Gustafson, James M., Christ and the Moral Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), pp. 1–10.Google Scholar

32 By a spirituality I mean the personal and concrete application to oneself (individual or communal self) of what is held to be true in a universal or abstract way. Such a process is often held to be ethics in the mainstream Protestant tradition. Böckle, Franz, Law and Conscience (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1966), pp. 91–94Google Scholar; 106-11.

33 For a brief discussion of the dialectical relationship, see Hennelly, Alfred T., Theologies in Conflict (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1979), pp. 140–52.Google Scholar

34 Fletcher, Joseph, Situation Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966), pp. 164–65.Google Scholar

35 A claim very similar to this is found in Loyola's, St. Ignatius “Rules for Thinking with the Church,” The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, ed. Puhl, Louis J. S.J., (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1951), pp. 157–61.Google Scholar

36 We used to call this the formation of conscience. It is one reason why much ethical thought has returned to the study of the agent and the development of personal character. See Gustafson, p. 263, n. 20, and Hauerwas, Stanley, “Toward an Ethics of Character,” Theological Studies 33/4 (December 1972), pp. 698–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 As recently as Pope Pius XII, the Catholic teaching was that the Catholic citizen was obliged to go to war if that war had been declared by legitimate authority. See Murray, , We Hold These Truths, pp. 252–53.Google Scholar

38 “Gaudium et Spes,” 78, Vatican Council II, p. 987.

38 Lee, p. 79.

40 In the long run this is what we owe to Karl Marx.

41 For the notions of space and the ability to act see Arendt, Hannah, On Revolution (New York: Viking, 1965), pp. 120–37.Google Scholar

42 Reinhold Niebuhr, p. 264.

43 I owe some of the ideas treated here to Nayeroff, Milton, On Caring (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), pp. 31–32.Google Scholar

44 King, pp. 74-75.

45 In King, pp. 83-88 six principles of nonviolence are listed. I think they can be reduced to two. The passion for truth is at the heart of Gandhi's vision; and agape is at the heart of King's. While suffering is undoubtedly a key element in nonviolent resistance, it is not a separate category. The only suffering that is germane to nonviolence is that which comes as a consequence of one's love and passion for the truth.

46 The notion of love as letting the other be I borrow from Hauerwas, Stanley, Vision and Virtue (Notre Dame, IN: Fides-Claretian, 1974), pp. 118–20.Google Scholar

47 I am indebted here to a paper done by one of my graduate students, James Ruck.

48 Merton, Thomas, Thomas Merton on Peace, Intro. Zahn, Gordon (New York: McCall, 1971), p. xxix.Google Scholar

49 Häring, Bernard, Theology of Protest (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970), p. 13.Google Scholar

50 Merton, Thomas, Faith and Violence (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968), p. 5.Google Scholar

51 Reinhold Niebuhr has pointed this out a long time ago: “Who is better able to understand the true character of a civilization than those who suffer most from its limitations?” (p. 157).

52 Perhaps the biggest contribution a nonviolent spirituality could make in the foreseeable future would be to restore the role of police and soldiers as essentially helpers, public servants, and not as the enemy of the people and ministers of violence.

53 That there are alternatives here seems to be a well-kept secret. Sharp, Gene, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973), pp. 109–434Google Scholar, has alternative methods of nonviolent action as the second part of his work.

54 Hennelly, pp. 149-50.

55 “Gaudium et Spes,” 79, 80. Vatican Council II, pp. 988-90.

56 A good illustration of the embarrassment is Brown, Robert McAfee, Religion and Violence (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973), pp. 85–88.Google Scholar

57 By King's people I mean all who heard and responded to his demand for social justice.