peacemaking

Review: The Bible is not Enough

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The Bible is not Enough, Scot McKnight. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023.

Summary: In reaction to the embrace by American Christians of “humane” approaches to war and Christian nationalism, calls for an imaginative and improvisational approach to living out the Bible’s vision of a peaceful world.

This book reflects a response of Scot McKnight both to the rise of an aggressive Christian nationalism and an embrace of “humane” approaches to war through high tech precision weaponry. His concern is the embrace by American Christians, of ideas approving war both upon culture and our enemies abroad, justified by saving America for God. But where does the idea of the Bible not being enough come in? He argues that if instead we are to be people following the Prince of Peace, we need a new beginning that our political founding documents can’t offer. He writes:

“The Bible offers some raw materials of a new beginning. But the Bible itself has been become [sic] another tool of the ‘humane.’ The audaciousness of the Bible has been tamed–tamed and then co-opted. All too often the Bible is weighed against itself, allowing extreme to mitigate extreme, sometimes even pushing the other end off the stage. But that is not how the Bible worked or works. The Bible did so because the times called for it. The Bible imagines a peaceful world and then insists upon improvisation to realize that peace” (pp. 5-6).

McKnight then proceeds to assert that peace is fundamental to the Christian’s calling. God has made peace with us through Christ and made peace possible between opposing peoples through Christ, breaking down every human division. Peace shapes the vision of Christians for their lives in the world, calling forth imagination of new possibilities where peace has been absent. Peace calls us to improvise beyond the text of scripture to realize that vision in present day society. The remaining four chapters unpack McKnight’s thoughts of the shape of this imaginative improvisation on the Bible.

First of all, he invites us to a prophetic Imagination. He elaborates the peaceful vision the prophets proclaimed describing the coming of God’s kingdom rule, longed for by Israel in exile, and later under Rome. The coming of Jesus represented a turning point where an imagined future becomes kingdom imagination. In Jesus, kingdom has come. But what kind of kingdom? It is one that precludes war in a call of discipleship lived for others, manifested in the righteousness of the Sermon on the Mount, wholehearted love for God, neighbors, and even enemies, and the cruciform life, a denial of self and sacrificiality for others.

The kingdom imagination is an improvisational imagination. McKnight notes how the law of scripture shows marks of improvisation from wilderness to settlement and kingship to the ministry of Jesus and the life of the church. He addresses divorce law, for example and the laxity that often affected women adversely, the high standard uttered by Jesus, with the Matthean addition and Paul’s further exception. Thus African-American Christians improvised in envisioning their own liberation and so we might improvise in the pursuit of peace, presumably even against structures and ideas rooted in some formulation of biblical law (for example, the use of “just” or “humane” means in war). Finally, this improvisation arises from a peaceful imagination. It is an imagination that refuses to kill either Christian or non-Christian for the sake of the state, that takes up only the sword of enemy love, that imitates Christ in the way of peacemaking as a person of peace in every sphere.

There is much that is compelling in what McKnight writes. The central idea of Jesus as the king of peace and what it means to be a person of peace as one of his followers is a defining character of what it means to call oneself Christian. This is how Christ’s kingdom works and grows. Justifying war or embracing culture war runs against all this. I found myself struggling at two points:

One was, how far are we to be engaged in bringing in the peaceable kingdom? And how much awaits the return of Christ? Sometimes, it seems that McKnight was simply urging us to seek peace and pursue it to whatever extent we can, employing peaceful imagination (and I would argue that this may accomplish far more than we expect). At times, it felt he was suggesting nations act this way. It felt like he was trying to replace Christian nationalism with a Christianized state. Can the ethic of Christians and that of states in a fallen world be the same? If states are ordained to restrain evil by both punishing law-breakers and providing for defense from aggressors, can those who lead and enact these functions abdicate their responsibilities? And must Christians refuse any position, civil or military, where force must be ordered or exercised? I think McKnight would say yes. But this leaves others to do the “dirty work.” I would have liked for McKnight to have addressed these questions.

