Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your
10 th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
JULY 5- 7, 2024 •
LAGOS, NIGERIA
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
A Greeting from the General Secretary
Dear Friends,
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Yet far too many around the world suffer the pains of injusKce, and within the BWA family, 30% of all BWA BapKsts live in contexts of war, persecuKon, and extreme hunger. Jesus prays with us when we weep tears into the night for a rescue that might not occur. Jesus walks with us when we struggle and stumble up insurmountable hills. Jesus comes to us when we gather in our individual homes. Jesus embraces the suffering of the world when he opens his palms, exposes his side, and invites us to touch the very wounds of hurt, pain, and death. The wounds of Jesus are deep enough to heal the wounds of this world. As we gather for the 10th BapKst InternaKonal Conference on Theological EducaKon (BICTE) under the theme, “Blessed are the Peacemakers: Becoming Agents of Peace,” we give thanks. To all who make gatherings like this possible, thank you. We give special thanks to BICTE Planning CommiWee Chair Dr. Todd SKll and to BWA Director of Integral Mission Rev. Everton Jackson for their leadership as well as to all the members of the commiWee for their commitment, and to Fuller Theological Seminary and George W. TrueW Theological Seminary for their sponsorship. To the many who prepared presentaKons and who traveled from dozens of naKons to gather in Lagos, Nigeria, thank you.
We affirm again our commitment to theological educaKon as an act of discipleship. Theological educaKon as discipleship is urgent today from the development of small groups of spiritual formaKon for all ages to formal training for those called by the Lord. As the BWA resolved in Havana, Cuba in July 2000, we “affirm the role of theological educaKon as essenKal for the development of pastors and church leaders who will bring servant leadership to the task of developing growing and vital churches to carry out the mission of the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” As we gather in this 10th BICTE, we reaffirm our commitment to pursue theologically informed discipleship that seeks to release the whole people of God for the whole ministry of God across the whole of the world.
We further affirm our commitment to become Agents of Peace. In this Kme of great need as isolaKon mounts, families fragment, and wars and rumors of war abound, the beginning point remains as the BWA resolved in Miami Beach, Florida, United States of America in July 1965:
We call upon the na-ons of the world to use the conference table to se4le all interna-onal disputes and to use the agencies of the United Na-ons to this end. We call on all governments to renounce the use of nuclear arms, to desist from the tes-ng of nuclear weapons for war, and to destroy all stockpiles of nuclear arms a?er appropriate safeguards are given and received. We call upon people of faith and good will in all churches, in all religions, and in all na-ons to use every valid channel – social, poli-cal, economic and religious – to end all forms of war and to establish a just peace.
Jesus Christ is the prince of peace and hope of the world. Humbled by the tesKmonies of those around us and convicted to embrace the courage given to us by Jesus, may this 10th BICTE commission us again to journey into the wounds of this world as Ambassadors of Just Peace and Flourishing Freedom.
Together in shared discipleship,
Rev. Elijah M. Brown, Ph.D.
BWA General Secretary and CEO
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Event Schedule
Friday, July 5, 2024
1:30-3:00 pm Registration
3:00 pm Plenary 1 – Opening Worship
• Leader – Enoch Thompson
• Speaker – Israel Akanji
3:55 pm BREAK
4:15 pm Plenary 2 – “Peace in the Scriptures: Probing the Gospels and Paul”
• Moderator –Tomás Mackey
• Speaker – Todd Still
• Responder – Johnathan Hemmings
• Table Talk
6:00 pm DINNER
7:30 pm Plenary 3 – “Restorative Justice”
• Moderator – Alan Donaldson
• Speaker – Gato Munyamasoko
• Responder – John Eyinnaya
• Table Talk
9:00 pm Evening Prayers
• Leader – Vee Tetseo
Saturday, July 6, 2024
6:30 am BREAKFAST
8:00 am Devotions
• Leader – Stephen Stookey
• Speaker – Bob Garrett
8:30 am Plenary 4 – “Peacemaking and Christian Unity”
• Moderator – Dickson Madoghwe
• Speaker – Rula Khoury Mansour
• Responder – Larry Ashlock
• Table Talk
10:00 am BREAK
10:30 am Plenary 5 – Special Discussion of “The Future of Theological Education in a Plural Context: Possibilities and Challenges”
• Facilitator – Anna Robbins
• Moderator – Dickson Madoghwe
12:00 pm LUNCH
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
1:00 pm Regional Conversations about Peace – Panel Discussion
• Facilitator: Karen Bullock
o AABF – Ngwedia Paul Msiza and Samson Olasupo A. Ayokunle
o UBLA – Anita Leon Romero
o CBF – Dwight Frazer
o EBF – Helle Liht
o NABF – Patricia Hernandez
o APBF – Akheto Sema
2:15 pm Plenary 6 – “Peaceableness and the Practice of Church Meeting”
• Moderator – Karl Johnson
• Presenters – Cassandra Jones
• Table Talk
3:45 pm BREAK
4:00 pm Plenary 7 – “Peaceful Home and Family” Panel Discussion
• Moderator – Emiola Nihinlola
• Panelists
1. Rachel Lateju
2. Abigail Daniel Dariya
3. Anslem Warrick
6:00 pm DINNER
7:30 pm Plenary 8 – Special Evening with Peacemakers
• Facilitator: Angelique Walker – Smith
• Speakers
1. Rula Khoury Mansour – Israel
2. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi – Ghana
3. Igor Bandura – Ukraine
9:00 pm Evening Prayers
• Leader - Esther Ayandokun
Sunday, July 7, 2024
6:30 am BREAKFAST
9:00 am Worship (together with Humanitarian Aid Course participants and Others)
• Leader – Todd Still
• Speaker – Samuel Reeves
10:30 am BREAK
11:00 am Plenary 9 – “Non-Violence in the Anabaptist Tradition”
• Moderator – Eric Black
• Presenter – Mardn Rothkegel
• Table Talk
12:30 pm LUNCH
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
1:30 pm Affinity Groups
Breakout 1: Seminary Presidents/Deans/Professors and Lecturers
How important are peace studies in theological education and how can they be incorporated into the curriculum?
Facilitator: Stephen Stookey
Breakout 2: Clergy/Denominational Leaders
What are just peace initiatives that conventions and churches can adapt to their context for violence prevention and peacemaking?
Facilitator: Mark Wilson
Breakout 3: Others
What is just peace and what is the role of citizens in the peace process?
Facilitator: Everton Jackson
2:45 pm Plenary 10 – Closing Worship
• Leader – Emiola Nihinlola
• Speaker – Merlyn Hyde-Riley
4:00 pm Closing (followed by Coffee Fellowship)
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Presenters
Cassandra Jones
Cassandra Aline Jones, PhD, a nadve of San Francisco, USA, was immersed very early in the ethos of the BWA as a pardcipant in one of the Bapdst Youth World Congresses. Her love for music saw her gaining immeasurable experiences in choral and instrumental music as well as formal training exemplified in a Bachelor’s Degree from Spelman College and Master’s Degree from Southern Methodist University. Responding to a call to ministry, Cassandra gained her theological educadon at Southwestern Bapdst Theological Seminary where she earned her master’s degree and subsequently a PhD, the first African American female to earn a PhD in the history of the insdtudon. As a theological educator, she has lectured in educadonal ministry and leadership/administradon. Currently she serves on the faculty at Clinton College (South Carolina, USA) in Religion and Ministry studies as well as Rockbridge Seminary where she teaches master ’s and doctoral students online. Cassandra has had the privilege of lecturing in other parts of the world, for example, two cides in China where she has taught educadonal ministry, and as guest professor at the Evangelical Theological College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, teaching a course in educadon.
Mar,n Rothkegel
Mardn Rothkegel is a notable church historian/professor who studied Greek and Ladn philosophy, theology and pedagogy in Hamburg, Thessaloniki, Vienna and Prague. A disdnguished scholar, Marin earned his ThD degree in 2001 from Charles University, Prague and his Dr. Phil in 2005 from the University of Hamburg. Between 2001-2005, he served as a research assistant at the University of Heidelberg and the Joachim Jungius Society of Sciences in Hamburg and engaged in legal traineeship between 2005 and 2007. Between May and August 2007, he served as research assistant at Phillipps University of Marburg. Since September 2007, Mardn has been serving as Professor of Church History at the Elstal Theological College.
Munyamasoko Gato
Munyamasoko Gato Corneil, the 2025 BWA Human Rights and Justice award recipient, is the current Canadian Baptist Ministries’ Africa Peace and Reconciliation Specialist. A PhD candidate at Carey Theological College, Gato has earned for himself a License in Theology from Carey Theological College, a Diploma in Integral Mission and one month training in Restorative Justice and Conflict Resolution at Mennonite University, Winipeg. He is also the proud recent of a honorary degree from Acadia Divinity College, Halifax, Canada. He is married and the proud father of seven children.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Rula Khoury Mansour
Rula Khoury Mansour is a Palesdnian-Israeli Chrisdan lawyer and theologian. She is the founder and director of the Nazareth Center for Peace Studies and an associate professor of Reconciliadon Theology and Chrisdan Ethics at Nazareth Evangelical College. She lectures, conducts research, and offers training and consultadons in congregadons and various insdtudons, both locally and internadonally, with the aim of empowering individuals and communides as peacebuilders. She has authored a book and contributed ardcles and book chapters to various journals and volumes. In her previous role as a lawyer, she worked for over a decade as a public prosecutor and served as the deputy head of the prosecudon office in Nazareth. Rula holds a PhD in Peace Studies and Theology from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in the UK, a Master's in Conflict Resoludon from Tel-Aviv University, and a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She lives in Nazareth with her husband, Bader, and their three sons: Adi, Rami, and Sami.
Todd S,ll
Todd D. Sdll, PhD, currently serves as Charles J. and Eleanor McLerran DeLancey Dean and William M. Hinson Professor of Chrisdan Scriptures in Baylor University’s George W. Trueq Theological Seminary. Dr. Sdll, who was named as the seminary’s firh dean in February 2015, joined Trueq’s faculty to teach courses in New Testament and Greek in the fall of 2003. Before coming to Baylor, Dr. Sdll taught at Gardner-Webb University’s School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, NC, where he occupied the Bob D. Shepherd Chair of New Testament Interpretadon, and at Dallas Bapdst University in Dallas, TX, where he served from 1995-2000. Dr. Sdll holds the Bachelor of Arts in Greek and sociology from Baylor University (1988), the Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages from Southwestern Bapdst Theological Seminary (1991), and the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, Scotland (1996). He has also studied at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England (1993) and the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland (1994). Addidonally, he has served as an Honorary University Fellow at the University of Exeter, England (2008) and as the William Barclay Disdnguished Visidng Fellow in Biblical Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland (2019). A Pauline scholar, Dr. Sdll is the author of numerous books, ardcles, reviews, and Bible study materials. He has also edited several volumes. Currently, Dr. Sdll serves as the President of the Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents, the Chair of the Theological Educadon Commission of the Bapdst World Alliance, the Secretary of the Society of New Testament Studies, and as a Board Member of the Associadon of Theological Schools and Colleges in the United States and Canada.
Friday Opening Worship
Friday, July 5 • 3:00 – 3:30 pm
Liturgist: Enoch Thompson
Preacher: Israel Akanji
Preparation for Worship
Silence
Song of Preparation – “There Is a Sweet AnoinBng in the Sanctuary”
There is a sweet anoin-ng in this sanctuary. There is a s-llness in the atmosphere. Come and lay down the burdens you have carried. For in this sanctuary, God is here.
He is here, He is here
To break the yoke and li? the heavy burden.
He is here, He is here.
To heal the hopeless heart and bless the broken. Come and lay down the burdens you have carried. For in this sanctuary, God is here.
Call to Worship
L: So, Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
P: Jesus calls us! Jesus calls us here from the East and West, North and South to hear a message of peace.
L: Whether you feel far from God, or near to God, this peace can be yours this afternoon, a gift from the God of grace.
All: Fill us with your peace; the peace that passes understanding, peace that bubbles over and needs to be shared.
Opening Hymn – “Sweet Peace, the GiG of God’s Love”
Words & Music: Peter Philip Bilhorn
1. There comes to my heart one sweet strain, A glad and a joyous refrain, I sing it again and again, Sweet peace, the gir of God’s love.
2. Through Christ on the cross peace was made, My debt by His death was all paid,
Refrain:
Peace, peace, sweet peace, Wonderful gir from above, Oh, wonderful, wonderful peace, Sweet peace, the gir of God’s love.
No other foundadon is laid. For peace, the gir of God’s love.
3. When Jesus as Lord I had crowned, My heart with this peace did abound, In Him the rich blessing I found, Sweet peace, the gir of God’s love.
4. In Jesus for peace I abide, And as I keep close to His side, There’s nothing but peace doth bedde. Sweet peace, the gir of God’s love.
Invocation – Enoch Thompson
Responsive Reading – Ma#hew 5:3-16
L: Blessed are the poor in spirit, P: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
L: Blessed are those who mourn, P: for they will be comforted.
L: Blessed are the meek P: for they will inherit the earth.
L: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, P: for they will be filled.
L: Blessed are the merciful, P: for they will be shown mercy.
L: Blessed are the pure in heart, P: for they will see God.
L: Blessed are the peacemakers, P: for they will be called children of God.
L: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, P: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
L: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me
P: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
L: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saldness, how can it be made salty again?
P: It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
L: You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
P: Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
L: In the same way...
P: let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Scripture Reading – Ephesians 4:17-32 (NIV)
Instruc)ons for Chris)an Living
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gendles do, in the fudlity of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensidvity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceiuul desires; 23 to be made new in the awtude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are sdll angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redempdon. 31 Get rid of all biqerness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Worship in Song –“How Great is Our God”
The splendor of a King, Clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice, He wraps Himself in light, And darkness tries to hide, And trembles at His voice Trembles at His voice
Chorus
How great is our God, Sing with me, How great is our God, And all will see How great, how great is our God
Age to age He stands, And dme is in His hands, Beginning and the end, Beginning and the end, The Godhead Three in One, Father, Spirit, Son, The Lion and the Lamb The Lion and the Lamb
Name above all names, Worthy of our praise, My heart will sing, How great is our God.
Homily – Rev. Dr. Israel Akanji (President, Nigerian Bap>st Conven>on)
Closing Hymn –“We are Called to Be God’s People”
We are called to be God’s people, Showing by our lives His grace, One in heart and one in spirit, Sign of hope for all the race. Le us show how He has changed us, And remade us as His own, Let us share our life together, As we shall around His throne.
