Hauerwas on the Sacrifices of War

Here is a lecture given by Stanley Hauerwas concerning war. I've listened to it over three times now and every time I listen to it I hear something profound I hadn't heard before. For those of you who have never heard Hauerwas lecture (which is probably all of you except Cory & Bob), let me warn you that you have to listen carefully and will probably have to continually back up and listen to certain sentences again.

This lecture is incredibly profound, even if you don't agree with his pacifism. His explanation of how war functions in our society and how we would feel less complete without war is what I found the most enlightening. The biggest sacrifice we make in war is not our unwillingness to die, but rather our general unwillingness to kill. Sacrificing our normal unwillingness to kill is what war calls of soldiers - and this is a sacrifice that often significantly distorts the one who has to make it.

This lecture is worth listening to - even though you may want to shut it off after the first couple of minutes. And once again, I'm not sharing this to convert you to pacifism, but rather to help us think more deeply about war - and to remind us how war is inescapably tragic.

Here's the link: Hauerwas lecture