I also wonder about his improvisational approach to the Bible. How would he differentiate his improvisational approach to the Bible from that of Christian nationalists? I think this language is actually not helpful. The Bible, rightly handled, is enough to persuade me that the call of Christians is a call to peace, to shalom. McKnight makes that point for me by pointing to biblical texts, not by improvisation. Applying those texts in daily life certainly does take a biblically informed imagination but I think the language of improvisation, of the Bible not being enough, is reckless, and might open doors McKnight and I would rather see remain closed.

What McKnight challenges is our love of war and neglect of peace. If we are serious about Jesus, McKnight asks to what is our imagination devoted–to peace or to war, to defeating our enemies or loving them, to making one nation great, or proclaiming the Prince of Peace to the nations? And I would propose that the Bible is enough to answer that question.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Fight Like Jesus

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Fight Like Jesus, Jason Porterfield (Foreword by Scot McKnight). Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2022.

Summary: A study of the accounts of Holy Week through the lens of how Jesus chose peace amid his ultimate confrontation with power.

For someone who has been following Christ over fifty years, Jason Porterfield helped me look at the accounts of Holy Week with fresh eyes. He believes that a key to understanding the actions of Jesus throughout this week is found in Luke’s account of the “triumphal entry” at 19:41-42 where it is written:

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes” (NIV)

Porterfield sees the whole week as Jesus’ campaign of peace, that corrects our mistaken notions of making peace.

Each chapter takes one day of Holy Week (except for combining Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday) and looks at the peacemaking way of Jesus.

Palm Sunday; Confronting the religious and Roman power, people herald him as king but he rides in on a donkey, not a charger, entering the city through the gate where sacrificial lambs would enter. Peacemaking doesn’t evade conflict but moves toward it but extends peace to all. He bids us to follow the way of the Lamb.

Monday: The clearing of the temple seems a most “unpeaceful” action. Porterfield makes some interesting observations. The whip of “cords” may be understood as rushes braided together, primarily used to shoo animals. The te and kai language of John 2:15 (Porterfield conflates this with the synoptic accounts) indicates that “all” references the sheep and cattle, and not people. Jesus concern is the radical inclusion of the Gentiles, repulsed by turning their court into a marketplace. The lack of violence is evident in the lack of response of Roman authorities standing by to keep peace.

Tuesday: It’s the day of confrontations, of traps, and truth-telling, of giving Caesar his coin but calling on people to render their whole lives to God. He speaks truth to the hypocrisy of those plotting his death and in his “little apocalypse” warns his followers to flee rather than indulge in violent revolt, to feed the hungry rather than fighting in an insurrection.

Wednesday: We see the chosen road of the Sanhedrin in Caiaphas words that one should die for all; the beautiful act of the woman and Jesus’s defense of attempts to marginalize her; and finally the betrayal of Judas. Porterfield sees two diverging roads, toward and away from Jesus. Which will we choose?

Thursday: The focus here is on the new command to love one another, forming a new community where love is given and received. We call it Maundy Thursday because of Jesus “mandate.” He also deals with the “two swords” of the disciples and sees this not as a license for bearing weapons but to fulfill prophecy. He says two will be enough. Enough to fulfill prophecy about Jesus among the rebels; certainly not enough for any real defense!

Friday: The two forms of peacemaking–that of Jesus and the violent one of Barabbas stand side by side. Instead of the message of vengeance, Jesus speaks a word of forgiveness, and by refusing retaliation breaks the cycle of violence with forgiveness of all through his death.

Saturday/Sunday: Drawing on the illusions of scripture to the “harrowing of hell,” Porterfield points to the call to trust God in the darkest places. Then we have resurrection Sunday and the appearance of Jesus to the disciples bidding them “peace” even as he commissions to be his ambassadors of peace.

The book is designed to be read and discussed through the Sundays of Lent, taking one day each week. Of course, it may also be used for a series of Holy Week readings. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are also included. The chapters include “peacemaking” applications drawn from the narrative.

I found that the lens of peacemaking takes disparate events and and weaves them together in a powerful and compelling narrative, one where we see the contrast between how God makes peace with the world’s attempts, often violent, to “make peace.” Porterfield combines exegesis that pays attention to often-overlooked details with pastoral applications that call us, not to passivity, but the active peacemaking of people following Jesus. This comes at a time where a robust peace witness of the church in a world fraught with violence has rarely been more needed.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program.

Review: Posting Peace

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Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It, Douglas S. Bursch. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021.

