This website is operated by Ted Grimsrud for the purpose of gathering materials I have written on theology, the Bible, pacifism, issues of war and peace, and other ethical themes . I recently retired from teaching theology and peace studies at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. My professional homepage is here. And here is an autobiographical essay I wrote for a conference on “Journey with Jesus.” I write occasional pieces at my blog, Thinking Pacifism. I warmly welcome responses and reactions to the materials on this site.
Peace Theology 
Your essays on Revelation are of great inspiritation to me at this point as I consider to make “cruciformity”/”Lamb power” as the only answer for the Israel/Palestiininan conflict the theme of a doctoral thesis. You might skim through my website http://www.becruciform.com to see where I am coming from. I am not of a Mennonite background, but believe I will find much in the way of resources from you and others such as Yoder. Thanks and blessings — Ron Wilson
Daniel Marsh
6539 Linville Dr
Brighton, MI 48116-9531 USA
Dear Peace Theology and Pastor Willard Swartley — please forward if need be, Please pray, my Doctor says I have gallstones.
There has been a lot of deaths in our families — My Father ( murdered during a home invasion), My Brother (murdered by a drunk driver on Christmas), Wife’s’ Mother (decrease and age), My Uncle Joe (murdered by a neighbor), Uncle Glenn (Cancer), and many more.
My Sister Terry recently died this Christmas, Holiday season in a drive by, wrong place, wrong time.
My Wife’s Dad died last week.
I had to retire early from Teaching without a pension due to Cancer.
I volunteer in classrooms and teaching Teachers.
I am dealing with health problems related to Cancer, Degenerative Bone Disease and related Surgeries, but God has Blessed me with co-workers like you all in the Lord.
I am the care giver for senior family members — Walt(wife’s dad), Mary(my Mother), Gladys(Wife’s Aunt) and Joyce(also related to my wife).
May I have a copy of Homosexuality: Biblical Interpretation and Moral Discernment, free of charge, please.
Thank You for your Time, Efforts and Kindness.
Daniel Marsh
Thank you, Ron. I think there is a lot to be gained by bringing together Paul’s theology of the cross with the Lamb in Revelation. Your website looks very interesting, I hope to spend more time there soon. Best wishes on your thesis!
Hi Ted;
It’s been a while since we’ve communicated but I just want to say that I discovered your blog recently and have started absorbing some of your consistently fine writings. I wasn’t aware of your “Wavelength” music program, but also share some of the same interests, having, in the last few years, attended concerts by Richard Thompson, Steve Earle, James McMurtry (twice), Anne McCue, Bruce Cockburn, Bruce Springsteen, etc.
I do some of my own writing some of which, with quite a few photographs, are included on my blog at http://www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com. Our youngest of four daughters is getting married on Saturday, so life moves on! Thanks for the work and effort you’ve placed in this blog, and blessings to and your family.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, Idaho
Ted, Just happened to tune in to wavelength today for the first time, and am being so overwhelmed by so much awesome music all at once that I had to try to find a playlist, which led me here, so I thought I’d drop a line to say your selections are awesome. Half of the stuff you’re playing I already have and love, and the other half has made me realize my collection is woefully short. I was surprised to hear Tom Waits, he doesn’t usually get a whole lot of radio play. I got to see him live in concert this summer in Atlanta – most amazing show of my life! Anyway, Thanks for playing such great music!
Hello,
My name is Mason Wolf, and I run the local blog aggregator “Harrisonburg Blogs” – ‘hbblogs.com’. One of my regular visitors wondered if you would like to be aggregated there as well. If you’d like to do that, please use the signup form here – http://hbblogs.com/add-your-feed/. It’ll only take a minute.
Harrisonburg, VA. I was in Harrisburg, PA….oh well the thought is the same. Love in Christ, Pam
Hi Ted. Love your site. Too much to take in at one sitting, so I’ll have to come back. Lots of very good material to reflect upon. Thanks!
Thanks, Robbert. I would love to pick up again on some of our conversations….
Ted Grimsrud,
i enjoyed reading your review of loconte’s book, The end of Illusions. I agree with you that while he obviously desired that his readers would accept his view that wars are sometimes the necessary decision for Christians, he certainly did today’s Christians a favor by highlighting some of the best American pacifist Christian writings of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Please look over my review of the same book in my August 2009 monthly message at http://www.pacifistchristian.org.