We are called to be God’s servants, Working in His world today; Taking His own task upon us, All His sacred words obey,
Words: Thomas A. Jackson Music: Franz Joseph Haydn
Closing Prayer – Enoch Thompson
Benedic`on
Let us rise, then, to His summons, Dedicate to Him our all, That we may be faithful servants, Quick to answer now His call.
We are called to be God’s prophets, Speaking for the truth and right; Standing form for godly jusdce, Bringing evil into light, Let us seek the courage needed, Our high calling to fulfil, That we all may know the blessing, Of the doing of God’s will.
“Now the God of peace …. Make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, Working in you, that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Friday Evening Prayers
Friday, July 5 • 9:00 – 9:15 pm
Liturgist: Vee Tetseo
Gathering for Worship
Silent Reflection – How did we hear the Spirit today?
A Reading on Two Kinds of Wisdom – James 3:13-18 (NIV)
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor biqer envy and selfish ambidon in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambidon, there you find disorder and every evil pracdce.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impardal and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Responsive Reading – Prayer for the Future Wri#en by Ken Untener for Cardinal Dearden (commonly known as “The Prayer for St. Oscar Romero“)
L: It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
P: The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision.
L: We accomplish in our lifedme only a dny fracdon of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
P: Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
L: No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfecdon. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objecdves includes everything.
P: This is what we are about.
L: We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundadons that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilides.
P: We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of libera`on in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning – a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
L: We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. All: Amen.
10th
Worship in Song – “Be Thou My Vision”
[Verse 1]
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light
Reflections – Vee Tetseo
Worship in Song – “Be Thou My Vision” (Cont’d)
[Verse 3]
Be Thou my baqle shield, sword for the fight
Be Thou my armor, and be Thou my might
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower
Raise Thou me Heavenward, O Pow'r of my pow'r
[Verse 4]
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Hеaven, my Treasure Thou art
[Verse 5]
High King of Heaven, my victory won May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Sdll be my Vision, O Ruler of all
Departing Words
[Verse 2]
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one
“The key element in beginning to learn to embody the love of God is not heroic faith and determinadon. It has to do with whether or not we can take hold of the love of God as a power that includes us within it. The difference is between seeing life from the inside of God versus seeing it from within my own sensibilides and capacides. From inside the love of God, suffering becomes not only bearable, but a privilege of pardcipadng with Christ in his love for the world. This cannot be radonally explained or jusdfied, but it is the fruit of a life trusdngly lived in and for God who is all love.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
Saturday Morning Worship
July 6 • 8:00 – 8:15 am
Liturgist: Stephen Stookey
Speaker: Bob Garreq
Gathering for Worship Silence
Preparation for Worship – “Be SXll for the Presence of the Lord”
Be still, for the Presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here Come bow before Him now with reverence and fear In Him No sin is found we stand on Holy Ground
Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here
Be still, for the Glory of the Lord is shining all around He burns with Holy Fire, with splendor He is crowned How awesome is the sight our Radiant King of light Be still, for the Glory of the Lord is shining all around.
Call to Worship
“You are the indispensable agent of change. You should not be daunted by the magnitude of the task before you. Your contribution can inspire others, embolden others who are timid, to stand up for the truth in the midst of a welter of distortion, propaganda, and deceit; stand up for human rights where these are being violated with impunity; stand up for justice, freedom, and love where they are trampled underfoot by injustice, oppression, hatred, and harsh cruelty; stand up for human dignity and decency at times when these are in desperately short supply. God calls on us to be his partners to work for a new kind of society where people count; where people matter more than things, more than possessions; where human life is not just respected but positively revered; where people will be secure and not suffer from the fear of hunger, from ignorance, from disease where there will be more gentleness, more caring, more sharing, more compassion, more laughter, where there is peace and not war.”
– Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream
Responsive Reading – Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
L: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
P: where there is hatred, let me sow love;
L: where there is injury, pardon;
P: where there is doubt, faith;
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
L: where there is despair, hope.
P: where there is darkness, light;
L: where there is sadness, joy.
P: O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
L: For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
All: Amen.
Scripture Reading – Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Homily – Bob Garrett
Worship in Song – “Let There Be Peace on Earth”
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Creator Family all are we Let us walk with each other In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now. With every step I take May this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment and live Each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Closing Prayer – Stephen Stookey (Extemporaneous)
Parting Words
“If the church took up the responsibility of caring for the poor, of living incarnadonally, of pardcipadng in the unspeakable gir of giving, our world would look much different from the way it does today. Jusdce is a stewardship issue, caring for the poor is a stewardship issue, loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is a stewardship issue. We have the resources, but our priorides aren’t there yet.”
― John M. Perkins, Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win
Saturday Evening Prayers
July 6 • 9:00 – 9:15 pm
Leader: Esther Ayandokun
Gathering for Worship Silence
Call to Worship
"We say a person is a person through other persons. We don't come fully formed into the world. We learn how to think, how to walk, how to speak, how to behave, indeed, how to be human from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. We are made for togetherness, we are made for family, for fellowship, to exist in a tender network of interdependence. That is why apartheid, and all racism are so fundamentally evil for they declare that we are made for separadon, for enmity, for alienadon, and for apartness. Ubuntu enables reconciliadon and forgiveness especially when hearts have been inflicted with such pain... This is how you have Ubuntu you care, you are hospitable, you're gentle, you're compassionate and concerned. Go forth as a new doctor, conscious that everybody is to be revered, reverenced as created in God's image whether inner-city and rural areas go forth to demonstrate your Ubuntu, to care for them, to heal them especially those who are despised, marginalized. Go forth to make the world a beqer place for you can make a difference. The task is daundng of course, but it is our necessary struggle.”
Responsive Reading – Adapted from “Prayer for Peace” by Thomas Merton
L: Almighty and merciful God, Father of all men, Creator and ruler of the universe, Lord of all history, whose designs are without blemish, whose compassion for the errors of men is inexhausdble, in your will is our peace.
P: Mercifully hear this prayer which rises to you from the tumult and despera`on of a world in which you are forgofen, in which your name is not invoked, your laws are derided, and your presence is ignored. Because we do not know you, we have no peace.
L: From the heart of an eternal silence, you have watched the rise of empires and have seen the smoke of their downfall. You have seen Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome, once powerful, carried away like sand in the wind. You have witnessed the impious fury of ten thousand fratricidal wars, in which great powers have torn whole condnents to shreds in the name of peace and jusdce.
P: Save us then from our obsessions! Open our eyes, dissipate our confusions, teach us to understand ourselves and our adversary. Let us never forget that sins against the law of love are punishable by loss of faith, and those without faith stop at no crime to achieve their ends!
L: Help us to be masters of the weapons that threaten to master us. Help us to use our science for peace and plenty, not for war and destrucdon... Save us from the compulsion to follow our adversaries in all that
- Desmond Tutu from Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me by Michael Bafle
we most hate, confirming them in their hatred and suspicion of us. Resolve our inner contradicdons, which now grow beyond belief and beyond bearing. They are at once a torment and a blessing: for if you had not ler us the light of conscience, we would not have to endure them. Teach us to be long-suffering in anguish and insecurity. Teach us to wait and trust.
P: Grant light, grant strength and pa`ence to all who work for peace ... Grant us prudence in propor`on to our power, wisdom in propor`on to our science, humaneness in propor`on to our wealth and might. And bless our earnest will to help all races and peoples to travel, in friendship with us, along the road to jus`ce, liberty, and las`ng peace;
L: But grant us above all to see that our ways are not necessarily your ways, that we cannot fully penetrate the mystery of your designs and that the very storm of power now raging on this earth reveals your hidden will and your inscrutable decision.
P: Grant us to see your face in the lightning of this cosmic storm, O God of holiness, merciful to men. Grant us to seek peace where it is truly found. In your will, O God, is our peace.
All: Amen.
Reflections – Esther Ayandokun
Worship in Song –“I’ve Got Peace Like a River”
1. I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river in my soul. I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river in my soul.
2. I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain in my soul.
I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain in my soul.
3. I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean in my soul. I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean in my soul.
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of vicdms beneath the wheels of injusdce; we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Sunday Morning Worship
July 7 • 9:00 – 10:30 am
Liturgist: Todd Sdll
Preacher: Samuel Reeves
Gathering for Worship Silence
Musical Prelude
Call to Worship
L: Come, Lord God, to receive our worship. Come, Lord Jesus, to receive our praise. Come, Holy Spirit, to receive our thanks. Come, eternal God, come where we are gathered to celebrate reconciliation: yours with us, and ours with each other.
P: Your lifegiving Word and Spirit have conquered the powers of sin and death, which try to separate us from you. They have also conquered the powers of hatred, hostility, and bitterness, which try to separate your people from each other.
L: You have called us to be the salt of the earth - to preserve and enhance what is good.
P: You have called us to be the light of the world, to be beacons of your saving grace and your love.
L: You have called us to be peacemakers, and in so doing to be blessed and to bless many others. P: Even as we bring our sacrifice of praise to you, help us to bring the peacemaking ceasefire of resolution, understanding, loving acceptance, and reconciliation to our neighbors everywhere.
Hymn of Praise – “In Christ Alone”
In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are sdlled, when strivings cease My comforter, my all in all, Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gir of live and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save. ’Til on the cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was sadsfied. For ev’ry sin on Him was laid Here in the death of Christ I live
There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again! And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me For I am his and He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the pow’r of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny. No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand
’Til He returns of calls me home
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Invocation – Todd Still (Extemporaneous)
Responsive Reading – Adapted from Colossians 3:14-17 and Ephesians 4:1-6
L: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and padence.
P: Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
L: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
P: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
L: Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gradtude in your hearts.
P: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
L: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
P: Be completely humble and gentle; be pa`ent, bearing with one another in love.
L: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
P: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
All: one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
Offertory Hymn – “God of Grace and God of Glory” (Instruc-ons will be given as to how to give)
God of grace and God of glory, On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient Church’s story, Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, For the facing of this hour, For the facing of this hour.
Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us, Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways. From the fears that long have bound us, Free our hearts to faith and praise. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, For the living of these days, For the living of these days.
Cure Thy children’s warring madness, Bend our pride to Thy control.
Shame our wanton selfish gladness, Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal, Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.
Set our feet on lofty places, Gird our lives that they may be, Armored with all Christ-like graces, In the fight to set men free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, That we fail not man nor Thee, That we fail not man nor Thee.
Save us from weak resignation, To the evils we deplore. Let the search for Thy salvation, Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, Serving Thee whom we adore, Serving Thee whom we adore.
Scripture Reading – John 17:20-26 (NIV)
Jesus Prays for All Believers
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creadon of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will condnue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Intercessory Prayer – Prayer for Peace and JusXce
L: Dear congregadon, let us join our hearts in prayer for peace and jusdce in our world, liring up those affected by conflict and strife.
P: Gracious and Merciful God, we come before you with heavy hearts, aware of the many places in our world that cry out for peace and jus`ce.
L: We pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia, caught in the midst of conflict. Grant them safety, strength, and a path to lasdng peace.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: For Syria, where years of war have brought unimaginable suffering, we ask for healing, reconciliadon, and a return to stability.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: In Yemen, where famine and violence have devastated lives, we pray for an end to the fighdng and the beginning of recovery and peace.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: We lir up Israel and Palesdne, yearning for a just resoludon and the end of hosdlides. May peace and mutual understanding prevail.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: For Ethiopia, pardcularly in the Tigray region, we ask for the cessadon of conflict, the provision of aid, and the restoradon of harmony.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: In Myanmar, we pray for the protecdon of all people, the restoradon of democracy, and respect for human rights.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: For Afghanistan, struggling with new challenges, we ask for safety, especially for women and minorides, and for a future of peace and jusdce.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: We remember Sudan and the DRC, where violence and instability condnue to cause suffering. May peace, security, and jusdce take root.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: For Haid, facing polidcal turmoil and violence, we pray for stability, prosperity, and the well-being of its people.
P: Lord, hear our prayer.
L: God of peace and jusdce, hear our prayers for all places of conflict and strife. Guide the leaders of nadons, comfort the afflicted, and move us all to be peacemakers in your world.
All: Amen.
Musical Offering – Paule#e Mignot
Sermon – Samuel Reeves
Hymn of Response – “Thy Kingdom Come, O God”
Thy kingdom come, O God! Thy rule, O Christ begin! Break with thine iron rod the tyrannies of sin!
Where is thy reign of peace, and purity and love?
When shall all hatred cease, as in the realms above?
When comes the promised dme that war shall be no more, oppression, lust, and crime shall flee thy face before?
Closing Prayer – Todd SXll (Extemporaneous)
Exchange the Peace
Parting Words
We pray thee, Lord, arise, and come in thy great might; revive our longing eyes, which languish for thy sight.
Men scorn thy sacred Name, and wolves devour thy fold; by many deeds of shame we learn that love grows cold.
We as Chrisdans, so very oren, are willing to turn a blind eye; to be quiet, to not take up the cause. The Chrisdan response [should always be]: if it affects my sister or my brother – and we are all sisters and brothers – then it affects me. As Paul says: “Perfect love casts out fear”. We engage in loving acdon because it is loving acdon, and we pay no regard to our fears. The bumper sdcker citadon is: “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” So if we are praying, we have all the courage we need. – Mpho Tutu van Furth
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Benediction
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Musical Postlude
Closing Worship
July 7 • 2:45 – 4:00 pm
Liturgist: Emiola Nihinlola
Preacher: Merlyn Hyde-Riley
Gathering for Worship
Silence
Call to Worship
L: What does the Lord require of you?
P: To do jus`ce and to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.
L: Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For thou you dthe, you have neglected the weighder maqers of the law: jusdce and mercy and faithfulness.
P: The Lord says: Do jus`ce and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor those who have been robbed – the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow and all those who occupy the category of the disadvantaged.
L: Jusdce without peace is a scandal to the Gospel of Christ.
P: Kindness and truth shall meet; jus`ce and peace shall kiss.
