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Manuscript Type
Article
Abstract (For book reviews see instructions below)
Jeremiah’s critique of war as false worship challenges popular Christianity’s support of American war culture. While primarily expressed as American militarism, war culture also manifests in the rhetoric of culture wars. Adding to the division and violence that the nation’s culture wars can fuel is their potential to inflict moral suffering. Emerging discourses of moral distress and injury suggest that, like wartime environments, culture wars may exact a spiritual toll. Unlike the militant liturgies of war culture, Christian worship can address this moral suffering. When acknowledged in worship through witness and lamentation, moral distress and injury offer a prophetic critique, eliciting collective moral reflection. Furthermore, by cultivating Christian virtues that promote peace amid cultural unrest, worship can become a form of moral repair for the “undoing of character” that conflict produces. These possibilities offer worship leaders a choice: to stir the bonds of war or promote the healing bond of peace.
Recommended Citation
Yeagley, Steve.
"The Bond of Peace: Restoring Souls in Worship
amid Culture War and Moral Suffering."
Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)
60.2
(2022):
225-246.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/auss/vol60/iss2/6