Summary: A discussion of the nature of online media, why it divides us, and how Christians can have a reconciling and redemptive presence.

I’m not sure if social media platforms were ever idyllic places, although my son tells me that it was a lot better before my generation got on Facebook and Twitter. In recent years I’ve seen both the delightful and disturbing parts of this media. On the delightful side, I host a book page with over 10,000 followers with fascinating discussions around books and the bookish life of bibliophiles. Then there are mean-spirited and outright false postings, sometimes in repeated comments that, in one instance, led to blocking someone I considered a good friend. I felt I was being used rather than engaged and that what I did was right but I am still disturbed about it, five months later.

Douglas S. Bursch saw plenty of angry in talk radio, where he worked as a host, trying to elevate the show to thoughtful discussion. He explores the peculiar nature of online media, its “always on” nature and how easy it is to post half-formed, often emotional responses to those we don’t even know. We may have thousands of connections and yet feel strangely anonymous, even as are those on our friends list. He calls this “networked individualism” where we are loosely connected to many people but deeply tied to few. Many really exist to meet some need of ours, and when they don’t, they are dispensable. We become numb to relationships. Part of what encourages this is that the media fosters “disincarnate communication.” We show what we want others to see as do they in curated versions of who we really are. Furthermore, social media facilitates a tribal mentality both through our willed choices of who to like and follow and the algorithms that track our behavior and show us who and what we want to see and read. Often, our own tribe has no motive to resolve conflict–we so affirm each other, and those on the outside, in the security of their tribe, are so odious that why bother. Unlike a real world situation where we do have to live with different people, we don’t on social media, and sadly learn ways of relating that translate into the real world as well.

Bursch, a middle child (like me) describes the theme of peacemaking and reconciliation in his life that came to fullest fruit in coming to faith in Christ who reconciled him to God and others. He presses out the implications of this for the online behavior of those who count themselves Christ-followers. He argues that bringing people closer to God and one another ought be a way of life online (and in real life). He proposes five questions that ought to be part of our peacemaking plan:

  1. Is reconciliation my motivation?
  2. Are people my priority?
  3. Am I communicating truth with love?
  4. Where is the grace?
  5. What is the Spirit saying?

He even presses this out into the unpleasant encounters we have with internet trolls, who he reminds us are actually people (unless they are bots).

He also addresses something I’ve always wrestled with as a peacemaking middle child. There are some things we cannot make peace with. Deliberate falsehoods. Racism. Sexual predation. Unjust systems. One of the constructive things he commends is the platforming of the marginalized, particularly by those of us who are socially dominant. It may be that instead of spouting our own ideas, we invite the ideas of those pushed to the margins.

Bursch believes in the power of posting peace. He describes a woman by the name of Freedalyn who, when COVID broke out, went silent, until some discovered she used libraries for internet access. Many had been concerned because they had experienced her quiet, caring presence online. He concludes the book with ways we might make room for the Lord in our online engagement.

At the end of each chapter, Bursch provides questions for reflection and exercises that include the assignment to post online with the hashtag #PostingPeace. The combination of a theology of reconciliation with concrete practices that runs through this book offers the chance of helping us more intentionally and charitably engage online. It has been of growing concern to me that there are no winners in the divisive discourse we see and sometimes join online. Furthermore, when Christians join in such discourse, we turn many against Christ. The warning of Matthew 18:16 haunts me and I don’t want to go swimming with a millstone around my neck! Douglas Bursch not only helps us understand the challenges of online media but offers hope that we can pursue a better way that makes a difference.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

“What Will Peace Among the Whites Bring?”

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Douglass

Frederick Douglass, Public Domain via Wikimedia

“If war among the whites brought peace and liberty to the blacks, what will peace among the whites bring?” Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1875.

I came across this statement by Frederick Douglass in David W. Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass. He was speaking at a July 5 picnic in the black section of Anacostia, called Hillsdale. Douglass, escaped slave and abolitionist had spent the ten years after the end of the Civil War working with Republicans, especially under Grant, in advocating for the full civil liberties of Blacks in the South under what is known as Reconstruction. One of the things that broke his heart was the tendency of Northern whites to reach accommodations with those in the South–accommodations that turned a blind eye to lynchings and the suppression of the vote and hindered black citizens in their efforts to get educated and make economic progress. These accommodations were the “peace” to which Douglass referred, and what Douglass foresaw were all the odious outcomes of Jim Crow.

