ABSTRACT
Although the words “pacifism” and “nonviolence” have found common usage gradually since the mid-nineteenth century, the idea referred to can be found in documents dating back nearly three millennia. Pacifism arises initially as moral opposition to violence, especially mass violence. The basic vow of nonviolence includes not only avoiding physical injury but avoiding mental and verbal injury as well, and it serves as the moral basis for life itself. Pacifism is not necessarily the same as anti-warism, but the critique of violence is obviously connected to the critique of war. Despite fierce persecution of early Christians by the Romans, the most devoted followers of the crucified first-century rabbi Jesus of Nazareth practiced pacifism to the extreme of nonresistance to evil. Between the time of the early church to the Middle Ages, Christian evaluation of war moved from the refusal to participate in war of extreme pacifism, to reluctant participation in just war, and to enthusiastic participation in holy war.