ALL: God has reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Hymn – “I Am the Way”
I am the way, the king of the victory I am the truth, Lord of the Harmony I am the light, light of the world to be
REFRAIN: Hosanna, I hold your hand, my friend Hosanna, I give you strength, my friend Hosanna, to walk the seas, my friend
We gonna sail to victory
Sailing (sailing), sailing (sailing), sailing cross the river sailing
Sailing (sailing), sailing (sailing), sailing cross the river sailing Freedom (sister), freedom (brother), freedom in the life of Jesus
I am the vine, you shall abide in me I am the river, you shall be cleansed in me I am the rock, you shall have life in me
I am your God, rising in victory.
I am your brother, living in flesh with thee I am your saviour, dying on Calvary
Fr. Richard Ho-Lung, Jamaica
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Scripture Reading – John 14: 25-31 (NIV)
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
Worship in Song – “For Everyone Born”
For everyone born, a place at the table, For everyone born, clean water and bread, A shelter, a space, a safe place for growing, For everyone born, a star overhead.
And God will delight when we are creators Of justice and joy, compassion and peace: Yes, God will delight when we are creators Of justice, justice and joy.
For woman and man, a place at the table, Revising the roles, deciding the share, With wisdom and grace, dividing the power For woman and man, a system that’s fair.
Homily – Merlyn Hyde-Riley
For young and for old, a place at the table, A voice to be heard, a part in the song, The hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled, For young and for old, the right to belong.
For just and unjust, a place at the table, Abuser, abused, with need to forgive, In anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy, For just and unjust, a new way to live.
For everyone born, a place at the table, To live without fear, and simply to be, To work, to speak out, to witness and worship, For everyone born, the right to be free.
Congregational Covenant to Be Peacemakers
“God waits for God’s partners – we! And God has a dream: God has a dream of a world that’s different, a world in which you and I care for one another, because we belong in one family.
And I want to make an appeal on behalf of God. God says, can you help me realize my dream – my dream of a world that is more caring, a world that is more compassionate, a world that says people maqer more than things, people maqer more than profit. That’s my dream, says God. Will you please help me realize my dream? And I have nobody except you.” – Desmond Tutu
L: Beloved congregadon, we gather today with a sacred purpose: to commit ourselves to the call of Christ to be peacemakers in the world. In the spirit of unity and love, let us prepare our hearts and minds to embrace this holy commission.
P: We come with open hearts, ready to be instruments of God's peace in the world.
L: Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." As followers of Christ, we are invited to be bearers of peace, jusdce, and reconciliadon in our communides and beyond. Let us reflect on the words of Scripture that guide us in this mission.
Reader 1: From Maqhew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
Reader 2: From James 3:18: "Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."
Reader 3: From Romans 14:19: "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edificadon."
Reader 4: From Ephesians 4:3: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
Reader 5: From Colossians 3:15: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
L: In the light of these scriptures, we now commit ourselves to the ministry of peacemaking. Let us join in our commission prayer.
All: Gracious God, we stand before you as your children, called to be peacemakers in a troubled world. Empower us with your Spirit to sow seeds of peace and jus`ce wherever we go. May our words and ac`ons reflect your love and bring healing to those who are hur`ng. Help us to seek understanding and reconcilia`on in our rela`onships, communi`es, and the wider world. Guide us to be bold in our pursuit of jus`ce and humble in our service to others. As we commit to this holy work, let your peace rule in our hearts, uni`ng us as one body in Christ. We dedicate ourselves to this mission with gra`tude and hope, trus`ng in your everlas`ng grace.
L: As we leave this place, let us carry the peace of Christ into the world. May our lives be a testament to His love and our acdons a beacon of His peace in the East and West, North and South.
P: We go forth as peacemakers, commifed to living out the call of Christ in our daily lives. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer in Many Languages
Closing Hymn – “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” (The Prayer of Saint Francis)
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love Where there is injury, your pardon Lord And where there's doubt, true faith in you!
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope Where there is darkness, only light And where there's sadness ever joy.
Oh, master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Benediction
Leader:
Go into the world in peace. Be of good courage, hold fast to that which is good, Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted, Support the weak, help the afflicted, Honor all people, love, and serve the Lord, Rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.
Make me a channel of your peace It isn't pardoning that we are pardoned In giving to all men let we receive And in dying that we're born to turn around.
Oh, master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console To be understood as to understand To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope Where there is darkness, only light And where there's sadness ever joy
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
PEACE IN THE SCRIPTURES: PROBING THE GOSPELS AND PAUL
Todd SXll
Introduc`on
As we consider together the announced theme for this tenth Bapdst Internadonal Conference on Theological Educadon, namely, “Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Becoming Agents of Peace,” we do well, it seems to me, to turn at the onset to the biblical witness. Indeed, the conference dtle itself is a pardal citadon of Jesus’ famed words recorded in Maqhew 5:7: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons and daughters of God.”
Having said that, it is not possible within the dme alloqed for this session to provide a suitable survey of sacred Scripture on the pervasive and pressing topic of peace. Thus, for our present purposes, I have opted to focus our aqendon on what the Gospels and Paul have to say on this subject of perennial importance. More specifically sdll, I have chosen to consider how the term “peace” (Greek eirene) and its cognates feature in the Gospels of Luke and John on the one hand and the Leqers of Romans and Ephesians on the other.
As it happens, there is a comparadve concentradon of eirene in these four New Testament documents. At least at first glance and on the surface of things, then, it makes some sense to center our study of peace on these given Scriptures.
The Gospel of Luke: The Path of Peace
Taken together, Luke and its companion volume Acts account for nearly 25% of the occurrences of eirene in the Greek New Testament.i Notably, from near the start of the Third Gospel, peace appears. In fact, three of the four Lukan candcles recorded in Luke 1-2 contain the term.
Peace in Luke’s CanBcles
Moving past Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56), in Zechariah’s Benedictus, recorded in Luke 1:6779, the aged priest praises the Lord for coming to redeem his people by raising up a “horn of salvadon” (1:69). The salvadon Zechariah envisions, which was to be set into modon through his son John, was to offer God’s people “salvadon from [their] enemies and from the hand of all who hate[d] [them]” (1:71). Furthermore, the longed-for salvadon of which Zechariah sings was to be seen as a sign of mercy and of covenant fidelity, providing rescue from enemies and enabling Israel to serve the Lord in holiness and
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
righteousness without fear (1:72-75). With special respect to the preparatory ministry of John, the Bapdzer was to give God’s people “the knowledge of salvadon through the forgiveness of sins” (1:77), even as they awaited the Dayspring from on high who would both shine a light to dispel darkness and death and guide God’s people into the path of peace (1:78-79).
This andcipated peace is pronounced to unexpecdng shepherds by the heavenly host in their Gloria in Excelsis Deo. In a day when peace was commonly associated, if not conflated, with the rule of Rome and her emperors, peace is now claimed to come on earth to those on whom God’s favor rests (2:14). Furthermore, as the righteous and devout Simeon rightly recognizes in his Nunc DimiYs, God’s salvadon, which is meant to be revelatory for Gendles and glorious for Israelites, has now come through Jesus, the Lord’s Messiah. Thus Simeon, a servant of the Lord, could now at long last be at and depart in peace (see 2:25-32).
Peace Elsewhere in Luke’s Gospel
Beyond the Candcles, eirene appears eleven addidonal dmes in Luke’s Gospel. Instrucdvely, amid Jesus’ earthly ministry, a woman, who is said to have lived a sinful life (7:37), seeks out Jesus at the home of Simon, who is described as a Pharisee (note 7:36, 44). There, she washes Jesus’ feet with her tears; dries Jesus’ feet with her hair; kisses Jesus’ feet with her lips; and anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume poured from an alabaster jar (7:38). Although Simon scorns her (7:39), Jesus counters Simon and extends forgiveness to the woman (7:40-48), declaring that her faith has saved her and that she could go in peace (7:50). More than a customary phrase to say, “So long,” “Take care,” or “Good-bye for now,” Jesus’ admonidon to the now-forgiven woman to “go in peace” is of one piece with the healing and wholeness she had experienced and would condnue to experience by faith.
Similarly, Luke reports that even as Jesus was being pressed in upon by a crowd, “a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years” came up behind him and “touched the hem of his garment” (8:42-44). Her acdon prompted Jesus to ask in turn, “Who touched me?” If this quesdon was nonsensical to Peter and to other bystanders given the push of the crowd, Jesus was insistent that someone had touched him, and that power had gone out from him. (8:45-46). Seeing that she could not manage to get lost in crowd, the woman with the flow of blood came to Jesus. Trembling and falling at his feet, in the presence of all the people, she shared why she had touched him and what had happened when she did (8:47). Her confession was met by Jesus’ declaradon: “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace” (8:48; cf. Mark 5:34). Again, “Go in peace” connotes far more in this context than simply a pardng greedng.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Later in the Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus appoints and sends the seventy-two on mission, he offers them this instrucdon: “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house,’ and if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on the person; but if not, it will return to you” (10:5-6; cf. Maq 10:13). To be sure, to pronounce peace upon a place or a person is convendonal. Here, however, as elsewhere in the Third Gospel, eirene is imbued with a fuller meaning, signaling the peace of wellness, wholeness, and salvadon.
If eirene carries a similar connotadon in Luke when Jesus enters Jerusalem on a borrowed burrow to the cries of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (19:38; cf. Ps 118:26), when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem lamendng the city’s lack of percepdon regarding what would bring them peace (19:41), and when he pronounces peace upon his disciples when he comes to them arer his resurrecdon (24:36; cf. John 20:19, 21, 28), Luke 12:51-53 (cf. Maq 10:34-36) moves in a decidedly different direcdon. There, Jesus declares that he did not come to bring peace on earth; rather, he came to bring division, not least among families. Such a contrast is made intelligible when one accounts for the radical cost of discipleship and the wholesale rejecdon of Jesus as Messiah by many of his contemporaries.
The Gospel of John: “My Peace I Give to You”
In the Fourth Gospel, peace appears in clusters. Whereas the first three uses of eirene in John occur in two verses, John 14:27 and 16:33, the three other uses of the term appear in 20:19, 21, 28 (cf. Luke 24:36). In this secdon, we will treat these texts in turn.
“In Me You May Have Peace”
As Jesus offers his disciples instrucdon regarding the coming Holy Spirit (cf. 14:15-17; 15:26-16:15), he assures them that the Advocate, that is, the Holy Spirit, will teach them all things, even as the Paraclete will remind them of all the things that Jesus said to them (14:26). In speaking of the Holy Spirit’s coming, Jesus promises his ongoing presence and peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” says Jesus to his followers (14:27a). In contrast with the world and in concert with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus enjoins his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled nor to be afraid (14:27b; cf. 14:1).
Similarly, as Jesus concludes instrucdng his disciples in John 16, he informs them, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace” (16:33a). If in the world they will have trouble and tribuladon, in Jesus they can have peace (16:33b). What is more, they can take courage in Jesus who has conquered the world (16:33c; cf. 1 John 5:4-5).
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
“Peace Be with You!”
The Fourth Gospel comes to an extended close, with a profound, protracted postscript in John 21 following on arer recorded resurrecdon appearances of Jesus in John 20. Having appeared to Mary Magdalene near the newly hewn, never used garden tomb where he had been laid (see John 19:38-20:18), the resurrected, yet sdll-scarred, Jesus appears to and pronounces peace on his fearful, freuul disciples. Entering without knocking, Jesus comes to his own on a silent Sunday following an excruciadng Friday and a solemn Saturday declaring, “Peace be with you!” (20:19) With this, we are told, Jesus shows them both his nail-scarred hands and pierced side. His resurrected presence among them causes the disciples to rejoice (20:20).
If one good turn deserves another, Jesus repeats that which he had just said to them: “Peace be with you!” (20:21a) Here, however, he condnues by saying, “Even as the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (20:21b; cf. John 3:17; 6:57; 13:20; 17:18). A commission without uncdon and direcdon is fudle. Thus, like the Lord God in the garden (Genesis 2:7), Jesus breathes upon his breathless disciples and enjoins them to receive the promised Holy Spirit (John 20:22; note again 14:15-17, 25-26; 15:26; 16:7-15). Furthermore, by instrucdng them that they can both forgive and retain sins, he is empowering them to extend his work and witness in the world through the Holy Spirit, whom they had now received (note John 16:7-11).
There is yet a third and final pronouncement of peace in the penuldmate chapter of the Fourth Gospel. In John 20:24-25, one learns that Thomas, who was known as Didymus in his day and as “Doubdng Thomas” in ours, was AWOL when Jesus appeared to his other disciples. Despite the tesdmony of unnamed, unnumbered others, Thomas insists on seeing and touching the once-crucified, reportedly resurrected Lord for himself. If or undl he does, Thomas declares that he will never ever believe (20:25b; cf. 20:29). For him, it seemed too good to be true.
One week later, we are told, the disciples are once again reported to be together, this dme with Thomas present (20:26a). As before, locked doors were no barrier for the resurrected Jesus. As before, Jesus appears to them and pronounces peace upon each and all of them (20:26b). The come-and-see of John 1 becomes touch and see here. Moreover, Jesus tells Thomas to stop doubdng and to start believing (20:27). Jesus’ appearance and admonidon give rise to Thomas’s profound confession, “My Lord and my God!” (20:28), which is in concert with the soaring Prologue of the Fourth Gospel and may be seen as a climax of that expansive work.
The Lefer to the Romans: Peace with and through the God of Peace
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Turning to Paul’s lengthy leqer to the Romans, we discover that the term eirene appears ten dmes. With the excepdon of Luke’s Gospel, this is more frequent than in any other Pauline leqer or in any other New Testament document for that maqer.
From Beginning to End
Near the beginning of the leqer and in keeping with what we now recognize to be a Pauline paqern, Paul extends to Roman Christ-followers a greedng where grace (charis) is joined with peace (eirene) (see Rom 1:7).ii Commentators frequently suggest that even as grace mirrors the convendonal Greek greedng (charein) peace (eirene in Greek) is at one piece with the common Hebraic greedng shalom
Whatever the precise origin of this Pauline epistolary paqern, Abraham J. Malherbe thinks it likely that Paul “combined ‘grace’ with the Jewish ‘peace’ to create a new form of epistolary address appropriate to his purpose and the sewng in which he thought the leqer would be read.”iii
Even as peace appears near the outset of Romans, it also occurs near the leqer’s close. Arer commending and extending greedngs to no less than twenty-seven named individuals in 16:1-16, the apostle urges Roman Christ-followers to beware of and to steer clear of people who cause divisions and place obstacles in their spiritual paths (16:17). Paul warns the Romans, whom he joyfully regards to be obedient, about such self-seeking, smooth-talking people lest they be led astray. He wants them to be “wise regarding what is good and guileless in what is evil” (16:18-19). Having juxtaposed good and evil in 16:19, the apostle condnues in 16:20a by declaring, “The God of peace will soon [or shortly] crush Satan under your feet.”
