I know this is a little out of context but Mclaren talks about the kingdom of God and how Jesus speaks of it coming in our lifetime and we are the ones who usher it in. He writes a chapter on pacifism. He makes three points that I find interesting:
1. "Those committed to nonviolence based on the teaching of Jesus - if they are wrong now - will someday be right. ...we should say they are ahead of their time - and that's not exactly a fault of theirs but of the times" [158].
2. "In times of conflict, whenever we are tempted to label someone as 'enemy' or 'evil,' we must remember Jesus' climactic words in his kingdom manifesto - that enemies are to be loved" [159].
3. "We need to realize that both our enemies and we ourselves have a common enemy: the very internal darkness Jesus' secret message addresses - the dark drives of lust, greed, anger, and hate that thrust us into conflict and war" [160].
It makes me wonder how Biblical the just-war theory is...
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