This study undertakes a comprehensive evaluation of Christian perspectives on violence and war, which have historically been understood to fall within one of four traditions: non-resistance, non-violent resistance, just war, and preventative war. Conventional approaches have traditionally sought to develop an understanding of violence through the Biblical text, read in the context of a specific community, in light of their particular experiences, to create a communal disposition towards violence. Following the conventional application of the ‘hermeneutical spiral,’ the resulting doctrine is traditionally viewed as norma normata for the community. While these approaches have provided valuable insights, the evolving nature of academic inquiry has resulted in the development of approaches that aim to unravel and provide explicit attention to the complex intersections of theology, history, and socio-political dynamics. This study builds upon these emerging methodologies, focusing on understanding the relationship between historical theological assertions pertaining to violence and socio-historical positions from which they arise. In doing so, the study uncovers the dynamic, identity-oriented relationship associated with Christian dispositions toward violence. As a result, the study represents a divergence from the academy's historical belief that theological understandings of violence flow out of upstream hermeneutical approaches and broader theological commitments. Instead, the study contends that this dynamic relationship is caused by changes in the sociopolitical location of the community relative to institutional power as communities seek to create, cultivate, and protect their collective identity