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Cited by 24Biblical Studies and InterpretationAugustinian Studies and TheologyClassical Antiquity Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 46 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Military Service in the Church Orders

Kreider, Alan·2003·Journal of Religious Ethics
DOI 10.1111/1467-9795.00146
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Abstract

The debate concerning the approach of the early Christians to the military can be advanced by paying attention to a genre of literature that scholars have largely ignored: the church orders. These documents—the Apostolic Tradition, Canons of Hippolytus, Testament of Our Lord, and Apostolic Constitutions—are illuminating in that they deal with ethics within comprehensive treatments of worship, catechesis and pastoral life. They also are useful in that they, as variations upon a common original, are means of monitoring change across the third and fourth centuries. This article uses the church orders to assess four elements of a “new consensus” (David Hunter) on Christians in the military. By and large it confirms these, but at times it alters emphases and adds nuances. It argues that: (1) the church orders viewed killing as the big problem for Christians in the legions, not idolatry; (2) the church orders confirm that the pre‐Christendom church was divided on Christian participation in the legions; (3) the church orders provide evidence for both discontinuity and continuity on the issue across the centuries, although the deepest continuity, based on John the Baptist's “rule” of Luke 3.14, is between the pre‐Constantinian laity and later theologians; (4) the church orders confirm a regional variation in attitude and practice. The church orders' authority in practice is never clear.

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Crossref · 10.1111/1467-9795.00146

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46 of 46 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Citations

Cites

Show all 47 references

Research works printed but not linked: 38

  1. Apostolic Constitutions, 1989, Ante‐Nicene Fathers, 7
  2. Apostolic Constitutions, 1985, Les Constitutions apostoliques, 320
  3. Apostolic Constitutions, 1992, Les Constitutions apostoliques
  4. Apostolic Tradition, 1968, The Treatise on the Apostolic Tradition of St Hippolytus of Rome
  5. Apostolic Tradition, 1989, La Tradition apostolique de Saint Hippolyte: Essai de reconstitution
  6. Apostolic Tradition, 2001, On the Apostolic Tradition
  7. Augustine of Hippo, 1988, Epistles, 219
  8. Basil of Caesarea, 1989, Epistles, 109
  9. Bradshaw Paul F., 1987, The Canons of Hippolytus
  10. Bradshaw Paul F., 1996, Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith: Essays in Honor of Aidan Kavenagh, O.S.B, 3
  11. Brock Peter, 1988, The Military Question in the Early Church: A Selected Bibliography of a Century's Scholarship, 1888–1987
  12. Cyprian of Carthage, 1990, The Lord's Prayer, 447
  13. Dale A. W. W., 1882, The Synod of Elvira and Christian Life in the Fourth Century
  14. Daniélou Jean, 1964, The Christian Centuries: The First Six Hundred Years
  15. Driver John1988How Christians Made Peace with War: Early Christian Understandings of War. Scottdale PA :Herald Press.
  16. Hanssens Jean‐Michel, 1970, La Liturgie d'Hippolyte: Documents et Etudes
  17. Helgeland John, 1979, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, 724
  18. Horner George W., 1904, The Statutes of the Apostles, or, Canones Ecclesiastici
  19. Hornus Jean‐Michel, 1960, Evangile et Labarum: Etude sur l'attitude du christianisme primitif devant les problèmes de l'Etat, de la guerre et de la violence
  20. Hornus Jean‐Michel, 1961, L'Excommunication des militaires dans la discipline chrétienne, Communio Viatorum, 3, 41
  21. Hornus Jean‐Michel, 1963, Politische Entscheidung in der alten Kirche
  22. Hornus Jean‐Michel, 1993, Nem harcolhatok! Az öskeresztények viselkedése a háborúval, az eröszakkal és az államal kapcsolatban
  23. Hunter David G., 1994, The Church's Peace Witness, 161
  24. Johnson Maxwell E., 1996, The Postchrismational Structure of Apostolic Tradition 21, the Witness of Ambrose of Milan, and a Tentative Hypothesis Regarding the Current Reform of Confirmation in the Roman Rite, Worship, 70, 16
  25. Kreider Alan, 2001, The Origins of Christendom in the West
  26. Metzger Marcel, 1988, Nouvelles perspectives pour la prétendue Tradition apostolique, Ecclesia Orans, 5, 241
  27. Metzger Marcel, 1991, Enquetes autour de la prétendue ‘Tradition apostolique, Ecclesia Orans, 9, 7
  28. Origen, 1965, Contra Celsum
  29. Secrétan H. F., 1914, Le Christianisme des premiers siècles et le service militaire, Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, 2, 345
  30. Siniscalco Paolo, 1974, Massimiliano: un obiettore di coscienza del tardo impero: studi sulla ‘Passio S. Maximiliani’
  31. Smith Peter, 1998, Remembering the Quaker Fallen, The Friend, 4
  32. Sulpicius Severus, 1986, Life of St Martin. Nicene and Post‐Nicene Fathers
  33. Swift Louis J., 1979, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, 835
  34. Swift Louis J., 1983, The Early Fathers on War and Military Service
  35. Tertullian, 1989, De Corona, 93
  36. Tertullian, 1989, De Idololatria, 61
  37. Testament of Our Lord, 1984, Testamentum Domini Ethopien
  38. Testament of Our Lord, 1991, The Testamentum Domini: A Text for Students, with Introduction, Translation, and Notes

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Metadata

Authors
Kreider, A.
Affiliations
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (US)
Corresponding author
Kreider, Alan
Venue
Journal of Religious Ethics
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2003-10-24
Volume
31
Issue
3
Pages
415-442
ISSN
  • 0384-9694 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9795
DOI
10.1111/1467-9795.00146
OpenAlex
W2039777966
Cited by
24
References
47
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 2
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Journal of Religious Ethics (publishedVersion)
  • DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Augustinian Studies and Theology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Classics › Classical Antiquity Studies
Keywords
church order, apostolic tradition, Apostolic Constitution, idolatry, early Christian ethics, David Hunter

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Military Service in the Church Orders. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/1467-9795.00146
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Kreider, A. (2003). Military Service in the Church Orders. Journal of Religious Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9795.00146

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