Abstract / DOI
Compelle intrare: Faith and Coercion in Occidental Christianity. «It is irreligious to coerce religion», wrote Tertullian. Nevertheless, the history of Christianity knows frequent violent contentions about religion. The parable of the Great Banquet (Lk 14, 16–24) has played a fatal role in this history. In the parable a father of the family compels unwilling guests to come to his feast. Over time, this parable was seen to provide a justification for open or covert religious coercion. Only the Second Vatican Council and the 1983 Codex Iuris Canonic have definitively clarified what had been uncontested in early Christianity: that no-one can be coerced into believing.