"In short, the Myth of Redemptive Violence is the story of the victory of order over chaos by means of violence. It is the ideology of conquest, the original religion of the status quo. The gods favour those who conquer. Conversely, whoever conquers must have the favour of the gods. The common people exist to perpetuate the advantage that the gods have conferred upon the king, the aristocracy, and the priesthood. Religion exists to legitimate power and privilege. Life is combat. Any form of order is preferable to chaos, according to this myth. Ours is neither a perfect nor perfectible world; it is theatre of perpetual conflict in which the prize goes to the strong. Peace through war, security through strength: these are the core convictions that arise from this ancient historical religion, and they form the solid bedrock on which the Domination System is founded in every society. The Babylonian myth is far from finished. It is as universally present and earnestly believed today as at any time in its long and bloody history. It is the dominant myth in contemporary America. It enshrines the ritual practice of violence at the very heart of public life, and even those who seek to oppose its oppressive violence do so violently. "
Wow. This is from an analysis of the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth. The analysis is by Walter Wink. It's from his book, The Powers that Be, published in 1999. I haven't listened to the message yet, but apparently Rob Bell talked about this in his message last Sunday at Mars Hill Bible Church.
This is fascinating to me. When I read about this myth, I can clearly see it reflected in my own psyche. It's just part of how I think. I even think of Jesus' actions within this context sometimes, without realizing it. The basic idea is that chaos precedes order in the development of the universe, and that violence is the tool that brings order from that chaos. Therefore, violence is a necessary and productive part of our human cultural development.
This idea seems clearly reflected in our American culture, and probably in cultures worldwide. Just look at our stories! Westerns, war stories ... Braveheart, the Patriot, Diehard, Terminator ... Tom Clancy, Louis Lamour, Michael Crichton ... 24, Star Trek ... the list goes on and on and on. Order (or peace) comes through violence. Those who grew up in the Christian subculture would recognize this if you were so unfortunate as to witness the performance of the song/drama/almost art called "The Champion", in which our redemption is portrayed as a boxing match between Jesus and the Devil.
His point is that this is completely antithetical to the message of Jesus. In Christ, redemption comes through self-sacrifice and involves the rejection of violence -- even through allowing violence to be perpetrated on oneself. Yet we as Christians have bought into the violence myth without question.
This resonates with me. But some questions also rise. If this analysis is completely correct, isn't the Bible also full of stories that perpetuate this myth? For crying out loud, the whole book of Joshua is about this thing called the Conquest, in which God's people are supposed to impose through violence his order and his society. Not one of the "judges" prevailed or delivered Israel through negotiation. David, a man after God's own heart, established God's kingdom in Israel pretty much exclusively through violence against the Philistines and neighboring kings.
On the other hand, after that career of violence, God told David he couldn't build a temple because he had too much blood on his hands. Solomon's reign was characterized by peace. And the book of Judges describes such a dark time in Israel's history that little if any of it can really be taken in a simply prescriptive fashion. And Nehemiah came back and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem after a career of serving the Persian king and asking him humbly for permission. But even with these types of caveats, I think it's still pretty much impossible say the Bible is free of pro-violence material. (Just look the legal code.)
Finally, is this perspective valid practically? Terrible things happened in WWs I and II ... but were even more terrible things averted by these wars? Wasn't it worth the violence on our part to stop Hitler from conquering Europe?
What do you think?
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Jared, I have been troubled by Rob Bells sermon ever since I hear it. I have emense respect for him and his ministry. But his take on the myth of redemptive violence (and it seems everyone elses as well) seem to fall short of understanding issues like you have brought up about how God used violence to bring order, peace, justice or whatever you want to label it. I can wrap my head around the idea that Jesus was telling us to not use violence against one another. But, like you meantioned about Joshua, God is using men as his killing agents. I have come to understand that the whole bible (law and prophets) rest on the commands to love God and love others. Why would God in one place and time tell Joshua to exterminte a people group and then revela that we are to love one another. This has allways troubled me, but now more than ever with the idea of the myth of redemptive violence. Astonishingly, no one (except for you) has dared to address this issue. If I cannot square the story of Joshua with the myth of redemptive violence, then I am going to have to put it aside. McClarin (another man I have emense respect for) also refers to this myth (and devotes a whole chapter to it in his book "the secret message of Jesus") but does not really go back to the OT to tie up loose ends.
Loose ends are a problem for me when I try to accept new revealed truth so to speak. Unless these loose ends are reconciled with the "myth", then I am going to have to say that redemptive violence is not so much a myth -- a great idea -- something we should aspire to -- but "myth" -- don't know that I can go there just yet. I am still searching. Thanks for your post. It is comforting to know there are a few of us who are trying to seek the truth. Walter Wink sounds like a smart guy, but he is not God. Thanks again Jared.
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