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C E N T U R I O N S G U I L D

hange of Command

St. Martin -A Model

VeteranCommentary by Zach Cornelius

November 11th is Veterans Day in the United

tates.   In many countries this day is still

elebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance

Day.   Prior to the slaughter and the

estruction of   Western Europe known as

World War I (and before France existed as a

ation), November 11th was celebrated

hroughout modern France, and much of 

Europe, as the day St. Martin was buried at

he city of Tours.

Named after Mars, the god of war, young

Martin was forced to enlist in the Roman

rmy at the age of fifteen, an obligation he

nherited through his father’s vocation. Military service was not particularly desirable

or the boy, as he had grown very fond of the

Church by age ten, when he became a

atechumen, over the protests of his parents.

To his favor he was placed in a cavalry unit

hat served as the personal body guard of 

Caesar. The scholae imperatoris, imperial

uard, was a position of honor and distinction. He would ride a powerful war horse and wear

he recognizable white chalmys or cape lined

with lambskin as the uniform of the elite

uard.  He and his comrades would be known

s the “men clothed in white.” It was this cape

that distinguished him as a body guard of 

Caesar himself.

On a cold night during a harsh winter, riding

through the town of Amiens, in modern day

France, Martin happened upon a homeless

man shivering in the cold.   The elite guard

had sympathy for this poor man, but what was

he to do?   He had nothing but his splendiduniform.  He decided to draw his sword and

cut his magnificent chalmys in half and give a

portion to the shivering man. 

This was not an easy decision for Martin.  He

had naught to pass the poor helpless man, for

doing so was to disobey Christ, nor destroy

his imperial cape, which would surely incensehis Roman comrades.  It was at this point that

he realized that at times his allegiance to

Christ trumped that of his unit, Caesar, and

the whole of the Roman Empire.   Shortly

thereafter, he was baptized into the Church.

It wasn’t long after this event that Martin’s

imperial cavalry unit was called up to fight

the Gauls in the city of Worms, against tribes

that had invaded the Empire.  It was custom

that the night before a battle, Roman sol

would report one by one to their comma

(Caesar Julian, in Martin’s case) to rece

monetary gift to inspire their dedication

loyalty to the Empire.   Martin believed

be dishonest to accept the gift, since

Christian, he could not draw blood on

battlefield.

According to Sulpicius Severus, Mar

biographer, he said to Caesar:  “I have

your soldier up to now.  Let me now be G

Let someone who is going to fight have

bonus.  I am Christ’s soldier; I am not allo

to fight.” The Emperor did not take kind

this request, and Martin was prom

imprisoned for cowardice. Behind bar

response to the charge, Martin offered t

sent to the front lines. His jailers leapt a

opportunity, thinking it a fitting consequ

for this seditious young centurion.

Overnight, the Gauls would success

negotiate a treaty, and no fighting would

place. Dejected, his former comr

discharged him from military service. Sh

thereafter the life of Saint Martin the he

monk, priest, and bishop began. He w

trade in his patriotism for piety.

As Americans we somberly remember

millions of our countrymen and women

have died in our country’s wars.  As peop

the Christian faith we can remember

Martin, who saw the shedding of blood

serving Christ as contrary to one another.

choose courageously to lay down his s

and take up his cross, even in the fac

certain death.

~ Zach, who shares the name of another Bibliccenturion, is a cofounder of Centurion’s GuildYou can reach him at zach@centurionsguild.or

A quarterly community newsletter published by Centurion’s GuildFor God and Country (in that order) Issue #2 - Winter 20

Statue of Martin, Bishop of Tours, in

Odolanow, by Jerzy Sobocinski. He is known

to have insisted “I am a soldier of Christ, it is

not permissible for me to fight.” He was

accused of cowardice despite offering to be

sent to the front lines at Worms in 336 CE.

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C E N T U R I O N S G U I L D

Change of Com

The following is a restatement of the major

points made by John Howard Yoder in his

ook by the same title (Herald Press, 1983).

The stated question is the proverbial 

hallenge to any pacifist, Christian or

therwise. Yoder crafts an excellent expose

f the fallibility of many of the arguments

hat lie within that challenge, with the

econd half of the book including essays and 

tatements of historic and contemporary

pacifists. We hope you will find the book as

provocative yet refreshing as we have

Editor’s note: we can only playfully

magine that the title is a thinly veiled pun,

playing off the popular “What Would Jesus

Do” slogan, but we cannot be entirely sure).