I wonder if things have really changed. I would contend that whenever a white person points out evidence of the continued racialization of our country, and our unwillingness to truly face the original sin of racism that has passed from generation to generation in our country North and South, one can expect a smackdown. Whenever one speaks against abuses of civil rights of people of color, whether it is racially-profiled traffic stops, the shooting of unarmed “suspects,” or keeping refugee children in cages, one can expect pushback.

On social media, this often comes in the form of “trolling” and “gaslighting” comments that are broadsides interested neither in substantive discussion nor truth. I’ve had this happen when I’ve written on such things. The social pressure is to toe the line, and stick to posting cute pet videos.

One thing I notice when this happens. All of the people making these kinds of posts and applying this social pressure are whites as I am. Increasingly, this makes me wonder what they are afraid of losing or what injustices they are complicit in that they just do not want to face. I wonder why they are so bothered they feel the need to do this. Have I disturbed their peace?

I’m a middle child, and so peacemaking comes natural. But Douglass alerts me to a kind of peace we cannot make. We cannot make peace when it allows the exploitation or subjugation or unjust treatment of other human beings. Making this kind of peace, “toeing the line,” as it were means turning my back on the suffering of fellow human beings whose difference from me is something as superficial as skin pigment.

I’m not one of those who is constantly writing on issues. I prefer writing about books I’ve enjoyed or my beloved home town of Youngstown. But there are times when I realize that refusing to write to keep the peace (as well as engaging in other forms of advocacy and engagement) is to buy my peace at the expense of others.

Someone has said, “may the peace of Christ disturb you.” I think that is right. We should be disturbed when we see people Christ loves being excluded from the wholeness, the flourishing, that biblical peace involves.

So don’t be surprised if I don’t pay attention to your attempts to get me to keep the peace and toe the line. It’s not that I don’t like peace. I just like it for all human beings and not just “my kind.”

Review: The Peacemaking Church

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thepeacemakingchurch

The Peacemaking Church, Curtis Heffelfinger, (Foreword by Ken Sande). Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2018.

Summary: Outlines a pro-active approach to peacemaking in the church consisting of eight principles that enable us to do our very best to pursue the peace and unity that is ours in Christ.

Church conflicts can be truly painful and leave deep scars on those who get caught up in them, especially pastors. Curtis Heffelfinger is one of them, and writes out of his own experiences of conflict, and lessons learned in working with Ken Sande, author of The Peacemaker, who contributes a foreword to this volume. After a near fatal church conflict, Heffelfinger developed a pro-active approach to peacemaking that is “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). He contends that “the best fight your congregation ever experiences is the one you never get into in the first place”. Critical to that is the “eager” in Ephesians 4:3. Over fifteen years, Heffelfinger developed a culture and practices that set a priority on eagerly doing one’s best to maintain Spirit-given unity.

In the next eight chapters, Heffelfingers lays out eight biblical keys to his proactive approach, organized into three parts. In Part One, he focuses on three priorities that preserve unity in Jesus’s church, drawing upon Ephesians 4:1-6. First, he focuses on how we see ourselves as peacemakers–walking worthily, as the Lord’s prisoners, as one called by the Lord. Second, he focuses on the virtues of Ephesians 4:2-3–humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and eagerness–that ought shape our approach to peacemaking. Third, he considers the “right doctrine” on which our thinking ought be based–all the “ones” of Ephesians 4:4-6.

Part Two focuses on three pitfalls to avoid that threaten unity. The first, is anger–murder in the mind. He speaks of the festering rage that can be so destructive in conflicts. Second, he bluntly points out the scriptures that prohibit Christians litigating conflicts in civil courts. I’m glad for the inclusion of this chapter, having observed denominational leaders in conflict with a church (in the peace church tradition, no less) ready to go to court, and being surprised when 1 Corinthians 6 was called to their attention. Third, he turns from going before judges to being judges in the church in the area of disputable matters. He writes:

