The sign of contradiction: Church defense and the liturgical gun

Abstract

In recent years, high-profile church shootings have captured the attention and the moral imaginations of US Christians. The reasons for the shootings are multitude, but in practice the response among churches has been the same: the rise in armed protection of churches. In this article, I explore not only what is at stake in establishing an armed presence to protect a church, but also how such actions cohere with the nature of the church’s core acts of baptism and Communion. I argue that the way to combat increased militarization of church space is not by either embracing firearms or disavowing them, but contemplatively unlearning and reorienting their power.