The first dependent assumption we might

ecognize in such a loaded question is that

f  determinism on the defender’s (your)

art – that you have the only decision to

make, and that it is only your decision that

will provide resolution. If you do not act,

he attacker will  kill the victim, and yourourse of action will end in the death of the

ttacker. The accuser insists that the

ttacker is motivated only by pure evil, that

here exists no hope of redemption.

However, no crime is ever without motive;

here is in fact something that will satisfy

ny attackers’ purpose for violent action

cooperating with their demand for money,

afe harbor, etc.). It is simply unreasonable

o believe that the only possible course must

nevitably lead to death (the victim’s at the

and of the attacker, or the attacker’s at yourwn hand). No course is predetermined; the

nly limit to nonviolence is one’s own

reativity and commitment.

The second assumption is that of 

mnipotence, that you somehow have

bsolute control and that your course of 

ction will undoubtedly result in success.

We cannot know for certain, in any instance,

hat our own decision will unfold without

event or unseen consequence. Furthermore,

both the victim and the attacker are assumed

to be incapable of sentient thought or free

will; their reflexes and instincts are

considered immaterial to the argument. It is

ridiculously optimistic to pretend that any

agent, acting in concert with such

unpredictable variables as a deranged

attacker and a terror-stricken assailant,

could enjoy absolute control over any

situation, violent or otherwise. Another

assumption related to omnipotence is that of 

omniscience, the idea that you know with

absolute certainty how your course of action

will unfold. After all, the obligatory

conclusion is that of death. You are

expected to be able to operate without

doubt, a convenience no person in history

has ever been able to enjoy in such an event.

In any and all situations, we can be sure of 

only one thing, that we know nothing for

certain and must act out of consideration for

the unpredictability of the situation.

A third assumption our inquisitor reliesupon is individualism, the belief that only

my own interests are to be considered

relevant. However, the victim’s relationship

to me must inform my decision; I should not

act outside their interests. If the victim

shares my commitment to nonviolence, it

would not be their desire that I use lethal

force to save them from whatever

catastrophe awaits them. If they do not

subscribe to nonviolence, Yoder would

argue that the desire to use a

disproportionate amount of force againstone’s attacker would be founded in self-

centrism (on either the part of the victim or

the defender), an evil that already must have

motivated the attacker. Put simply, true

 justice has in mind even the interests of the

criminal. A defender cannot not justify

adopting the role of judge, jury, and

executioner alone and hope to be protected

by the claim of having objectively served

  justice. Furthermore, when a person is

What Would You Do?Book Review by Logan Laituri

reduced to a possessive object, such as the

case when it is assumed that the victim has

no capacity to influence what must beexclusively my decision, it becomes an ac

of self-interest disguised as a virtue.

Stemming from the last issue comes the

presumption of righteousness. Your actions

are immediately considered ethically

superior to those of the attacker. However

you lose any credibility as judge and jury

when your own interests and welfare are a

part of your decision. Your objectivity is

compromised. It is then that people often

claim, falsely, that their decision is

effectively determined by the actions of the

attacker (“they made me do it ”). Once the

‘victim card’ is played, your actions become

sanctioned by a fabricated sense of mora

superiority. Far from being justified, you

become the evil you had hoped to conquer

After all, it is violence and hostility tha

produces the attacker in the first place. Such

are products of a culture so misled abou

true justice that it teaches its members not to

murder by murdering murderers. Those

who would use violence so readily have

seldom been shown the prophetic power of

love to destroy fear. The Hitler’s of the

world only know hatred and fear precisely

because they have never been shown grace

and reconciliation. Even if it means

sacrificing my own life, I will not become a

victim to the myth of redemptive violence.

~ You can keep up with Logan on his blog at 

 feraltheology.wordpress.com

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C E N T U R I O N S G U I L D

hange of Command

Michael Moore’s magnum  opus

omes at the most appropriate of 

mes. Moore’s critique of the

ractices of America’s current

conomic system comes at a time

when our generation is beginning

o question the love affairetween faith and empire,

etween evangelicalism and

America. The documentary opens

with a comparison of America’s

urrent situation to that of Rome’s

rior to its demise, the parallels

re haunting and aim to forewarn

s that if the need for change is

left unnoticed, America too could

suffer the same fate.