Much may be said regarding the fourteen Greek words that comprise Romans 16:20a. I will limit myself to three remarks regarding this seemingly oxymoronic verse where peace and conquest are conjoined. In the first instance, it merits mendon that God is described as a God of peace. Paul also refers to God as a God in peace at the conclusion of Romans 15 (v. 33). There, he declares, “The God of peace be with you all. Amen.” Elsewhere in Romans, God is also characterized as a God of steadfastness, encouragement, and hope (note 15:5, 13). Peace, then, is among the manifold, manifest aqributes of God (cf. 1 Cor 14:33; Phil 4:9; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 13:20).
A second observadon regarding Romans 16:20a is this: It is all but stated that Satan, who is named only here in Romans, is a foe of Roman Christ-followers and is impotent in comparison to God. If the serpent of Genesis is told that it will strike humanity ’s heel (3:15), Paul assures the Romans that God will soon crush Satan under their feet. Mardn Luther would later capture this Pauline promise when he
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
contends in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” that “one liqle word shall fell” the Prince of Darkness grim.
A third and final thought regarding Romans 16:20a is that the divine conquest of the devil is meant to happen sooner than later. This claim is in keeping with Paul’s convicdon that “salvadon is nearer than when [Christ-followers] first believed” (Rom 13:12). Eager expectadon of a proximate parousia, where the night is waning and the day is waxing, should prompt believers to “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” and to “clothe [themselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ…,” and to think not “about how to gradfy the desires of the flesh” (Rom 13:12, 14).
Eirene Elsewhere in Romans
Even as eirene is present both at the beginning and the end of Romans, it also appears at various places throughout the leqer. In the early chapters of Romans, Paul maintains that “glory and honor and peace” await all who do good, be they Jew or Greek (2:10), only to lament laqerly that both Jews and Greeks are under sin’s sway (3:9). Thus, Paul can say with the prophet Isaiah that “the way of peace they have not known” (3:17 cidng Isaiah 59:8a).
This fact notwithstanding, sinful people can be jusdfied by God’s grace through faith in Christ (3:23-26) and can thereby have peace with God through Christ’s life-giving death (5:1, 6). Furthermore, those who are in Christ “walk according to the Spirit” are to “set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
To do so, Paul maintains, is both life and peace (8:5-6).
Far from an abstract theological concept, peace is a vital component of the kingdom of God (14:17), and Paul expects Christ-followers in Rome and elsewhere to “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (14:19). Indeed, if possible and to the extent that it depends upon believers, Paul issues the challenging call to “live peaceably with all” (12:18; cf. Mark 9:50; 2 Cor 13:11; 1 Thess 5:13; Heb 12:14).
The Epistle to the Ephesians: “He Is Our Peace”
For the purpose of this study, we turn finally to the use of eirene in Ephesians. As it happens, there is a higher concentradon of the term in Ephesians than in Luke, John, or Romans.iv Given that “peace” is employed in the leqer opening and closing in ways akin to that which we have already considered above (see 1:2; 6:23), we will focus here on the six other occurrences of eirene in Ephesians. We will pay special aqendon to Ephesians 2:13-17, where eirene is employed four dmes in six verses.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Before doing so, we do well to note that “peace” appears in Ephesians 4:3 and 6:15 respecdvely. In the first instance, eirene is used amid a series of exhortadons. The Ephesians are not only urged to “live a life worthy of the calling to which they had been called” and to “bear with one another in love” with all humility, gentleness, and padence (4:1-2), but they are also enjoined to make “every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3). This bond binds them and other believers together as one body with one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one bapdsm, and “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (4:4-6).
The other appearance of peace outside of Ephesians 2 that merits our aqendon here occurs in Ephesians 6:15. In the process of being encouraged to put on and to take up the whole or full armor of God, the Ephesians are told, among other things, “to lace up [their] sandals in preparadon for the gospel of peace.” This admonidon could well be an allusion to Isaiah 52:7, where the prophet pronounces: “How beaudful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvadon, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (cf. Rom 10:15).
Before turning our aqendon to Ephesians 2:13-18, where eirene appears four dmes in six verses, we do well to note the verses immediately preceding, namely, 2:11-12. There, a bleak picture is painted for “Gendles in the flesh,” who are labeled “uncircumcised” by those circumcised with human hands, that is, by Jewish people (2:11). In their uncircumcised state, the Gendle auditors of the leqer are described as “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12).
Despite their desperate spiritual plight, once far-away Gendles were brought near through Christ’s blood, that is, through his atoning death on the cross (2:13). Paul condnues in 2:14a by pronouncing that Jesus himself is our peace. It is he who has made Jews and Gendles one by breaking down the dividing wall of hosdlity between warring pardes and by sewng aside in his flesh the law with its commandments and reguladons (2:14b-15a). Christ did so, Ephesians instructs, so that he might not only “create in himself one new humanity in the place of two, thus making peace” but so that he might also “reconcile both [groups] to God in one body through the cross, thus puwng to death their hosdlity through it” (2:15b-16).
Ephesians expounds and explains that Jesus came preaching peace to both Gendles (i.e., those who were far away) and Jews (i.e., those who were near) (2:17). The spiritual and reladonal repercussions of Jesus’ peace-preaching and peace-making ministry are seismic. Through him both Jews and Gendles have access in one Spirit to the Father (2:18). What is more, Gendles are no longer foreigners or strangers, but are fellow cidzens with the saints and members of the household of God (2:19). This household, which
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
is built upon the foundadon of the apostles and prophets, has as its cornerstone (or keystone) Christ Jesus himself (2:20). It is in him that the whole building is joined together and rises into a holy temple. Addidonally, it is in Christ that Jews and Gendles are built together to become a dwelling place for God by his Spirit (2:21-22).
Conclusions
I would like to begin this paper’s conclusion by posing a Pauline quesdon recorded in Romans 8:31a: “What, therefore, shall we say to these things?” The short answer is rather a lot. Although dme and space constraints preclude a truly expansive, much less an exhausdve, answer, we can idendfy and highlight at least a few textual takeaways from our truncated treatment of peace in Luke, John, Romans, and Ephesians respecdvely. The formal response and ensuing conversadon to follow will happily unearth elements that I may have missed and emphasize areas that I may have glossed over in my study.
Perhaps we can begin at the beginning peace is consBtuBve to God’s very nature and character. God is the sine qua non of wholeness, fullness, completeness, and wellness. God is, as Romans 15:33 and 16:20 put it, “the God of peace” (ho theos tes eirenes).v What is more, peace, along with righteousness and joy, is meant to be part and parcel of the kingdom of God (see Rom 14:17; cf. Luke 2:14).
Addidonally, and relatedly, Jesus, the Christ, through his person and mission, came to promote and procure peace, at least and not least among his followers (note Mark 12:51; cf. Maq 10:13). He inaugurates and demonstrates peace as he goes about his work and witness, his mission and ministry. What Jesus said to the women with the flow of blood, he would say to all who would but believe, “Daughter, your faith has healed [or saved] you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48).
In Ephesians’ expansive, transformadve theological vision, Christ not only enables peace with God through the gospel that he preached and the death that he died for both Jews and Gendles, circumcised and uncircumcised, those who were near and far away, but he is also perceived and presented as the one who is peace and effects peace (see again Eph 2:11-22, esp. 2:14-18).
Because of Christ’s reconciling work, Christ-followers are, by faith, able to enjoy peace with God in the present with a hope-filled future (note esp. Rom 5:1-5). Furthermore, by the empowering, sancBfying presence of the Holy Spirit, believers are called to live in peace both with one another and with all people (see Rom 8:6; 12:18; 14:19; Eph 4:3; 6:23).
In John’s Gospel, as Jesus andcipates his departure, he assures his disciples that he is leaving his peace with them through the promised Holy Spirit. In a troubled, war-torn world, Jesus promises and
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
promotes peace among and through his own (John 14:27; 16:33; see, too, Luke 10:5; cf. Maq 10:13; Luke 19:38, 42).
Instrucdvely, and finally, even as the resurrected Jesus in John’s Gospel pronounces peace upon his disciples no less than three dmes (John 20:19, 21, 26), the one the Father sent now sends his Holy Spiritfilled followers into the world as an extension of himself (John 20:21). We do well, then, to perceive Jesus as the Prince of Peace (so Isa 9:6) and to promote that which makes for peace, recognizing full well that when the perfect comes, the pardal shall be done away with (1 Cor 13:10).
A Postscript
Several Johannine scholars regard John 21 to be something of a postscript to the Fourth Gospel. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, or so the saying goes. Stated otherwise, please suffer me a final, autobiographical word.
In the early 1990s, not long arer my wife Carolyn and I moved to Glasgow so that I could pursue a PhD in New Testament Studies at the University of Glasgow under the careful, thoughuul, and able supervision of John M.G. Barclay (now Lighuoot Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham, England), Uddingston Bapdst Church, located some seven miles from Glasgow’s city center, called me to be her pastor. In retrospect, I can now see this as both a grace and a peace. It was so, at least in part, because with my appointment as pastor came the use of the church’s manse. You might imagine what an amazing provision those lovely people and that lovely house were for a struggling PhD couple from Texas.
Many people in Scotland, indeed in the whole of Britain, give names to their homes. Ninety-six Old Glasgow Road, the manse’s street address, was no different. It was named by previous pastoral occupants wait for it Shalom. Frankly, it was not a place of perfect peace because our minds were not always steadfast and faithful (see Isa 26:3). It was frequently a haven and a harbor that I now see as a harbinger and a sign of a dme when “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”vi
i Eirene occurs 85 )mes in the Greek New Testament and appears 14 )mes in Luke and 7 )mes in Acts.
ii See, too, 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Gala)ans 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 3. Cf. 1 Timothy 1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:2, where mercy (eleos) is placed between grace and peace.
iii Abraham J. Malherbe, The Le4ers to the Thessalonians, Anchor Bible 32B (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 100.
iv In Ephesians, eirene occurs 3.3 )mes per 1,000 words. Luke employs “peace” .72 per 1,000 words, John .38 per 1,000 words, and Romans 1.41 per 1,000 words.
v Cf. 1 Corinthians 14:33; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; and 2 Thessalonians 3:16.
vi Julian of Norwich, Revela8ons of Divine Love.
A Response to “Peace in the Scripture: Probing the Gospels and Paul”
Johnathan Hemmings
Introduc*on
A word of thanks to the main presenter is not just what is expected of a respondent, but I am sure we all will agree that it is warranted in light of the presenta;on we received. We can also agree with sen;ments expressed by Todd, who said that the scope of the subject is inexhaus;ble and more so, given the constraint of ;me. As a consequence, a lot on the subject remains unsaid from the main presenta;on. It is for that reason I will use my limited ;me to try and fill in some of what I think could and would have been said.
There really was never a ;me when the pursuit of peace was not a relevant and an urgent maCer to be treated. However, for us living in the ;mes through which we are passing, we could be forgiven for thinking that the psalmist’s instruc;on to “seek peace and pursue it ” (Psalm 34:14) is more urgent and relevant now more than ever. The aCainment of peace in our ;mes seems to be heading in the wrong direc;on. Maybe this is why our focus is oPen in the wrong direc;on looking for a reality that was, rather than seeking a reality that is yet to be (harping back to the good old days)
The New Testament’s witness to peace climaxes with a vision of not the old (past) Jerusalem, but of a New (future) Jerusalem (Revela;on 21:9-22:5) It is the vision towards which we ought to work as peacemakers. And what a vision it is I think it is of interest to note if not above everything else in this vision that this New City of Peace is completely walled around, but that it has open gates on all sides. If nothing else, it indicates that this New Jerusalem, over which God presides, is not expansionist, as the walls are self-imposed boundaries. But the open gates indicate that it is inclusive, allowing entry to all diversi;es of culture and ethnicity This is the greatest rebuke to the peace that empire offers Being expansionist, the peace of empire is at the expense of other people's way of life and it is exclusive, excluding the refugees which they create by their expansionist tendencies which destroy the way of life of others. Peacemakers are those who work for the realiza;on of that vision of the New Jerusalem. They are those who seek it and pursue it.
Called as we are in this conference to pursue this vision, I would like to pick up where Todd leP off. I start where he ended. I start with the word or the concept of Shalom. If there is an element of the main presenta;on that could be strengthened, it is as it relates to the paucity of reference to the concept of Shalom, appearing only anecdotally in the last paragraph of the postscript. The presenta;on focused exclusively on eirene as the biblical word for peace. The Greek eirene a biblical (New Testament) word
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
that the English ‘peace’ is used to interpret cannot be properly understood without reference to Shalom which, in the main, eirene is used in the New Testament to interpret. It is important to bear in mind that the two, eirene and Shalom, though intended to be seen as cognates, are not coterminous in their implica;ons
To begin with, we need to remind ourselves that Greek was the language of empire and so eirene would not have escaped being shaped by the vision and values of empire. For that reason, the Hebrew Shalom, and the vision and values it embodies, would not be perfectly represented by eirene To properly represent the biblical concept of peace, we cannot use eirene to understand Shalom. We should use Shalom to understand the use of eirene in the New Testament
And so, to be clear about that towards which peacemakers are working, the ques;on we need to address at the outset is: What is involved in the biblical concept of Shalom? I quote Walter Brueggemann here. “The central vision of world history in the Bible is that all crea;on is one, every creature in community with every other, living in harmony and security toward the joy and well-being of every other creature. That persistent vision of joy, well-being, harmony, and prosperity is not captured in any single word or idea in the Bible; a cluster of words is required to express its many dimensions and subtle nuances: love, loyalty, truth, grace, salva;on, jus;ce, blessing, righteousness. But the term that in recent discussions has been used to summarize that controlling vision is shalom.” (Peace: Walter Brueggemann; pages 13-14)
Shalom will always be a communal experience in which jus;ce, mercy, and humility are dis;nguishing features Eirene being the language of empire would not escape the baggage of injus;ce, cruelty and pride which are enshrined in the modus operandi of empires. It is for that reason that the peace secured by empires such as the Pax Romana is a peace that comes from the edge of the sword. It is no peace at all. It is the peace to which Jesus took the sword (MaChew 10:34). This peace must always be dis;nguished from the peace of God which is beyond our understanding. The peace offered by God revealed in Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit is not that of empire. Jesus was at pains to make the dis;nc;on. “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives” (John 14:27). Not what empire offers. From this we can conclude two things.
