94. , 36. 41 Christ’s patience is not made possible by some kind of “eternal perspective,” an existential Stoic disinterest in turn made possible by a secret gnosis. Such a notion is another form of temporal escape rather than temporal authenticity. (Balthasar, A Theology of History, 38–9) Our Time in Vietnam 29 loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3). Rather, Jesus saves humanity from its violence by his refusal to save it by violence. By submitting himself to “our time,” the Son re-enacts the human drama from disobedience to obedience, from self-possession to self-giving, and from temporal privation to eternal participation.

24 In a 1961 memorandum from the Joint Chiefs to Secretary of Defense Robert S. S. forces to South Vietnam, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have reviewed the overall critical situation in Southeast Asia with particular emphasis upon the present highly flammable 21 Dwight D. , 1960), April 7, 1954, 383. , The Pentagon Papers, xix. , 6. ” Frank N. Trager, Why Vietnam? (New York: Praeger, 1966), 110–11. ” David W. P. Elliott, “Official History, Revisionist History, and Wild History,” in Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National, and Transnational Perspectives, ed.

IV, The Action, 77. ”33 Western global domination, and its manifestation in Vietnam, is but one strategy of humanity’s war with the divine kenosis, subverting eternal self-giving by temporal self-possession. From America’s perspective, her intentions in Vietnam were noble – indeed nothing could be more noble – and as such warranted limitless aggression. As the pinnacle of civilization, America had become what everyone else wanted, even if that desire remained in its most seminal state; it was the role of American expansionism to nurture, even through the use of Agent Orange, those seedlings of civilization.