May Christians go to court?

Authors

  • Thomas Schirrmacher
  • Thomas K. Johnson

Keywords:

Ethics, Christians, justice, court, law, Apostles, Paul, Jesus

Abstract

Some Christians hesitate to use the courts. Some hesitate all the more to go to court to defend their Christian activities, preaching, and churches. But extreme hesitation to use the courts is not prescribed by biblical injunctions. The apostles set an example by making significant use of the legal process, especially in relation to defending the right to preach the gospel and develop the church, though the example they set included being winsome in relation to the gospel during public conflicts. Jesus’ famous statements in the Sermon on the Mount address the problem of revenge and personal retaliation; they do not contradict the example of the apostles.

Author Biographies

Thomas Schirrmacher

Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, PhD, DD, (born 1960) is President of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights and President of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo, Brasilia). He teaches as as extraordinary professor of the sociology of religion at the state University of the West in Timisoara (Romania) and human rights and religious freedom at Oxford University (Regent’s Park College). In his religious role he is Bishop and Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, which represents churches with 600 million Protestant Christians.

Thomas K. Johnson

Prof. Thomas K Johnson, PhD, has brought the material into concise form. He.is Vice Presi- dent for Research of Martin Bucer Seminary; Director of the Comenius Institute (Prague); Professor of Theology, Philosophy, and Public Policy (International Institute for Christian Studies); Adjunct Pro- fessor of Social Communication (Vilnius Pedagogical University, Lithuania); and Doctoral Professor of Theology and Interdisciplinary Studies (Olivet University). He has taught theology and philosophy for eleven universities and theological schools in nine countries as well as served as pastor of three evangelical churches, including being a church planter.

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Published

2023-01-18

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2011): Advocacy and Law

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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