1. The world/empire does not give Shalom. Pax Romana is not Shalom. It is peace at the edge of the sword, which is no peace at all. There is no greater danger to real peace than that which is accepted as peace but is not true peace. Much of what passes as peace in our society, and which
great effort is made to maintain, is a truce oPen resul;ng in the absence of conflict. At best, the absence of conflict might serve to facilitate peace but does not of itself amount to peace.
2. It goes without saying that shalom first and foremost is the giP of God bestowed upon God’s crea;on. It cannot be truly experienced outside of God. In the presenta;on, Todd was extremely helpful in underscoring this realty of peace as being the giP of God. He did so almost to the exclusion of the fact that peace is also, and for the purpose of this conference, our voca;on. Blessed are the peacemakers.
The peace which is God’s giP to God’s crea;on is yet to be realized in its fullness, hence it is a peace beyond our understanding. The peace that is yet to be fully understood is really a peace that is yet to be fully realized. The giP that peace is a giP not to be stored but is to be ‘stewarded’, that is, to be worked on and built upon. Whenever and wherever others are without peace or are denied peace, then peace is an unfinished enterprise. It is a truism that peace denied to one is peace denied to all. It is for that reason that it is not any one region of the world that is in need of peace but the whole world. Indeed, it is all crea;on that is in the pain of childbirth, with the desire for the full realiza;on of peace (Romans 9:18-22). It remains God’s plan for God’s crea;on - a plan to which Israel was called to bear witness, and the Church has been enlisted with the words of our theme formed on the lips of Jesus. “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
The theme falls within a slew of bea;tudes that Jesus engaged to alert members of the Jesus movement about the implica;ons of being a conscript to that movement. Bea;tudes, wherever they appear in scripture, are counter-cultural because they elevate and celebrate values upon which the world/empire frowns. Indeed, they prescribe a way of life to which empire is invariably opposed. Peacemaking falls within that cohort.
If nothing else, this ought to alert us to the fact that peacemaking is going to bring us in conflict with the empire/world. It is for that reason that peace is not coterminous with the absence of conflict. How else would we be able to understand what must be the most difficult statement in the New Testament in rela;on to peace words from the lips of Him whom we embrace as the Prince of Peace? “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (MaChew 10:34) This was Jesus taking the sword (of the Spirit, the only sword to which he subscribed, since our weapon is not carnal (2 Corinthians10:4) to that which was accepted or offered as peace but which was no peace at all that which is oPen referred to as the status quo. This statement of Jesus concerning the peace which is no peace at all is reminiscent of the prophet Jeremiah who understood his call as that of destroying before construc;ng a task for which he was given the word (Jeremiah 9:1-10).
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Peacemakers are anything but guardians of the status quo which, tragically too oPen, is what the Church has become. As a consequence, the Church has been complicit in some of the most horrific acts of injus;ce, brutality, and pride over ;me enacted to protect the status quo under the guise of working for the maintaining of peace. By so doing, the Church, at ;mes, has been guardians of Pax Romana, not ac;vists and advocates for Shalom.
There can be no serious effort at peacemaking without a willingness to challenge a status quo that embodies injus;ce, brutality and pride to keep the weak/majority deprived of true peace, by concentra;ng on that which God has given for the flourishing of all crea;on in the hands of the few. Peacemakers must challenge such a status quo, mindful that empire will use all its military might, economic power, poli;cal clout, social connec;on and, yes, religious legi;ma;on to resist any aCempt at change. The ques;on is: Is the Church up to this task? If we fail to embrace this task seriously, we can make no credible claim to being children of God or being members of the Jesus movement.
I present this perspec;ve on the peace that which is beyond our understanding which will remain not just an inexhaus;ble subject but also the unfinished business of those who would be peacemakers/children of God. I do so with the hope that it will be useful in the conversa;ons in which we will engage over the next few days.
With gra;tude for the opportunity to share, Johnathan Hemmings
References: Brueggemann, W. (2001). Peace St. Louis: Chalice Press. Hemmings, J. (2022). Peacemaking: Crea.ons's God-given voca.on Ocho Rios: Bolton's Publishing.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Gato Munyamasoko
INTRODUCTION
Desmond Tutu said, “Problems rela4ng to crime and law and order are endemic through the world.” (Consedine 1995/1999)1
The tradi4onal methods of dealing with them are by focusing on retribu4on and punishment, with imprisonment the crown in 20th-century penal policy. That this policy has been a proven a failure stares out from every sta4s4c from every country and jurisdic4on.
Crime rates con4nue to rise, imprisonment numbers mount endlessly, costs become astronomical. Crime is every one’s problem. It reflects an inability of people to be just and fair in their dealings with one another. It panders to the shadowy side of human nature where greed, violence and injus4ce lurk in each of us.
Crime is a complex issue involving family background, employment opportuni4es, educa4on levels, economic and social posi4ons as well as individual personal choice. How much crime is commiPed by people who themselves are the vic4ms of fundamental injus4ce? Or by people whose basic human rights have never been respected?
The solu4ons are complex. Imprisonment is not an answer. It should be restricted and used only for the small minority too dangerous to live in the community. New and construc4ve non-violent op4ons must be pursued to enable lawbreakers to take responsibility for what they have done and encourage their aPempts to repair the damage.
Vic4ms too need a bePer deal. The Truth Commission is a radical effort to find new non-violent ways of confron4ng the enormity and brutality of injus4ce, by seeking acceptance of personal responsibility, healing, forgiveness and reconcilia4on as primary objects. So do Restora4ve Jus4ce processes. Rooted as they are in all indigenous cultures, including those of Africa, they offer to provide a bePer form of criminal jus4ce than that which currently exists. They focus on repairing the damage done through crime, on vic4ms’ needs and on the part God’s great gi\s of healing, mercy and reconcilia4on can also play.
1 Consedine, Jim Restora(ve Jus(ce: Healing the Effects of Crime, 7
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Restora4ve Jus4ce is a challenge to all caring people to create a more posi4ve, frui]ul criminal jus4ce process to carry us into and through the next millennium.
Howard Zehr asked these ques4ons:
1. “How should we as a society respond to wrongdoing?
2. When a crime occurs or an injus4ce is done, what needs to happen? 2
3. What does jus4ce require?
Restora4ve Jus4ce is an aPempt to address some of these needs and limita4ons. But before defining Restora4ve Jus4ce, let us see what it means - criminal or retribu4ve jus4ce. Retribu4ve Jus4ce is a system of criminal jus4ce based on the punishment of offenders rather than on rehabilita4ng them
What ac'ons require Retribu've Jus'ce?
Retributive Justice is a legal punishment that requires the offender to receive a punishment for a crime proportional or similar to its offense. As opposed to revenge, retribution – and thus retributive justice is not personal, it is directed only at wrongdoing, has inherent limits, involves no pleasure at the suffering of others (i.e., schadenfreude, sadism), and employs procedural standards. Wikipedia
I. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?
a. Defini'on
Tony F. Marshall defines Restora4ve Jus4ce in the following way: “Restora4ve Jus4ce is a problemsolving approach to crime which involves the par4es themselves, and the community generally, in an ac4ve rela4onship with statutory agencies. It is not any par4cular prac4ce, but a set of principles which may orientate the general prac4ce of any agency or group in rela4on to crime”.
b. Tony Marshall gives a few principles:
Making room for the personal involvement of those mainly concerned (par4cularly the offender and the vic4m, but also their families and communi4es.
§ Seeing crime problems in their social context.
§ A forward-looking (or preventa4ve) problem-solving orienta4on
§ Flexibility of prac4ce (crea4vity)
Tony also states that Restora4ve Jus4ce may be seen as Criminal Jus4ce embedded in its social context, with the stress on its rela4onship to the other components, rather than a closed system in isola4on. The following is a commonly accepted defini4on used interna4onally: “Restora4ve
2 Zehr, Howard “The Li<le Book of Restora(ve Jus(ce” , 3
Jus4ce is a process whereby par4es with a stake in a specific offence resolve collec4vely how to deal with the a\ermath of the offence and its implica4ons for the future.”
c. Defining Restora've Jus'ce, Howard Zehr writes: “Restora4ve Jus4ce is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and collec4vely iden4fy and address harms, needs, and obliga4ons in order to heal and put things as right as possible."
III. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?
Before we move to other wri4ngs, we need to understand what the Bible says about Restora4ve Jus4ce.
Burnside (2007/2009, p. 134) summarizes a biblical understanding 3
The Bible proclaims that ‘jus4ce’ is a characteris4c of the God of Israel and that he is its source. The Rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are jus4ce. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he (Deuteronomy 32:4).
If jus4ce is a characteris4c of God himself, it follows that jus4ce is something about which God is passionate. God delights in jus4ce because it reflects his character.
Burnside says that through the prophet Jeremiah, God declares: “…I am the LORD who prac4ces steadfast love, jus4ce and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,” says the LORD (Jeremiah 9:24). The associa4on of jus4ce with God, and therefore with what is ‘good’ (including love and righteousness) means that true jus4ce takes sides when it comes to good and evil. If true jus4ce upholds good and opposes evil, it follows that there are two sides to the jus4ce in the Bible. On the one hand, jus4ce brings down the oppressor and on the other hand, it liberates the oppressed.
a. Retribu've Jus'ce in the Old Testament
“Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.” (Levi4cus 24:19-20)
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 states, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them … Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” These verses, as well as others, show that jus4ce was considered as retribu4on. Some non-informed readers of the Bible wonder how “Restora4ve Jus4ce” is a part of the Bible
3 Burnside, Jonathan. Retribu(on and Restora(on in Biblical Texts, 134
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
b. Restora've Jus'ce in Old Testament Times
By reading other passages, we discover that the life of Israel was not only one of revenge or retalia4on.
Deuteronomy 19:1-7 shows that God advised Israel to sePle ci4es of refuge where the person who kills another person uninten4onally could flee and not be killed. In this context, it is clear that retribu4on is not considered here, it is a maPer of restora4on where the offenders are also protected to give them 4me to recognize their offense.
Not only is Restora4ve Jus4ce found in the Old Testament but we also discover this type of jus4ce in the New Testament.
c. Restora've Jus'ce in New Testament Times
Burnside turns our aPen4on to the New Testament MaPhew 8:15 describes the following prac4ce of judgement, aimed at the reconcilia4on of the offender. The outcome of a successful reconcilia4on is ‘gaining a brother.’ If restora4on fails, the only alterna4ve is retribu4on which takes the form of expulsion from the community.
We also discover Restora4ve Jus4ce in the lePer of Apostle Paul to Philemon, in which Paul pleaded on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave. Onesimus’ wrongdoing was against Philemon. Paul helped these two brothers to come back in the society. Each carried out his responsibility. Philemon forgave Onesimus, Paul paid for Onesimus, and Onesimus went back to Philemon as more than a slave but as a brother in Christ.
IV. WHY IS IT CALLED ‘RESTORATIVE JUSTICE’?
Tony Marshall writes: “Restora4ve jus4ce is concerned centrally with ‘restora4on’: restora4on of the vic4m, restora4on of the offender to a law-abiding life, restora4on of the damage caused by the crime to the community. Restora4on is not solely backward-looking; if not more, concerned with construc4on of bePer society in the present and the future.”4
4 Marshall, Tony F. Restora(ve Jus(ce: An Overview, 30
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
V. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
a. Marshall writes:
The primary objec4ves of Restora4ve Jus4ce are:
§ To aPend fully to vic4ms’ needs – material, financial, emo4onal and social (including those who are personally close to the vic4m and may be similarly affected)
§ To prevent re-offending by reintegra4ng offenders into the community
§ To enable offenders to assume ac4ve responsibility for their ac4ons
§ To recreate a working community that supports the rehabilita4on of offenders and vic4ms and is ac4ve in preven4ng crime
§ To provide a means of avoiding escala4on of legal jus4ce and the associated costs and delays.
Marshall states that all these might be said also to be objec4ves of the current criminal jus4ce system, but that system only achieves such aims par4ally and haphazardly. It is not centrally concerned with vic4ms and does not address most of their needs. Only limited ac4on is taken to encourage the reintegra4on of offenders, and the evidence is that this is largely unsuccessful.
b. According to Howard Zehr (2002, pp. 8-11):
Restora4ve jus4ce is not primarily about forgiveness or reconcilia4on. This is a choice that is en4rely up to the par4cipants. There should be no pressure to choose to forgive or to seek reconcilia4on.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce is not media4on. Like media4on programs, many Restora4ve Jus4ce programs are designed around the possibility of a facilitated mee4ng or an encounter between vic4ms, offenders, and perhaps community members. However, an encounter is not always chosen or appropriate.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce not primarily designed to reduce recidivism or repea4ng offences. Reduced recidivism is a byproduct, but Restora4ve Jus4ce is done first of all because it is the right thing to do.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce is a compass, not a map. Restora4ve Jus4ce is not a map, but principles of Restora4ve Jus4ce can be seen as a compass poin4ng a direc4on. At minimum, Restora4ve Jus4ce ice is an invita4on for dialogue and explora4on.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce is neither a panacea nor necessarily a replacement for the legal system.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce is by no means an answer to all situa4ons. Nor is it clear that it should replace the legal system, even in an ideal world.
• Restora4ve Jus4ce is not necessarily an alterna4ve to prison. Restora4ve Jus4ce approaches may be used also in conjunc4on with or parallel to prison sentences. Such approaches are not necessarily an alterna4ve to incarcera4on.
VI. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IS CONCERNED ABOUT NEEDS AND ROLES
Howard Zehr describes the concerns of Restora4ve Jus4ce which are about needs and roles (2002, pp. 1315)
The Restora4ve Jus4ce movement originally began as an effort to rethink the needs which crimes create, as well as the roles implicit in crimes. Restora4ve Jus4ce advocates were concerned about needs that were not being met in the usual jus4ce process. They also believed that the prevailing understanding of legi4mate par4cipants or stakeholders in jus4ces was too restric4ve. Restora4ve Jus4ce expends the circle of stakeholders - those with a state or standing in the event, or the case beyond just the government and the offender - to include vic4ms and community members also.