Bill Elster
Hi Ted,
your essays and articles are of gr8 inspiration to me at this point as I consider to follow this course “PEACE THEOLOGY” during my studies.
I believe I will find much from your blog subsequently.
Thanks and be blesses.
Sir Stanley.
I have recently learned that I will be getting your book “Embodying the Way of Jesus: Anabaptist Convictions for the Twenty-First Century” for Christmas and am looking forward to reading it!
Great, Eric. Please let me know what you think.
I just read your sermon on justice (2009) where you cite the execution of Joseph O’Dell. I am so pleased to see you have incorporated his injustice into a teaching sermon for the world. I am the person who was behind his cause, Lori, and I thank you for keeping his name alive.
Warm regards,
Book announcement
Title: Blood Guilt : Christian Responses to America’s War on Terror
Ten years in the making, a recently published book takes a reflective look back at America’s War on Terror, and does so from a Christian perspective. “Blood Guilt” recounts a decade of Christian involvement in America’s first “war” of the twenty-first century. With virtually all American troops scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, many people are questioning whether the sacrifice was worth the cost in lives and resources. The author, however, asks a different, but more important question — one with spiritual significance: Why is it that those who claim to follow the Prince of Peace are the staunchest advocates of war than any other demographic group in America?
According to a 2003 Gallup poll, church-going Americans were more likely to support a war against Saddam Hussein than Americans with no faith. Mahatma Gandhi once observed, “The only people on earth who do not see Christ and his teachings as non-violent are Christians.” “Blood Guilt” examines why this is so. The book provides an answer as to why Christians have, for the most part, “lost their saltiness” when it comes to their witness against war (Luke 14:34-35).
For more details, including select quotes, the Introduction, and two complete chapters which can be downloaded and read on your computer, please visit New Covenant Press’s web site: http://covenant.nu
Publisher: New Covenant Press (http://covenant.nu)
Date of publication: Sept. 11, 2011
Chapters: 37
Pages: 534
I am currently working on a Thesis at Houston Baptist University on the topic of a biiblically based concept of separation of Church and state. The church has a mandate, the state has a mandate and the christian cannot simutaneously participate in both when it comes to wielding the “sword”. Based in part on Romans 12 and 13. I look forward to reviewing all the material on your site, starting with ” A Yoderian Reading of Romans”.
Best regards,
In Christ-
Rick
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Hi Ted, you might remember me from Eugene, the church next door where you came to use the copier :). I’m still there 20 years later. I landed on your blog after following a First Things reference to Yoder’s misconduct. I was totally blown away by that story and had no idea. I was at Notre Dame while Yoder was there. Being a philosopher, I’m still willing to give the man’s ideas a hearing. Rejecting an argument because of the proponent’s character is one of the basic logical fallacies, ad hominem, and the First Things blog I read did just that, finding fault with pacifism, because its best-known proponent was a moral failure.
But that’s just all by way of explanation of how I landed here. Greetings. I miss our conversations and hope you are well and thriving as a teacher.
In Christ,
Steve
Thanks for keeping up with this blog. I need a sane voice as a process what’s become of many of my evangelical friends. Got you bookmarked.
Ted, I especially appreciate your WWII insights regarding long range ramifications. Has your “Not a good war…” article been published in a scholarly journal? Does Eastern Mennonite University have a publication in which your article appeared?
Hi Ted
What do you think of Bonhoeffer’s pacifism, ultimate and penultimate
I am Bonhoeffer type pacifist
Bonhoeffer was a pacifist and believed that in a perfect world with no bloody dictators or genocides or other evils preying on innocent people we Christians should be absolutely and always non-violent. On the other hand, as I have argued here before, I know from reading Bethge’s magisterial biography of Bonhoeffer that, when presented with the opportunity and (he believed) necessity of participating in a plot to assassinate Hitler, he chose the penultimate—that which is less than perfect but necessary given reality as we know and live in it now.
Please I am doing a thesis work on the topic:
Is the death of Jesus on the Cross sufficient for the salvation of Mankind?
The kind of Atonement
Accidental
Moral Influence
Example Theory
The Government Theory
The Substitutionary Theory
I have written on related themes, though it has been a while. Perhaps something at this link would be helpful:
https://peacetheology.net/salvation/