The high point of the movie

comes when Moore addresses the

common religious rhetoric in

place that allows Christians to becomfortable with the current

economic practices of entities

such as the Department of 

Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Both of whom were key players

in the economic “bailout” failure

we have become so familiar with.

But Moore’s critique is not biased

in partisanship, Moore exposes

both Republicans and Democrats

who were involved in what he

calls “socialism for the rich.”

Of course Moore offers ample

amounts of humor and this time Ibelieve he tops himself. Voicing

over scenes from the classic Jesus

of Nazareth (1977) Jesus is made

to say to the paraplegic “I cannot

heal your preexisting condition”

and other like statements.

Moore’s definitely comes forward

with his Catholic Christian

convictions and does so in a

and gentle manner. Ther

nothing too abrasive but Moo

quite forward in his convi

that Jesus would not approv

our current economic prac

which cause a foreclosure eseven and a half seco

Capitalism: A Love Story

movie I would recommend e

socially concerned Christian

It is a long awaited critique.

~ You can follow Kyle on his blowilliamkylecaldwell.wordpress.c

Capitalism: A Love StoryMovie Review by Kyle Caldwell

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Change of Com

Meet a CenturionUS Army Combat Veteran Logan M. Laituri

always considered

myself a Christian; I

ttended youth group all

hrough high school, went

o church in Basic

Training, met regularly

with the Chaplains in my

arious units. But

omehow I knew I was

laying a game, just

kirting the thresholdetween superficial

eligiosity and genuine

aith.  It took a 14 month

eployment to Iraq to

hink more seriously about

whether that stance was

oing myself or God any

ood at all.  I thought long

and hard about what I had

been a part of and what

being a Christian soldiermeant.   In the spring of 

2006, I realized that being

a forward observer for the

artillery excluded me from

the Body of the Prince of 

Peace; I could be one or

the other, but not both. Facing a second

deployment, I wrestled

with the thought of 

becoming a conscientiousobjector (CO).  I had been

in the Army well over 5

years by that time, was a

thrice decorated combat

v e t e r a n , a

noncommissioned officer,

and a fairly patriotic

American.   I had good,

honest, caring friends in

the military that I had no

interest in severing tieswith.  Discharge as a CO

was not something I felt

inclined toward, but I

knew I could never carry a

weapon again.   Then one

day, I had an epiphany; I

would ask to return to the

Middle East without a

w e a p o n a s a

noncombatant CO. The process was relativelyabrupt and disorganized,

due in part to my

commanders’ lack of clear

understanding of the

regulations governing

COs. Like Martin of Tours

before me, my

commanders accused me

of cowardice, even though

I was explicitly asking to

return to the front lines. 

As a part of the CO

application process, I was

interviewed by a civilian

psychologist , who

diagnosed me with failure

to adapt to the military, of 

being unfit to remain on

active duty, and who

suggested that I be made

non-deployable. My unit did not enjoy thatprognosis much, but

ultimately adhered to the

doctor’s recommendation,

much to my chagrin. As a

result, I watched my

friends go to combat

without me in August of 

2006.   Some of them

not return. I would ETS sh

thereafter, finding my

way to the Middle

with Christian Peacem

Teams.   For two w

our group trav

throughout the West

and East Jerusa

collecting information

background on the co

there.   I had a pec

perspective, as the weapon I had pointe

others in Iraq was b

pointed at me in Pale

I learned the hard way

when it comes to Chri

violence, the enem

always on both side

the gun.

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CENTUR IONS GUI LD

Logan Laituri - Army Veteran

Zach Cornelius - Former Air Force Reservist

Kyle Caldwell - Marine Veteran

 James Tarter - Ohio National Guard

About our Mission Statement“To support and defend prospective, current, and former service

members while bearing true faith and allegiance to God”

upport and Defend:

While we still find value in the oath we swore to support and defend the

Constitution, we find it equally valuable to extend that duty to fellow service

members of all rank and background. From civilians considering enlisting or

eeking commissions, to veterans and retirees, we offer legal, religious, and

ducational resources to support their personal and spiritual growth.

True Faith and Allegiance:

While we continue to submit to the authorities appointed above us, we confess

ltimate allegiance to and faith in God. Though patriotism and piety may at times

ompliment one another, we must discern when and how each allegiance (to God

r to country) may without notice become mutually exclusive of the other. We

ecognize that we must not serve two masters; that in loving one we may come to

ate the other. Centurions serve God while finding ways to conscientiously submit

o their compatriots.