“If you want to do the best you can to preserve unity in your church, you have to learn to think this way: Mine is not to change my brother’s mind; mine is to embrace my brother. We must do that whether he is strong or weak, eating or not, drinking or not, smoking or not, movie- and theater-going or not, and a host of other so-called gray areas, doubtful things, or principles of conscience the Scripture does not color in black-and-white. So the gist of welcoming as a gospel-shaped community is an ongoing determination to embrace others in spite of differences over morally neutral matters.” (p. 102)

Part Three focuses on two practices that foster unity. The first is intercepting relational disasters before they ever occur. He looks at the example of Abram in Genesis 13 as he deals with potential tensions with his nephew Lot, observing the pro-active, relationally centered, humble, and generous approach of Abram. Second, he focuses on the importance of honoring spiritual leaders, though imperfect, who work with excellence to serve. The complement to servant leadership is respectful followership.

The book concludes with a reflection on Psalm 133 and the images of the fragrant oil and the refreshing and life-giving dew that describe the goodness and pleasantness of dwelling in unity.

I’m not convinced that these practices will avoid all conflict but rather lay the groundwork for constructive differences that resolve into even more durable unity and deeper love. The work is one worth a read by every church leadership board, or even as part of preparation for church membership. It could be used well in an all-church seminar on peacemaking. Curtis Heffelfinger works from passage to passage, undergirding principles with biblical precepts, as well as personal examples that illustrate those principles. Heffelfinger models a vulnerability, a lack of self-protection that seems essential to peacemaking. This book is a good complement to Ken Sande’s work, which focuses on healing and restoring peace. Heffelfinger’s book is about preventive care for the church, preserving the healthy and delightful peace that is God’s gift to his people.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

 

Review: Resolving Conflict

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Resolving Conflict

Resolving Conflict, Lou Priolo. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2016.

Summary: A practical guidebook to the biblical prerequisites and principles of resolving conflicts between Christians both in home and church contexts.

It might be said that wherever two or more are gathered there is conflict. It is part of the human condition and just because one is a follower of Christ does not mean you can escape conflict. We can try to avoid it, or we can do it very badly. Lou Priolo argues there is a better way and that is to do it biblically, which offers the potential of making peace with each other and going deeper in shared community together.

Priolo begins by outlining four biblical prerequisites to conflict resolution: humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. He devotes a chapter to each, surveying the scriptures that speak of these qualities. Priolo argues that these chapters are actually the most important of the book. The last, loving forbearance, is especially important where sin is not at the root of the conflict. People may just be different from each other and sometimes learning to bear with and even begin to delight in those differences can circumvent many conflicts.

At the same time, that is not always possible, so how does one, embracing the four prerequisites, resolve conflict? The next ten chapters get very practical with the “how” of conflict resolution. He begins by distinguishing three kinds of conflict: those over differentness, those over sinfulness, and those over righteousness (where we disagree about what is right). He explores how love communicates, how we respond to reproof, the heart motives behind conflict, ways we respond unbiblically to conflict, good questions we can ask to resolve conflict, how far to go in a conflict, and the importance of doing all we can insofar as it depends on us to resolve conflict.

In addition to the prerequisites, this book assumes three things about the reader. One is that you are really serious about resolving conflict, serious enough to taking a hard look at your own contribution to a conflict, to face the ways you have sinned against another, and to be willing to take personal steps to change. Second is that you really want your life to be shaped in detail by the teaching of scripture regarding conflict, as well as in other matters. Every chapter includes detailed biblical material and Priolo wants to call things, particularly our sins, according to what scripture says. Finally, this book assumes you are willing to do some hard work, first in self reflection through checklists and journalling exercises, and then in conversation with another.

For those with familiarity with various forms of Christian counselling, Priolo is a disciple of Jay Adams. The book reflects a rigorous Reformed perspective including frequent quotes of one of the best of the Reformers, Richard Baxter, and in marriage relationships assumes a complementarian perspective, though not aggressively advancing this. One need not share these perspectives to benefit from the counsel and exercises Priolo provides. His discussion of the prerequisites for resolving conflict and the exercises that prompt self-reflection would seem helpful regardless one’s theological persuasion.

The style is highly readable and one gets a clear sense of the author’s voice. It may not be the reader’s and the author encourages people to put things in their own words, not just mimic his. All told, this is a useful resource for conflicts in homes, and in the church.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.