The following discussion is limited to some of the core concerns that were present at the beginning of the movement and which con4nue to play a central role. It is also limited to judicial needs – those needs of vic4ms, offenders, and community members that might be met, at least par4ally, through the jus4ce system. Let us therefore consider the following:
1. The Needs of the Vic'm
Of special concern to Restora4ve Jus4ce are the needs of crime vic4ms that are not being adequately met by the criminal jus4ce system. Vic4ms o\en feel ignored, neglected or even abused by the jus4ce process. This results, in part, from the legal defini4on of crime, which does not include vic4ms. Crime is defined as against the state, so the state takes the place of the vic4ms. Yet vic4ms o\en have a number of specific needs from the jus4ce process Due to the defini4on of crime and the nature of the Criminal Jus4ce process, the following four types of needs, as shown by Howard, seem to be especially neglected:
a) Informa'on sharing Vic4ms need to know about the offense, why it happened and what has happened since. They need ‘real’ informa4on, not specula4on or the legally constrained informa4on that comes from a trial or plea agreement. O\en, this requires direct or indirect access to offenders who hold this informa4on.
b) Truth-telling
An important element in healing trauma or transcending the experience of crime is an opportunity for vic4ms to tell their story of what happened. The world changes completely for the vic4ms especially if they think no one understands the ordeal/suffering they went through.
c) Empowerment
Vic4ms o\en feel like control (especially of their lives) has been taken away from them by the offense, control over their property, their body, their emo4ons, their dreams. Therefore, involvement in their own case as it goes through a restora4ve jus4ce process can be an important way to return a sense of empowerment to them.
d) Res'tu'on or vindica'on
Res4tu4on by offenders is o\en important to vic4ms, some4mes because of the actual losses but just as importantly because of the symbolic statement implied. This is especially true a\er the offenders have realized the harm that they caused and not because they are forced by law. When an offender makes an effort to make right the harm, even if only par4ally, it is a way of saying: “I am taking responsibility, and you are not to blame”. Res4tu4on, in fact, is a symptom or sign of a more basic need, the need for vindica4on.
Howard Zehr (1990/2005, p. 200) writes, “In the a\ermath of crime, vic4ms’ needs form the star4ng point for restora4ve jus4ce.”
2. The Needs of the Offenders
Howard Zehr (2005, p. 200) draws our aPen4on to the fact that offenders too have many needs. They need to have their perspec4ves, their stereotypes and ra4onaliza4ons about the vic4m and the event challenged. They may need to learn to be more responsible. They may need to develop employment and interpersonal skills. They o\en need emo4onal support. They may need to learn to channel anger and frustra4on in more appropriate ways. They may need help to develop a posi4ve and healthy selfimage. And they o\en need help in dealing with guilt. Like vic4ms, unless such needs are met, closure is impossible.
From the jus4ce process, Zehr (2002, p. 17) suggests that offenders need the following:
a) Accountability that:
• addresses the resul4ng harms
• encourages empathy and responsibility
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
• transforms shame
b) Encouragement to experience personal transforma4on, including:
• healing for the harms that contributed to their offending behavior
• opportuni4es for treatment for addic4ons and/or other problems
• enhancement of personal competencies
3. The Needs of the Community
Howard Zehr (2002, pp. 17-18) writes that community members have needs arising from crime, and they have roles to play. Restora4ve Jus4ce advocates such as judges Barry Stuart and Kay Pranis argue that when the state takes over in our name, it undermines our sense of community. Communi4es are impacted by crime and, in many cases, should be considered stakeholders, as secondary vic4ms. Community members have important roles to play and may also have responsibili4es to vic4ms, to offenders, and to themselves. 5
From jus4ce, communi4es need:
§ aPen4on to their concerns as vic4ms
§ opportuni4es to build a sense of community and mutual accountability
§ encouragement to take on their obliga4ons for the welfare of their members, including vic4ms and offenders, and to foster the condi4ons that promote healthy communi4es.
VII. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IS BASED
ON THE FOLLOWING ASSUMPTIONS
Tony F. Marshall states that restora4ve jus4ce is based on the following assump4ons:
§ That crime has its origins in social condi4ons and rela4onship in the community.
§ That crime preven4on is dependent on communi4es taking some responsibili4es (along with local and central government ’s responsibility for general social policy) for remedying those condi4ons that cause crime.
§ That the a\ermath of crime cannot be fully resolved for the par4es themselves without allowing their personal involvement.
§ That jus4ce measures must be flexible enough to be able to respond to the par4cular exigencies, personal needs and poten4al for ac4on in each case
§ That partnership and common objec4ves among jus4ce agencies, and between them and the community, are essen4al to op4mal effec4veness and efficiency
5 Zehr, Howard The Li<le Book of Restora(ve Jus(ce, 17-18
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
§ That jus4ce consists of a balanced approach in which a single objec4ve is not allowed to dominate the others.
VIII. RESTORATIVE PRINCIPLES
Howard Zehr (2002, p. 21) proposes that Restora4ve jus Restora4ve Jus4ce 4ce is based upon an old, commonsense understanding of wrongdoing. Although it would be expressed differently in different cultures this approach is probably common to most tradi4onal socie4es. Crime is viola4on of people and of interpersonal rela4onships
• Viola4ons create obliga4ons.
• The central obliga4on is to put right the wrongs.
• Underlying encouragement and support for integra4on into the community
This understanding of wrongdoing is an assump4on about society: We are all interconnected.6 Zehr invites us to consider the differences between Criminal Jus4ce and Restora4ve Jus4ce:
Two different views:
v Criminal JusUce
Ø Crime is a viola4on of the law and the state.
Ø Viola4ons create guilt.
Ø Jus4ce requires the state to determine blame (guilt) and impose pain (punishment).
Ø Central focus: offenders gewng what they deserve v RestoraUve JusUce
Ø Crime is a viola4on of people and rela4onship.
Ø Viola4ons create obliga4ons.
Ø Jus4ce involves vic4ms, offenders, and community members in efforts to put things right.
Ø Central focus: vic4m needs and offender responsibility for repairing harm
A few ques4ons are raised from the two kinds of jus4ce:
v Criminal JusUce
1) What laws have been broken?
2) Who did it? Who has been hurt?
3) What do they deserve?
6 Zehr, Howard Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Jus(ce, 200
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
v RestoraUve JusUce
1) Who has been hurt?
2) What are their needs?
3) Whose obliga4ons are these?
IX. THE PILLARS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Howard Zehr (2002, p. 25) describes the three pillars of Restora4ve Jus4ce:
1) RestoraUve JusUce focusses on harm:
Restora4ve Jus4ce understands crime first of all as harm done to people and communi4es. Our legal system, with its focus on rules and laws, and with its view that the state is the vic4m, o\en loses sight of this reality. While our first concern must be the harm experienced by vic4ms, the focus on harm implies that we also need to be concerned about harm experienced by offenders and communi4es. This may require us to address the root causes of crime. The goal of Restora4ve Jus4ce is to provide an experience of healing for all concerned
2) Wrongs or harms result in obligaUons:
Restora4ve Jus4ce emphasizes offender accountability and responsibility. Offenders must begin to comprehend the consequences of their behavior. Moreover, it means they have a responsibility to make things right as much as possible, both concretely and symbolically. The first obliga4on is for offenders, but the community and society have an obliga4on as well.
3) RestoraUve JusUce promotes engagement or parUcipaUon:
The principle of engagement suggests that the primary par4es affected by crime, vic4ms, offenders, members of community are given significant roles in the jus4ce process. These “stakeholders” need to be given informa4on about each other and to be involved in deciding what jus4ce requires in this case. “Restora4ve jus4ce requires, at minimum, that we address vic4ms’ harms and needs, hold offenders accountable to put right those harms, and involve vic4ms, offenders, and communi4es in this process.”
In his book Changing Lenses, A New Focus for Crime and Jus>ce, Howard Zehr compares the two jus4ces
X. A RESTORATIVE LENS
Howard Zehr (2005, p. 211-214) briefly summarizes the retribu4ve and restora4ve lenses. The following chart aPempts to contrast some characteris4cs and implica4ons of the two concepts.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Understandings of JusUce
Retribu4ve Lens
Blame-fixing central
Focus on past
Needs secondary
Emphasizes differences
Focus on offender, vic4m ignored
State and offender are key elements
Vic4ms lack informa4on
Res4tu4on rare
Offender denounced
Restora4ve Lens
Problem-solving central
Focus on future
Needs primary
Search for commonali4es
Vic4m’s needs central
Vic4m and offender are key elements
Informa4on provided to vic4ms
Res4tu4on normal
Harmful act denounced Jus4ce tested by intent and process
Jus4ce as right rule
Vic4m –offender rela4onships ignored
Process alienates
Repentance and forgiveness discouraged
Compe44ve, individualis4c values encouraged
Ignores social, economic, and moral context of behavior
Assumes win- lose outcomes
Jus4ce tested by its ‘fruits’
Jus4ces as right rela4onships
Vic4m –offender rela4onships central
Process aims at reconcilia4on
Repentance and forgiveness encouraged
Mutuality and coopera4on encouraged
Total context relevant
Makes possible win-win outcomes
In addi4on to this chart, Howard Zehr (2002, p. 33) aPempts to contrast some characteris4cs and implica4ons of the two concepts of Retribu4on Jus4ce and Restora4ve Jus4ce by diagramming
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AS A WHEEL
Restora've Prac'ces
Restora4ve Jus4ce can come in many forms depending on the circumstances of the case, the point in the system in which a restora4ve op4on is invoked, and the tradi4ons and preferences of the communi4es that adopt restora4ve alterna4ves. The real essence of Restora4ve Jus4ce is in the face-to face mee4ng between the vic4m, offender and members of the community. During the course of that mee4ng each party is given an opportunity to tell the story of the crime from their own perspec4ve and talk about their concerns and feelings. The mee4ng helps the par4es to
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
develop an understanding of the crime, of the other par4es, and of the steps needed to make amends. The mee4ng concludes with an agreement outlining how the offender will make repara4on. Repara4on can include monetary payment, service to the vic4m, community service or any other measure agreed upon by the par4es.
The Vic'm
In the current criminal jus4ce system, vic4ms frequently feel frustrated and le\ out of their own cases except, perhaps, for being witnesses. Restora4ve Jus4ce recognizes that vic4ms have many needs. They need an opportunity to speak about their feelings and to have restored to them the power that has been taken away by the experience of the offence; they need recogni4on of the pain and suffering they have endured; and they also need to understand the offender’s mo4va4on for commiwng the crime. Restora4ve Jus4ce recognizes these needs and allows for vic4m involvement in determining how those needs can best be met.
The Interna4onal Ins4tute of Restora4ve Prac4ces (hPps://www.iirp.edu/) has developed a helpful series of ques4ons, based on the principles of Restora4ve Jus4ce, to use when conversing with someone who has perpetrated an injus4ce or with someone who is the vic4m of injus4ce. These ques4ons provide a frame for clear thinking and clear direc4on.7
When confron'ng someone on their challenging behavior:
• What happened?
• What were you thinking of at the 4me?
• What have you thought about since?
• Who has been affected by what you have done?
• In what way?
• What do you think you need to do to make things right?
When helping someone who has been hurt:
• What happened?
• What did you think when you realized what had happened?
• What impact has this incident had on you and others?
7 Zehr, Howard The Li<le Book of Restora(ve Jus(ce, 33
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
• What has been the hardest thing for you?
• What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
CONCLUSION
The Restora4ve Jus4ce system is therefore important in that it provides an opportunity for the offender, the vic4m and the community s4ll to live in the same community in good harmony and thus need to find a way to move forward together. This requires dialogue, and support of other members of the community. The offender acknowledges the harm to the vic4m and takes responsibility for it and for finding a bePer path forward in life. The vic4m can help ‘educate’ the offender about the harm that has been caused, and put a human face on it, but also needs to acknowledge that life goes on and it’s important to move forward together as a community. The criminal jus4ce system is all about punishing the offender and, as a result, it widens the gap between the vic4m and offender. It has been proven not to heal the wounds. The offenders may even be hardened and con4nue to cause havoc to the community.
In the end, Restora4ve Jus4ce is focusing on the harm caused. It provides a way to address obliga4ons, involving all stakeholders by using inclusive and collabora4ve processes. Everyone is respected.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
REFERENCES
Accad, M. (2018). “Minori4za4on” in The Church in Disorien>ng Times: Leading Prophe>cally through Adversity. A publica4on of the Arab Bap4st Theological Seminary, edited by Jonathan Andrews. Carlisle, Cumbria UK: Langham Global Library, pp. 87-109.
Burnside, Jonathan. “Retribu4on and Restora4on in Biblical Texts.” In Gerry Johnstone and Daniel Van Nees, Daniel, editors. Handbook of Restora>ve Jus>ce. USA/Canada: Willan Publishing, 2007/2009, pp. 132-148.
Consedine, Jim. Restora>ve Jus>ce: Healing the Effects of Crime. New Zealand: Ploughshares Publica4ons, 1995/1999.
Marshall, Tony F. “Restora4ve Jus4ce: An Overview.” In Gerry Johnstone, editor. A Restora>ve Jus>ce Reader. USA/Canada: Willan Publishing, 2003, pp. 28-45.
Zehr, Howard. The LiKle Book of Restora>ve Jus>ce. Intercourse PA: Good Books, 2002.
Zehr, Howard. Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Jus>ce. ScoPsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1990/2005.
A Response to “Restorative Justice”
John Enyinnaya
Preamble
Restora(ve Jus(ce is a fairly recent concept da(ng back to the 1970s. Its proponents present it as an alterna(ve approach to the criminal jus(ce system, which they deem not sufficiently effec(ve in addressing problems of crime and injus(ce in society. The cri(cs of the Western criminal jus(ce system observe its obsession with the offender and puni(ve measures while neglec(ng the impact of crime on the vic(m and society.
The Restora(ve Jus(ce approach became popular with the Truth and Reconcilia(on Commission (TRC), set up by Nelson Mandela in South Africa and headed by Bishop Desmond Tutu in 1996. Nigeria also tried it under Olusegun Obasanjo between 2000 and 2001 with the Human Rights Viola(ons Inves(ga(ons Commission (HRVIC) headed by Jus(ce Chukwudifu Oputa. Cri(cs say the South African and Nigerian experiments were only par(ally successful since they lacked the legal backing to follow through with repara(ons.
