About the Blog

The Sword, both in the Bible and in other literature, is commonly used as a symbol of government power, of violence, and of war. The Cross is a symbol, conversely, of the Kingdom of Heaven, and by extension of the nonviolent gospel of Christ. These concepts, the concepts of Sword and Cross, are central to Christian ethics.

I write about many things on this blog, but themes that I continually return to are nonviolence, Christian interaction with the State, issues of identity and allegiance for Christians, and all sorts of associated ethical and theological questions. Thus, though the phrase “Sword and Cross” cannot describe everything I do here, the interplay between these two ideas is central to my writing.

This blog is a member of the Christian Century blogging network, and much of the material posted here is also published at CrossLeft.

About the Author

I live in Augusta, GA, but I was born in Atlanta. Last summer I attended the Youth Theological Initiative at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and it was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. This fall I’ll be entering Yale University as a freshman (go Bulldogs!), and I have no idea what I’ll be majoring in. After college, I hope to attend divinity school, and then go into either academia or ministry, with an emphasis on social justice and peace work either way.

My interests include the sciences and maths, the humanities, religion(s), social justice, music, amateur magic, and much more. My passion is nonviolence. Influences include: John Howard Yoder, Shane Claiborne, Stanley Hauerwas, N. T. Wright, Walter Wink, the Catholic Worker movement, anabaptism, etc.

I helped found the Stategic Global Prayer Initiative, and serve as the coordinator of the War, Peace, and Nonviolence Issues group.

If you want to contact me, email me at matt.shaferSPAM@yale.edu (remove the word SPAM before sending!). You can follow me on twitter (@mttshfr), though most of my tweets are rather uninteresting.