Review of "A Peace Reader"

At nearly twenty five years after its publication, is this edited volume still worth its weight as a resource on peace and non-violence?

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The Brethren in Christ have traditionally held the position that commitments to peace and non-violence are (or at least ought to be) hallmarks of Christian discipleship. Such a position is evident throughout our denominational literature, with one early Confession stating that it is “completely forbidden to bear the sword for revenge or defence [sic].”¹ In our most recent literature, clear calls to a discipleship modeled on peace are made in Article 5 of the Articles of Faith & Doctrine² and Article 4 of the Statements of Christian Life & Practice.³ In addition, “Pursuing Peace” has been listed as one of the BIC U.S. Core Values for twenty five years. Emerging from this denominational setting is A Peace Reader, an edited volume of essays dedicated to questions about the theology and practice of peace in the modern (Western, specifically American) context.

Editors E. Morris Sider and Luke Keefer Jr. write that this volume is designed to probe “the relationship that has often existed over many centuries between the church, the state, and war” (xi). Special acknowledgment is given to the reality that Christians of many backgrounds face “societal pressures to accept violent solutions, to avoid the way of reconciliation,” (xi) including within traditional peace churches such as the Brethren in Christ. Although such dynamics are certainly prevalent today, this volume responds in part to the then-recent events of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the accompanying militaristic jingoism of that era. With that context in mind and in pursuit of the aforementioned goals, Sider and Keefer collect more than thirty essays on matters theological, historical, ethical, and pastoral regarding the practice of peace.

Interpreting Scripture

Part one is comprised of six essays on biblical interpretation. John R. Yeatts’s essay traces the development of shalom and eirene, the Hebrew and Greek concepts of peace, in the two Testaments. His conclusion: that “peace is central, rather than peripheral, to the message of the Bible” and that it is thoroughly integrated with Christian hope (21). Terry L. Brensinger’s article explores Old Testament war imagery against its Ancient Near Eastern background and traces the development of war motifs from guardrails on God’s people through to eventual global disarmament. J.R. Burkholder draws attention to the political components of Jesus’s signaling his ministry around the jubilee motif. Glenn A. Robitaille examines varieties of pacifistic readings of the Sermon on the Mount, including the non-resistant, passive resistant, reverses resistant, limited resistant, and active resistant models.

Marlin E. Miller’s essay on The Gospel of Peace offers a masterful summary of how Jesus’s abolishing of dividing walls through his death (Ephesians 2:14-15) provides the means by which genuine shalom (“a reordering and restructuring of social relations between former enemies and between them and God” (63)) can be practiced. Miller’s essay is in fact one of my favorite essays in this entire volume. I have long felt that Paul’s description in Ephesians 2 is a vital component of a holistic Christian view of salvation and a cornerstone for understanding the church, and I am pleased to see this idea represented in such a concise manner here.

I am impressed with the careful attention that the essays in this first section give to matters of historical background while also avoiding the temptation to become too technical. I imagine that readers in the volume’s target audience would be able to approach these essays without much prior knowledge of the social or linguistic worlds of the Bible, which is an impressive feat by each author.

Interpreting History

The book’s second section reviews historical developments in Christian peacemaking. Highlights of this section include Robert G. Clouse’s article, which offers a succinct summary of historical developments in Christian views on warfare, and the Statement on Militarism from the 1992 General Conference meeting. In just a few short pages Clouse addresses major trends including the church’s gradual capitulation to war-making after the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the enduring impact of “holy war” ideology developed during the Crusades, and the emergence of pacifistic movements among the Anabaptists and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some gaps exist in Clouse’s survey. For example, Bohemian reformer Petr Chelčický goes unmentioned, as do the conscientious objectors of the Vietnam War era and the active nonviolence teachings of some leaders of the American Civil Rights movement. Inclusion of these and other voices would have made for a more comprehensive approach to peacemaking, but the essay otherwise provides a good orientation for those who might be less familiar with the historical data.

