by Fr. John Dear, SJ
Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace
It’s hard to handle the profound challenges of Gospel nonviolence, especially when they stand in such stark contrast to our culture, our country, our world, even our church. That’s why this new collection of essays, A Faith Not Worth Fighting For: Addressing Commonly Asked Questions about Christian Nonviolence (edited by Tripp York and Justin Bronson Barringer, Cascade Books/Wipf and Stock Pub., 2012, with a foreword by Stanley Hauerwas and an afterword by Shane Claiborne), is such an important book for these painful times.
You’ll say I’m biased, since an essay of mine on Jesus’ civil disobedience in the temple is included, but I say this is a necessary book, even required reading for every Christian struggling to accept the nonviolence of Jesus in this world of permanent warfare.
I agree with my friend, evangelical activist and author Shane Claiborne, who writes in the afterword that this book will become “a classic, a handbook for Christian peacemakers around the world.”
Yes, we need to fight for justice and peace, but nonviolently. So maybe a better title might have been A Faith Not Worth Killing For. The point: Christians do not kill, no matter what the cause, no matter how noble, no matter how holy. We do not kill. End of story…