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The Peaceable Kingdom by Stanley Hauerwas

Posted on September 15 2009. Comments: 2

Posted by:
Justin Denholm

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The Peaceable Kingdom is subtitled “A primer in Christian ethics”. Hauerwas freely admits that he does not know what this means, but this book represents a rare attempt to provide an overview understanding of his approach to ethical living.

Hauerwas sees ethics as being of primary importance to the truth of Christianity. A central part of his ethics is character which can only be developed and displayed as part of a community of faith and understood within their story. He portrays this ‘narrative’ (a label he avoids) understanding of all of Christianity, not merely ethics, and considers being a Christian most fundamentally in terms of ‘engrafting’ onself within a community of faith and its story. Frequently, Haeurwas discusses ethics in terms of imitation of Christ, or rather as participating in a community that faithfully fosters imitation of Christ and so lives under God’s rule, in God’s kingdom.

For all his emphasis on the importance of ethical living, Haeurwas argues that it is not about acting rightly or making good decisions but that it should flow naturally from a properly understood life, rooted in a community faithful to its story. He writes “We Christians are not called to be ‘moral’ but faithful to the true story, the story that we are creatures under the Lordship of a God who wants nothing more than our faithful service”

One aspect of Haeurwas’ work that I value lies in taking the focus away from casuistry, from the act of decision-making. He argues that it is not simply that who we are helps answer the question ‘what should we do?” in a given situation, but that our character and story actually determine what situations we come to be in. In terms of decisions themselves, he argues that they should flow in a straightforward way from the people we are: ‘the decision makes itself if we know who we are and what is required of us’.

Haeurwas’ thesis is open to question at several points, and most significantly it runs the danger of relativism. His insistence that Christian ethics must be understood and applied through the community brings with it the danger of differing interpretations between communities, and conflict about the gospel message. Although he refers the community back to the Bible, he seems at times to preference the community’s reading of the Bible over an objective standard of God’s word itself.

Hauerwas is a surprising but consistent pacifist, and argues repeatedly for peacefulness as a core desire for faithful communities. When it does come to considering the hypothetical situation, Hauerwas, like Yoder, demands creative solutions, and refuses to be forced into violence through ‘but what if the other person….’ He insists that we look for solutions that may even change the societal ‘rules’ rather than accepting second-best solutions that compromise the integrity of faithful communities. Strikingly, Hauerwas (again, after Yoder) asks, if we choose to resort to violence in order to save our lives, how we can be sure that the gospel is best served with our life rather than our death.   

I am extremely challenged but not necessarily persuaded by Hauerwas’ call to extreme non-violence. It is a strong position to begin from, and its call for creative solutions is insistent and compelling. However, I am not yet convinced that Hauerwas has clearly answered the question of violence in the defence of others. God shows himself to be committed to the defence of the weak and the oppressed, and calls on us to do likewise. Is there no situation in which violence may be justified?

With these points in mind, this book is a striking modern classic. It represents a significantly different viewpoint to many contemporary approaches, and richly rewards careful study. 

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