If individuals can’t solve the conflicts of a violent world, what can we do? asks Graham Handscomb

How can we deal with war? I don’t mean as a society, or as the international community, but as individuals. And I’m not asking what can be done to stop or mitigate wars. When we consider the complexity, horror and endlessness of war, we are soon overwhelmed and feel powerless in the face of it.

No, my question is more simple, personal and potentially even more traumatic: given the apparent inevitability of war, how, as we live our lives in relative safety, do we come to terms with this? How as Christians do we deal with the fact that such terrible things are taking place?

I find this an awful challenge. As I stand by and watch appalling suffering in Ukraine, and see the horror in Israel and consequently in Gaza, and look back on past world wars, my reaction is one of despair and an almost primal cry of ‘What on earth is all this for?’ It seems not only horrendously destructive but senseless and shockingly wasteful of precious human lives…

Graham Handscomb is Professor of Education at the College of Teachers

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This is an extract from an article published in the December 2023/January 2024 edition of Reform

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