The Brethren in Christ Statement on Militarism provides an incisive yet pastoral approach to the American military industrial complex. I am aware that our denomination has several current positions statements on warfare and the teachings of Jesus⁴, but this statement is refreshingly direct and comprehensive by comparison. The genuinely prophetic critiques found in this document make me wish that it was more easily accessible to the full body of our denomination’s members.

Interpreting Our World

Part three introduces pastoral applications and personal testimonies about the work of peacemaking. The essays in this section contribute towards a comprehensive approach of peace as a posture affecting all areas of modern life, whether interpersonal or systemic in nature. As the parent of three young children, all of whom enjoy Star Wars and war miniatures, I was immediately intrigued by Harriet Sider Bicksler’s Teaching Peace to Children Who Play War. With prompting from Walter Wink’s musings on the Myth of Redemptive Violence, I have often pondered whether our family’s stated commitment to non-violence can effectively cut through playtimes reenacting the World Wars or the Battle of Hoth. Sider Bicksler’s article offers a nuanced approach to these concerns, accounting for both the ethical dilemmas and potential developmental benefits associated with pretend war play. And her practical suggestions are most appreciated in my current season of parental life.

Two excerpts from the work of Ronald J. Sider are true to form, offering prophetic reflections on Christian ethics in an American context. Sider’s essay on Peacemaking and Economics introduces the important systemic component of peacemaking as a counter-cultural rejection of social evils, and as such is an important contribution to the wider volume. However, I am struck by the oddity that Sider’s essay on Biblical Faith and the Unborn ends with the question “[w]hat programs and policies in church and society should we then promote?” (155), which in this volume goes unanswered so as to not include too much of the published work from which it was drawn. While I understand the complex nature of publishing agreements, the abrupt end found in this volume is both awkward to read and leaves A Peace Reader with barely any discussion about the practical work of living out a pro-life position. Such practical discussion is even more vital in our present post-Dobbs context (which postdates this volume by two decades).

Also ranking high in this section of the book is Marlin Jeschke’s essay on criminal justice reform. His proposed reorientation of criminal justice towards reconciliation and restitution as means of rehabilitation is most intriguing. I must admit that despite being aware of the New Testament’s teaching on both of those topics, I had not contemplated them within a criminal justice framework prior to reading this essay. And as a result, I suspect that this essay might provide for some riveting (and ever-timely) discussion for its target audiences.

The testimonies in part four add personal tales to the wealth of theoretical and practical reasoning found elsewhere in the book. I appreciate the inclusion of each of these reflections, as it is all too common for books about peace and non-violence to linger exclusively in the realm of theory, this even though much of our learning comes in the form of stories (as is certainly the case in the era of movies and television). Mark Twain’s The War Prayer is a classic of pointed satire and has a rightful place in this volume (although I believe it would be a better fit in the third section). I am especially struck by E.J. Swalm’s essay, Nonresistance Under Test. The role of testimony in the church context is to provide edification for others to more faithfully follow Jesus, and Swalm’s reflections about pressures to abandon his nonresistant posture during a time of war fit that mold perfectly. Although the present context(s) of most potential readers of this book now lack an enforced military draft, this essay serves as a window into the sorts of social and structural obstacles to peacemaking alluded to in A Peace Reader’s introduction.

Part five concludes the volume with reflections on the then-emerging militaristic patriotism of the War on Terror period. Reading those essays nearly a quarter century later, when the zeitgeist is altogether different (captured internally by the rise of far right ethnonationalism and externally by wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine) offers an interesting experience. Circumstances are quite different, yet the challenges to holding a consistent peace witness remain the same. We must, as Duane K. Friesen suggests, continually orient our lives around the story of Jesus rather than the myths of our society, so that we might respond to evil in a more Christlike manner (255).

