On the face of it, Christianity was a faith rooted in peace. Jesus had admonished his disciples for resorting to violence even under the most extreme provocation—urging them to sheathe their weapons during his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and saying “they that take the sword will perish by the sword.”15 But during the decades immediately following his death, Saint Paul had exhorted the Ephesians to arm themselves with “the breastplate of righteousness,” “the helmet of salvation” and “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”16 The warfare Paul advocated was spiritual rather
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