  We show that general relativity can be viewed as a higher gauge theory
involving a categorical group, or 2-group, called the teleparallel 2-group. On
any semi-Riemannian manifold M, we first construct a principal 2-bundle with
the Poincare 2-group as its structure 2-group. Any flat metric-preserving
connection on M gives a flat 2-connection on this 2-bundle, and the key
ingredient of this 2-connection is the torsion. Conversely, every flat strict
2-connection on this 2-bundle arises in this way if M is simply connected and
has vanishing 2nd deRham cohomology. Extending from the Poincare 2-group to the
teleparallel 2-group, a 2-connection includes an additional piece: a coframe
field. Taking advantage of the teleparallel reformulation of general
relativity, which uses a coframe field, a flat connection and its torsion, this
lets us rewrite general relativity as a theory with a 2-connection for the
teleparallel 2-group as its only field.
