On God, Violence and the Bible

Interview With Father Rinaldo Fabris

ROME, OCT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Though the Bible carries examples of the volatile mix of violence and religion, God's rehabilitation of the upright ultimately takes place with the peaceful resurrection of Jesus, says a scholar.

Father Rinaldo Fabris, president of the Italian Biblical Association, offered that view in this interview.

ZENIT approached him on the occasion of the 39th National Biblical Week, promoted by the Italian Biblical Association and held at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The theme of the Sept. 11-15 event was "Violence in the Bible."

Q: During a lesson in Regensburg, Benedict XVI condemned the jihad because it is contrary to reason and to God. What is your opinion?

Father Fabris: If the jihad, mentioned several times in the Koran, coincides with the "holy war," that is, an armed struggle against adversaries -- infidels or apostates -- justified and carried out in the name of God, it is obvious that the jihad is contrary to religious faith, which presupposes free adherence to God.

It is contrary to the Christian image of God, revealed by Jesus Christ, who took human violence upon himself and deactivated it with his death on the cross, confronted with the highest act of filial fidelity to God and extreme solidarity with the human condition.

However, in the Islamic interpretation of the Koran, the jihad is not only a holy war but above all commitment and effort against evil in all its manifestations.

Q: Muslim extremists invoke God when they carry out horrendous terrorist acts. Is it possible to kill in the name of God?

Father Fabris: In the case of so-called martyrdom […] it is a manifest and blasphemous manipulation of religious faith depending on a detestable gesture according to an ethical, personal and social approach. Acts of terrorism, as extreme and irrational violence, have always been justified in the name of nationalist, racist and, in societies with religious culture, also in the name of God.

Q: The Italian Biblical Association, which you head, has just concluded a congress on the topic of violence in the Bible. What were the reflections and conclusions?

Father Fabris: Attempting to summarize the contribution of the week's 13 lectures, followed with great interest by the 160 participants -- professors of sacred Scripture in theological faculties and institutes of religious sciences -- it can be said that violence in all its senses -- physical, social and moral -- is present in the biblical history recorded in the books of the Old and New Testament.

It is a question of violence between men, beginning with Cain's crime, condemned as sin, but also of violence done in the name of God and of a violent image of God.

The Bible speaks of the God of the armies and of the anger of God, who punishes the wicked inexorably with a judgment of condemnation. On the other hand, as the Second Vatican Council constitution "Dei Verbum," No. 12, states, in sacred Scripture God speaks to men in a human way.

Given that violence is part of humanity's historical experience, it is not surprising that it is found in the Bible, which is a mirror. In the debate of the Biblical Week, an attempt was made to understand the roots of violence according to the Bible, and if it is possible to deactivate it.

In this connection, the problem was addressed of the role of the law and of criminal law, which often do not succeed in containing violence, but become factors of new violence.

Against this background, the paradoxical event of Jesus' death on a cross is situated, through which God enters into the human history of violence and takes charge of it.

This image of God is already present in some prophetic and sapiential texts of the Old Testament. Only with Jesus' resurrection does God rehabilitate the just man without causing further violence.

Q: Was the topic of "just war" also addressed during the congress? What can you tell us in this respect?

Father Fabris: In IBA's week of study and debate, the topic of war was not addressed directly, which has already been amply treated in biblical publications, where there is talk of the "sacred" or "holy" war.

The latter is present in the Bible and in the whole of the ancient Middle East. It implies the "herem" -- the sacrifice -- of enemies, namely, the elimination of enemies in the name of God.

The just-war category, starting with some reflections of St. Augustine, was elaborated at the time of Charles V's wars, in the 16th century, by some Spanish jurists who indicated the conditions for a war to be just and legitimate.

In the wake of the experiences of the two World Wars and in the present situation of globalized terrorist violence, the theory of the just war not only is exceeded but it is dangerous.

It is preferable to speak of the right-duty of the legitimate defense of persons and human societies, by taking recourse to means and methods that do not cause other forms and situations of violence.