Dr Gato Munyamasoko’s paper provides a helpful overview of the subject of Restora(ve Jus(ce and aXempts to domes(cate it within the Chris(an religious context. This is interes(ng because historically, the church, especially the evangelical wing, has shied away from social and poli(cal engagement and defined the missio ecclesia in very narrow terms. However, we have had evangelical thinkers who deviated from this norm and called for the church to engage with society to remedy the perennial problems that bedevil it. Carl F. H. Henry, a Southern Bap(st theologian and “the honoured dean of evangelical theologians” (as Kenneth Kantzer called him),1 was one such theologian. I men(on him because he was a Bap(st and to say that we have a good heritage in theological engagement with issues affec(ng human life and society.
This response will present a brief rehash of Dr Gato’s paper before highligh(ng a few observa(ons.
Summary
Dr Gato observes that Restora(ve Jus(ce originated in indigenous socie(es and defined it as “a process whereby par(es with a stake in a specific offence, resolve collec(vely
how to deal with the a_ermath of the offence and its implica(ons for the future”.2 The stakeholders in any offence in reference here include the offender, the vic(m and the community. He contrasted it with the Retribu(ve or Criminal Jus(ce system, which, according to him, “is based on the punishment of offenders rather than on rehabilita(ng them”.3 This claim may be understood as saying that the Retribu(ve jus(ce approach does not emphasise rehabilita(on of offenders enough rather than that rehabilita(on is not present at all.
Dr. Gato provides a biblical basis for Restora(ve Jus(ce, moving from the Old Testament books of Levi(cus, Deuteronomy, and Jeremiah to the New Testament books of MaXhew and Philemon. The biblical jus(fica(on for Restora(ve Jus(ce could also have easily taken advantage of Jesus' manifesto prophesied in Isaiah 61: 1-2 and appropriated by our Lord in Luke 4:18-19. It is thus agreeable that there is robust biblical support for seeking a resolu(on to crimes and offences in ways that bring about healing and repara(on for the vic(m and rehabilita(on for the offender.
The paper concluded with discussions of the objec(ves, principles, and emphases of Restora(ve Jus(ce. The main argument of the paper is that Restora(ve Jus(ce does not only target areas beyond the focus of criminal jus(ce but also does beXer what the criminal jus(ce approach seeks to do: reduce crimes and injus(ce in society by rehabilita(ng offenders and helping them to realise the impact of their crimes on individuals and society.
Observa/ons
Dr. Gato’s paper is highly informa(ve and provides a good introductory survey of the beau(ful concept of Restora(ve Jus(ce. One can say that by virtue of its designa(on, the Restora(ve Jus(ce approach seeks to restore the offender, the vic(m and the society. I wish to raise the following issues for further reflec(on and discussion.
1. As Dr Gato pointed out in the paper, Restora(ve Jus(ce revolves around the principles of making the offender take responsibility for his or her criminal ac(on, reintegra(on of the offender into the community and repara(on being made to the vic(m 4 However, these processes appear to depend on the offender’s change of mind or ahtude. In a case where the offender is unrepentant, how is Restora(ve Jus(ce carried out? Does Restora(ve Jus(ce have a coercive framework for unrepentant offenders? For contextual applica(on, how can Restora(ve Jus(ce be pursued in a context like
Nigeria in rela(on to the kidnappings, police brutality, insurgency, and land-grabbing going on while the offenders are unrepentant; and the security agencies look the other way? What of situa(ons when security agencies appear to be complicit, or aggressors find religious and other jus(fica(ons for what they are doing?
2. Who takes responsibility for Restora(ve Jus(ce – government, church, individuals, or civil society? In the poli(cal arrangement of na(ons where the government controls the mechanism of the jus(ce system, how do we get governments to buy into the Restora(ve Jus(ce framework, especially judging from the half-hearted aXempts in South Africa and Nigeria?
3. There is also the challenge of determining who the offenders and vic(ms are. Some(mes, “offenders” consider themselves the vic(ms and deem their ac(ons to be a reac(on or protest against oppression. How can the subjec(ve defini(on of offenders and vic(ms be resolved?
Conclusion
Dr. Gato has shared his rich depth of experience and involvement in using Restora(ve Jus(ce as an alterna(ve framework for responding to crime and injus(ce in East Africa. We are indebted to him for this valuable exposi(on on the subject. The subject requires further discussion and reflec(on as we seek ways of contribu(ng our quota to peace and reconcilia(on in our na(ons. The Bible shows that jus(ce is the founda(on of peace and development in any society. The church should do whatever it can to promote it.
Endnotes
1 David Lee Weeks, “ The Poli3cal Thought of Carl F. H. Henry ”. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI, 1992, 2, ci3ng Kenneth Kantzer.
2 Gato, “Restora3ve Jus3ce”, 2
3 Gato, 2.
4 “Jus3ce, Fairness and Media3on”, www.open.edu
Cultivating Peace and Unity: Insights from Three Cultural Theologies
Rula Khoury Mansour
Introduction
Christian unity and peace are at the heart of the Christian faith. They are not merely theological ideals but lived reality and a call to action. For Apostle Paul, unity and peace are the distinguishing features of the Church’s authenticity that will attract others to God. The members of this community find their true identity in Christ rather than in their race, culture, social class, or sex (Galatians 3:27). However, this vision of unity does not happen automatically. Unity has been made possible by God, but the practical reality is that it results from the hard work of love and peacemaking, where Christians choose to act against their sinful and broken nature.
In a world marked by diversity, complexity and division, the pursuit of peace and unity remains a fundamental challenge. How should we view our identities, relate to the 'other' and make peace with the ‘other’? Three distinct cultural and theological perspectives offer profound insights into these timeless questions: Embrace, Ubuntu and Sulha theologies. Each perspective rooted in Western, African and Middle Eastern cultures, respectively offers unique lenses through which to understand and promote peace.1 After presenting these theologies, I will compare them and propose ways to cultivate peace and unity
Embrace Theology
Identity Construction, Interdependence, De-re-centered Self and Embrace Volf, in his book, Exclusion and Embrace, argues that the expanding conflicts between cultures are a ‘part of a larger problem of identity and otherness.’2 He addresses the problem of ‘sacralization of cultural identity’ coupled so often with blind self-righteousness,3 stating that when churches give ultimate loyalty to their specific identity and cultures, and when culture undermines faith, Christians lose the place from which to judge their own culture and find themselves unable to act on the gospel call to reconciliation because their commitments are ordered incorrectly.4
1 Given the limited space of this paper, the discussion will prioritize the exploration and analysis of topics related to peace and less to those related to unity.
2 Volf Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996, 16-20.
3 Ibid, 37.
4 Ibid, 53.
10th Baptist International Conference on
Volf proposes a balanced relationship between ‘distance from the culture and belonging to it ’ . Christians should detach somewhat from their own culture and prioritize loyalty to the God of all cultures. This balance involves situating oneself with one foot in one’s culture and the other in God's future. It serves two purposes: creating space for receiving others and offering a perspective to judge oneself and others in light of God's ultimate reality, transcending cultural boundaries.5
To prevent cultures from losing their uniqueness in pursuit of universality, Volf draws from Paul's teachings on unity within diversity in the Christian faith. He observes, ‘The Pauline move is from separated bodies to the community of interrelated bodies – the one body in the Spirit with many discrete members.’ Both distance and belonging are necessary; belonging without distance destroys, and distance without belonging isolates. 6
Volf employs ‘differentiation’ to describe the activity of ‘separating-and-binding,’ which fosters patterns of interdependence 7 While separation alone leads self-enclosed, isolated and self-identical beings, identity emerges from both distinction from others and internalization of relationships with them. We define ourselves not solely by being distinct from others but by being distinct yet interconnected. Attempts to exclude the other from our identity lead to losing ourselves. “Differentiation” is the complex process by which the self and the other negotiate their identities in mutual interaction a skillful balance of inclusion and exclusion.8
According to this identity definition, Volf concludes, both cutting off the bonds that connect and removing separation lead to exclusion. Exclusion occurs when the construction of one’s identity is seen as ‘pure’ without ‘the other’ Social reality based on moral polarities: “Here, on our side, ‘the just’, ‘the pure’, ‘the innocent’;, ‘the true’, ‘the good’ and there, on the other side, ‘the unjust’, ‘the corrupt’, ‘the guilty’, ‘the liars’, ‘the evil’” must be denounced as sinful.”9 Exclusion happens when violence, whether through expulsion, assimilation, or subjugation, and the indifference of abandonment replace mutual giving and receiving.10
Volf asserts that an identity capable of making peace is a centered self, as exemplified by Paul in Galatians 2:19–20. This self must undergo de-centering by identifying with Christ's crucifixion, establishing
5 Ibid, 53.
6 Ibid, 50.
7 Ibid, 65; italics in the original.
8 Ibid, 66.
9 Ibid, 84–85.
10 Ibid, 67.
a new identity centered on Christ's self-giving love manifested on the cross.11 This "de-centered center" becomes the foundation for making non-exclusionary judgments and combating exclusion. 12
Volf concludes that since no one is innocent in our fallen world (although universality of sin does not mean equality of sins) no one should be excluded from the will to embrace, because the essence of Christianity lies in embracing ‘others’, even when they are perceived as wrongdoers. The ability to choose this "will to embrace" stems from the Holy Spirit’s work de-centering the self by shaping it in the image of the self-giving Christ, and empowering it to resist the power of exclusion in the power of the Spirit of embrace and fight it in structures, culture, and the self.13
Volf's argument revolves around the concept, ‘embrace’, rooted in the prodigal son parable and Paul's exhortation in Romans 15:7, God’s welcoming of hostile humanity into divine communion as an example for how we should relate to ‘others’.14 Reconciliation will succeed when the self is ready to receive the other into itself and re-adjust its identity in light of the other’s difference 15 We cannot live rightly without welcoming others for they are a part of our identity as we are created to reflect the personality of the triune God.16 Volf uses the metaphor of “embrace” to describe the process of ‘welcoming’ which symbolizes four requirements of reconciliation:17 1) Opening arms: creating space in oneself for the other and an invitation to enter. 2) Waiting: waiting for the other to come (an indicator of differentiation). 3) Closing of arms: when the reciprocity of giving-receiving is achieved (a symbol of unity). 4) Opening arms again: affirmation of each person’s discrete identity (a symbol of differentiation).
For Volf, while “the will to embrace” (forgiveness) is unilateral, unconditional and free, “embrace” (reconciliation) is mutual and conditional process that requires repentance, confession, reparation; there can be no justice without the will to embrace and no genuine embrace without justice.18
An area of criticism targets the practical level of Volf’s embrace theology. Since theological and cultural insights can be combined effectively to support efforts toward reconciliation, I will now introduce ubuntu and sulha that can inform Volf’s embrace theology.
11 Ibid, 69; italics in the original.
12 Ibid, 71.
13 Ibid, 92.
14 Ibid, 100.
15 Ibid, 110.
16 Gundry-Volf and Volf, Spacious Heart, 59.
17 The notion of embrace brings together three theological themes: the mutuality of self-giving love in the Trinity; the outstretched arms of Christ on the cross for the “godless”; and the open arms of the “father” receiving the “prodigal” Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, 29.
18 Ibid, 216.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Ubuntu Theology
Humanity, Interconnectedness and Restoration
Ubuntu is an African term meaning “humanity”, often translated as “I am who I am because of who we are” It suggests that human beings are deeply interconnected, and are fully human only in communion with others - a self-identity formed through community.19 In this concept, belonging to a community enables people to discover, express, and maintain their full humanity. Because the humanity of the individual is linked to other human beings, a person seeks to be moral, compassionate and social and these qualities make him/her attain his/her personhood.20 Thus, a person’s behavior becomes subject to thinking about its impact on the well-being of the community and on right relationships. The needs of the community are generally put before those of the individual. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. Ubuntu is granted and sustained by a community who seeks social harmony.
In ubuntu, justice and forgiveness intertwine to restore humanity. Humiliation and abuse diminish one's ubuntu (humanity) within the community as he/she belongs in a greater whole.21 While seeking revenge would harm one's own ubuntu, forgiveness allows victims to experience the restoration of their ubuntu freeing them from desperation and isolation. Embracing forgiveness fosters solidarity, acknowledging the humanity of both victim and perpetrator. Community responsibility extends beyond individual forgiveness, encompassing accountability, repentance, and communal restoration. Those harmed by abuse are embraced back to regain their humanity, reaffirming the community's collective ubuntu. Through forgiveness, victims heal and perpetrators acknowledge their wrongdoing, reinforcing the interconnectedness of human existence within ubuntu
Forgiveness in ubuntu achieves restorative justice, reinstating the fullness of humanity for all involved. In this context, justice is about restoring ubuntu, ensuring the humanity of every community member. When someone violates the ubuntu system, society can redeem that person through forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation. Those who don't repent may face temporary exclusion. Through forgiveness and reconciliation, victims and perpetrators are reintegrated, minimizing the risk of further violence. Thus, justice and reconciliation are attained by restoring all to a harmonious community through forgiveness.
19 Battle, Michael. Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me. New York: Seabury, 2009.
20 Battle, Ubuntu
21 Battle, Ubuntu
An individual’s capacity for forgiveness and reconciliation is not only a personal virtue but also serves the community, as it enables peace and social harmony. Not having the ability to forgive means not having ubuntu. Ubuntu sees forgiveness as the only way to achieve justice without losing balance in society, as only forgiveness can realize ubuntu because it looks forwards toward justice rather than backwards toward revenge.22 Therefore, embracing the perpetrator into society through forgiveness and reconciliation is seen as critical to restoring relationships, healing, and to the future safety of the whole community.
This philosophy found tangible expression in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which was established to investigate human rights violations committed during apartheid and to facilitate reconciliation between perpetrators and victims. Under Archbishop Tutu’s guidance, the TRC adopted a restorative justice approach that harmonized Christian teachings on truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation with the African ubuntu ethos,23 emphasizing the importance of acknowledging past atrocities, confronting the truth, and embracing forgiveness as a means of breaking the cycle of violence, fostering healing and rebuilding the social fabric torn apart by apartheid's oppression.24
Tutu's application of his Christian convictions with African cultural values was marked by the development of ubuntu theology.25 This unique theological framework, centered on ubuntu principles, played a role in challenging apartheid through forgiveness and justice.26 Tutu's ubuntu theology emphasizes the inherent dignity of every individual as created in the image of God reflecting the Christian concept of Imago Dei, which stresses treating others with love, compassion, and justice. It also recognizes the interconnectedness of humanity within communities, resonating with the Christian principle of communion, highlighting the idea of believers being part of one body in Christ. Additionally, it aligns with Christian principles of restoring balance and harmony within communities, addressing injustices, promoting reconciliation and healing.