Final Assessment

This book’s nature as an edited volume adds some complexity to the review process. As a collection of essays stemming from different disciplines it includes a multiplicity of voices and perspectives, and therefore cannot be judged in the same manner as one would judge a book written with a single authorial voice. Therefore, this assessment will be based on the stated aims for the volume. According to its introduction, A Peace Reader is designed to both explore the interplay between the church, the state, and violence and to provide a response to the social inclinations towards violence that Christians face in many modern contexts. It is furthermore targeted at Christian college students, Sunday school classes, and study groups as a “teaching and learning tool” (xi-xii). So, how well does this book achieve these stated goals for its claimed audience(s)?

First, its usefulness as a “teaching and learning tool” for the stated audience. The essays in this work are for the most part written at an appropriate level for the student, Sunday school, and study group target audiences, especially if they are used as discussion tools by a pastor or professor. There is thankfully a minimum of technical jargon on display throughout the volume, and none of the essays deal with esoteric pursuits. While some of the ideas presented may be novel to certain readers, I do not foresee any essay isolating the book’s intended readers in terms of style or presentation. I suspect that certain essays might be of more immediate relevance for those target audiences, namely the scriptural/theological reflections in Part 1 and John A. Byers’s essay on interpersonal church conflict. This is not to say that any of the included essays appears irrelevant to the target audiences, so much as a reflection on circumstances in which the book is most likely to be used.

Second, the goals. Through its many essays, this volume addresses a comprehensive number of issues that ought to be classified as dealing with “peace”. Included essays address how nonviolence ought to be carried out in reference to war, abortion, economics, child rearing, racial reconciliation, criminal justice, and refugee crises. Militarism certainly is a central topic given both its publication date and the nonresistance posture long held by members of the Brethren in Christ. But this work is not exclusively about militarism, and that is to its credit in a post-draft American context. That said, there are some gaps. A greater number of practical reflections on peacemaking, perhaps including information on how to exercise a multifaceted approach to peace within a church context, would have been appreciated. Theological reflection on peacemaking is an essential component of the life of the church, and a gift for those whose ministries involve preaching and teaching. But the work of peacemaking must include all members of the church: those outside of ‘ministry,’ those who enjoy social influence or economic access, those with little to offer in traditional material senses, people with varied spiritual giftings, and even children. Targeted essays towards those groups, and especially how they might counteract the temptations of American militarist/consumerist/conformist culture, would benefit this volume greatly towards achieving its stated goals.

There is also curiously little discussion of peacemaking and peacemakers in the latter half of the twentieth century, with historical and theological overviews addressing the issue from ancient times through the World Wars and the fifth section focusing on the War on Terror. Yet the impacts of the Vietnam War, counterculture movements, and Civil Rights eras continue to be felt decades later, even if they are often improperly taught.⁵ These concerns aside, the editors should be commended for their pulling together of such a diverse group of important topics. I am also impressed by how relevant these reflections remain nearly a quarter century after the volume’s publication (and longer for some of the essays). The immediacy of 9/11 aside, this is a volume that I suspect can continue to serve as an important resource for churches and seminaries of the present decade to weigh the complexities of being a “peace people”. Such is owing to its overall vision of peace as more than the absence of violence, but instead as a commitment to pursuing shalom. And for that I am thankful.

1. “A Copy of the Confession of Faith of the Brethren,” pages 551-554 in Quest for Piety and Obedience: The Story of the Brethren in Christ by Carlton O. Wittlinger (Nappanee, Indiana: Evangel Press, 1978): 554.

2. Brethren in Christ U.S., Manual of Doctrine & Government [2022]: 13.

3. Brethren in Christ U.S., Manual of Doctrine & Government [2022]: 21.

4. Accents & Issues: Christians and War; Accents & Issues: Violence; Articles of Faith & Doctrine: Article V: The Holy Spirit and the Church; etc.

5. I think here of the whitewashing that has occurred with the Civil Rights movement, which in my own primary education ignored the economic and justice reform components of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ministry.