These are two recent essays I have written reflecting on the present relevance for Christian theology and ethics of the 16th century Anabaptists.
They are: “Anabaptism for the Twenty-First Century” and “Whither Anabaptist Theology.” Both are included in my book, Embodying the Way of Jesus: Anabaptist Convictions for the Twenty-First Century
Introduction to Revelation–Sermon #1: “Living in Apocalyptic Times”
The Book of Revelation is best read as peace literature, even though most Christians in the past 2,000 would not agree. I will be developing the case for such a reading in a series of posts. These will be drawn from a set of sermons I am presenting at Shalom Mennonite Congregation in Harrisonburg, VA, during 2008 and 2009.
In the posts I will summarize the main points of my argument that are developed at more length in the sermons. The full written versions of the sermons will be available in the “page” area of this site. Click here for the first sermon, “Living in Apocalyptic Times.”
Years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on by Jacques Ellul, the French Protestant social thinker and “lay theologian.” I still consider books such as The Presence of the Kingdom
I am glad I read it; it helped me remember why I found Ellul a stimulating thinker. I don’t really regret not having read it sooner, though. It is not a very substantial book. And, like too many of Ellul’s books, it’s written in a pretty haphazard style.
However, this is an important book for not other reason than that it does remain one of the few works by a serious theologian who also takes anarchism seriously.
Here is a short review I wrote several years ago of J. Denny Weaver’s important book,The Nonviolent Atonement
This is a pdf link to an article I have published a couple of places (here). The first version was published in a British journal called Justice Reflections. This is the journal’s website (here). The version I am linking to was published in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s Web Journal (website).
I published this article a number of years ago (here). I traces the development of my thinking about pacifism and argues for pacifism as a sort of worldview.
This is the playlist for Wavelength’s 5/17/08 show here
In the May 1, 2008, New York Review of Books British historian Tony Judt published a perceptive article, “What Have We Learned, If Anything” (here), that reviews many of the consequences of past and present wars. He answers the question in his title with a “probably not.”
I need to give one quote that seems to me to capture the counter-productivity of war very well: Continue reading
Peace Theology 