Biblical Warrant and Christian Action, Lecture 2: "Thou Shalt Not Kill"

The interpretation of the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" had a surprising history in the Christian context. Originally being taken in the sense of a universal prohibition to which several groups of Reformation Christians seemed to revert, the imperative was progressively weakening. During the Middle Ages, the increasing prominence of the two biblical exceptions, war and authorized capital punishment, had unspeakably tragic consequences following Augustine's "just war" theory and his introduction of the concept of "love" into the discussion. While sharing the medieval understanding, Martin Luther also re-directed the scope of the commandment toward the positive duty of protecting rather than taking life