Sulha Theology
Forgiveness, dignity restoration, social harmony
22 Tutu, Desmond. No Future without Forgiveness, London: Rider, 1999.
23 As Peter Storey argues in his article, “A Different Kind of Justice: Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa”, the experiences of the TRC point “beyond conventional retribution into a realm where justice and mercy coalesce and both victim and perpetrator must know pain if healing is to happen. It is an area more consistent with Calvary than the courtroom.”
24 Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness.
25 Battle, Michael. Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu. Pilgrim Press,2009.
26 Khoury Mansour, Rula. “Tutu and Ubuntu Theology: Resisting Apartheid through Forgiveness and Justice” in Come and See, 2022. http://www.comeandsee.com/view.php?sid=1415
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Ṣulha, an Arabic word meaning ‘peace’ or ‘resolution’, is Middle Eastern traditional approach to reconciliation 27 It refers to a ritualized mediation-arbitration process for managing wide range conflicts 28 It complements state judicial procedures but does not replace individual responsibility. Sulha prioritizes the common good over individual justice, emphasizing harmony among members. It takes the form of a ceremonial covenantal meal of reconciliation. Though not mentioned specifically, this ancient tradition can be seen in many covenantal ceremonies in scripture, such as the reconciliation meal between Jacob and Laban (Gen 31:43–54), the ceremonial meal the father prepares for the prodigal son (Luke 15:20–24), or the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26–30).
Ṣulḥa is based on the view that hurting an individual means hurting the entire community, and that injuries between individuals or groups will grow if not acknowledged, repaired, and forgiven.29 As an interpersonal strategy, sulha allows for micro-level relationship repair which has the capability for macrolevel impact.30 The ṣulḥa process is initiated by community representatives called jaha - notable leaders Once authorized by the parties, the burden of the conflict shifts from them to the jaha. The jaha’s goal is to transform forgiveness from a private affair to a public one. If eventually, through the process, dignity is increased and forgiveness gradually replaces revenge, a peace agreement is made in a public reconciliation ceremony.
Sulha functions as a social mechanism for the promotion of forgiveness. When a conflict breaks out, the jaha recruit the victim’s family into the sulha process, achieve a ceasefire and generally convince the disputants that their honor will be restored if they forgive much more than if they seek vengeance.
After the jaha’s investigation, they determine the verdict, and assign guilt and compensations In murder cases, the offender’s family is asked to leave the village for some years, or even permanently In the public reconciliation ceremony, the jaha become communal guardians of reconciliation,31 emphasizing forgiveness, peace, and compromise.
27 Khoury Mansour, Rula. “Peace, Peacemaking | Christianity | World Christianity”, the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), De Gruyter, 2024.
28 Irani, George and Funk, Nathan.“Rituals of Reconciliation: Arab-Islamic Perspectives.” Arab Studies Quarterly, 20(4), (1998): 53–74. Jabbour, Elias.J. Sulha: Palestinian Traditional Peace-making Process Montreat NC: The house of hope publications, 1993; 1996.
29(1 Cor 5:7; Matt 18:15–17). Said, Abdul Aziz, Funk, Nathan and Kadayifci, Ayse eds. Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam: Precept and Practice. Lanham: University Press of America, 2001, 182.
30 Gellman, M. and Vuinovich,M. “From Sulha to Salaam: Connecting Local Knowledge with International Negotiations for Lasting Peace in Palestine/Israel”, in Conflict Resolution Quarterly 26:2, 2008.
31 Leaders from different religions are always present at the reconciliation ceremony to symbolize the coming together of the community and give a religious support for the agreement.
The sulha process involves community engagement and rituals. 32 Venting rituals allow the victim's family to express emotions, shifting from vengeance to forgiveness. Through "reverse musayara" , the jaha plead for forgiveness on behalf of the offender, acting as an anger and pain absorber, resulting in honor restoration and easing feelings of humiliation.33 The jaha also employ Honor rituals throughout the whole process.34 These rituals acknowledge suffering as a consequence of forgiveness. Sulha ceremonies include public rituals. Ceremonies are held outdoors in the village center where disputants’ families and community leaders sign peace agreements ensuring public visibility and honor restoration.35 Ceremonies includes three symbolic rituals: muṣāfaḥa (handshake), musāmaḥa (forgiveness declaration), and mumālaḥa (ceremonial meal). There's a ‘heavy silence’ ritual win which both parties express humility: the offender's family admits wrongdoing and offers compensation, while the victim's family forgives.
Sulha illustrates that forgiveness can be catalyzed externally by community-initiated processes, possibly paving the way for internal forgiveness. Rather than rigidly defining forgiveness, it is beneficial to explore diverse avenues such as actions; words; rituals and public confessions, fostering transformative change in attitudes and emotions leading to empathy 36 Community involvement and guidance through public rituals are integral to the success of sulha, where forgiveness is expressed through collective activities and religious practices.
Sulha provides a culturally appropriate means for restoring values. Cultural symbols and rituals are necessary for societal construction of peaceful coexistence. 37 Reconciliation requires forgiveness, repentance and reparation; sulha gradually ritualize these experiences: pain acknowledged, wrongdoing condemned, justice achieved, forgiveness offered They are seen and heard publicly with the whole community present and become binding. This communal support and ritualization may make apologies and reparations easier to make, and thus facilitate social reconciliation or at lease diplomaticreconciliation The core elements of ṣulḥa – community, venting, dignity restoration, and formality (rituals) – are essential in sulha theology: 38 First, the community can bear the burden of the wrongs done together,
32 Irani, George and Funk, Nathan.“Rituals of Reconciliation: Arab-Islamic Perspectives” Arab Studies Quarterly, 20(4), (1998): 53–74.
33 Lang, Sharon. “Sulha Peace-Making Process and the Politics of Persuasion”. Journal of Palestine Studies 31, no. 3 (2002): 52–66.
34 Pely, Doron, “Honor: The sulha’s Main Dispute Resolution Tool”. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 28(1): 67-81.
35 Lang, “Sulha Peace-Making Process”, 55.
36 Khoury Mansour, Rula. Theology of Reconciliation in the Context of Church Relations: A Palestinian Christian Perspective in Dialogue with Miroslav Volf. Carlisle: Langham Monographs, 2020.
37 Gellman and Vuinovich, “From Sulha to Salaam” Smith, Daniel L. 1989. “The Reward of Allah”. Journal of Peace Research 26(4): 385-398.
38 Khoury Mansour, Theology of Reconciliation in the Context of Church Relations.
restoring and embracing both the victim and the repentant perpetrator (Gal 6:1-2). Therefore, reconciliation takes place not in a triangle of offender, offended, and God as described in most Western reconciliation theologies, but in a rhombus that includes the community as well. Second, venting (or lamenting) names and condemning the wrongs. It is an important element in redeeming past sorrow, and it provides a space for anger and pain to be expressed and transformed, thereby enabling the reversal of dignity violation through public acknowledgment of the moral standing of the offended. Third, dignity restoration releases pain and heals shame. Publicly affirming the dignity of the other in the community context is vital in restoring broken relationships and essential for healing. Fourth, rituals reinforce collective values and transform us. Through church liturgy/rituals, the word of God works in the minds and hearts and transforms our memories, desires, and attitudes toward truth, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
39
Discussion
The three theological frameworks presented Volf's Embrace, ubuntu, and sulha offer distinct yet complementary perspectives on reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and relationships restoration. I compare these approaches to highlight their unique contributions and potential interactions in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation
Common Themes:
Embracing the other: Embracing others is emphasized in all three theologies. Volf's Embrace theology underscores the Christian mandate to welcome the other into one's identity, mirroring God's inclusive love for humanity. Similarly, ubuntu stresses interconnectedness and community belonging, positing that individuals find their true identity in relation to others. Sulha emphasizes the communal aspect of reconciliation in which forgiveness and restoration are communal endeavors that involve the entire community in embracing both the victim and the perpetrator.
Forgiveness and restoration: Forgiveness is a central theme in all three theologies, viewed as a prerequisite for reconciliation and relationships restoration. Volf emphasizes the transformative power of forgiveness in breaking cycles of exclusion and embracing the other, drawing inspiration from Christ's sacrificial love. Ubuntu emphasizes forgiveness as a communal act that restores the humanity of both the victim and the perpetrator, thereby promoting social harmony. Similarly, sulha views forgiveness as a
39 Khoury Mansour, Rula. “Peace, Peacemaking | Christianity | World Christianity”, the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), De Gruyter, 2024.
communal process facilitated by public rituals, culminating in the restoration of dignity and social cohesion.
Justice and reconciliation: Justice and reconciliation are intertwined concepts in all three theologies, albeit with different emphases. Volf advocates for a non-exclusionary approach to justice that prioritizes reconciliation over retribution, echoing Christ's call to love even those perceived as wrongdoers. Ubuntu sees justice as restorative, aiming to restore the fullness of humanity through forgiveness and reconciliation within community. Sulha seeks to achieve justice through communal reconciliation, through which forgiveness leads to the restoration of honor and social harmony.
Distinctive Contributions:
Cultural context: Each theology reflects its cultural and theological context. Volf's Embrace theology integrates western theology with contemporary cultural insights. Ubuntu, originating from African culture, emphasizes communal values and interconnectedness as foundational to reconciliation. Sulha, rooted in Middle Eastern tradition, highlights the significance of communal rituals and honor in the reconciliation process.
Rituals/Practices: While all three theologies advocate for forgiveness and reconciliation, they differ in their emphasis on rituals/practices. Volf's Embrace theology focuses on internal transformation and the embodiment of Christlike love in individual and communal life. Ubuntu emphasizes communal practices that promote social harmony and the restoration of humanity within community. Sulha employs specific declaratory public rituals to facilitate forgiveness and restore honor within community.
Community involvement: Community involvement varies across the three theologies. Volf emphasizes the role of individuals and churches in embodying Christ's love and promoting reconciliation in diverse contexts. In ubuntu and sulha the community's involvement is essential in initiating, leading and guarding the process. While ubuntu highlights the communal nature of reconciliation, where the entire community participates in the restoration of relationships. Sulha highlights the importance of communal support and involvement in facilitating peace enabling victims to regain their humanity and overcome shame and isolation.
Each theology offers unique insights and reconciliation approaches. Recognizing their complementarity enriches the development of holistic approaches to Christian unity and peacemaking. Christian theology can glean valuable insights from ubuntu and sulḥa regarding community and rituals
Firstly, ubuntu emphasizes the interconnectedness of humanity within a community, highlighting the importance of communal support and solidarity in fostering forgiveness and reconciliation. Christian
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
theology can learn from this emphasis on community as integral to the restoration of individuals and relationships. By prioritizing communal well-being, as seen in ubuntu, Christian communities can create environments conducive to healing and reconciliation, where forgiveness, justice and unity becomes a communal responsibility rather than solely a personal virtue.
Secondly, sulḥa provides a structured ritualized process for managing conflicts and achieving reconciliation within communities. Christian theology can draw from the ceremonial aspects of sulḥa, such as public ceremonies of forgiveness, symbolic acts of reconciliation, and communal involvement in venting and dignity restoration. By incorporating such ritualistic elements into their practices, Christian communities can provide tangible expressions of forgiveness and restoration, making the process more accessible and meaningful for all involved. Additionally, by emphasizing public witnessing and communal involvement in the peace process, Christian theology can underscore the communal nature of forgiveness and reconciliation, reinforcing the interconnectedness of individuals within the community.
Proposal
I propose that to cultivate peace and unity, we need to reinforce our Christian identity as peacemakers by emphasizing the goal and significance of the Christian community and church practices/rituals Christian Community:
Communities operate based on shared beliefs driving collective actions, whether positive or negative. Religious communities and believers view religious beliefs as an active practice involving acting upon and living out their convictions that aim to build and extend community. Those whose religious beliefs involve a commitment to justice, compassion and the common good serve as a unifying force in the process of constructing an inclusive and cooperative human community.40
In Christianity, God's mission is to bless all nations through a community that lives in righteousness and justice,41 embodying peace and transformation. This idea, reflected in the New Testament, emphasizes that this community’s identity, values, ethics, and social involvement are intertwined.
40 Sweet, William, “Religious Belief, Political Culture and Community”, in Alice Ramos and Marie I. George, eds., Faith, Scholarship and Culture in the 21st Century, Washington: American Maritain Association/ Catholic University of America Press, 2002, 297-311. 300.
41 Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission. Zondervan, 2010,79. See also Bosch David J. Transforming mission: Paradigm shift in theology of mission. New York: Orbis, 1991.
I identify the following Key elements that characterize the Christian community:
Mission and identity: Matthew links mission with identity, asserting that Christians find their true identity through involvement in mission as they represent a new way of life to others and communicate a new interpretation of God and of reality, with a commitment to see the salvation and liberation of those around them.42 For Matthew, a Christian community regards itself as being different from its environment while committed to it in a way that is both appealing and challenging.
Inward and outward orientations: Luke sees the Christian community as having both inward and outward orientations: Inwardly, it devotes itself “to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Outwardly, it refuses to view itself as a sectarian group, but actively reaches out to engage in mission that operates within a fallen world; they present a stark contrast to the ‘Sodom’ around them.43 In this way, the inner life is connected to its outer life.44
Reflecting the values of God’s Kingdom: For Paul, the Christian community must reflect the values of God’s coming world. The members of this community find their identity in Christ rather than in their race, culture, social class, or sex. Therefore, unity is non-negotiable, and any form of church segregation is a denial of the Bible.45 Unity is the distinguishing feature of the Church’s authenticity that will attract others to God.46 Unity has been made possible by God, but it is intentionally forged through the demonstration of unconditional love and peacemaking.
Transforming society: Paul urges active participation in God’s redemptive will in the present. The Christian community should see itself as a body made up of individuals who seek to serve Christ with a balanced, holistic approach to mission, modeling both the Great Commission of proclamation and the Great Commandment of love and service.47 This community must erect in the face of oppressive structures, signs of God’s new world.48 She changes lives, values and priorities, and presents a challenge to fallen structures in society.
42 Bosch, David J. Transforming mission: Paradigm shift in theology of mission. New York: Orbis, 1991, 61.
43 Wright, The Mission of God's People, 71.
44 Bosch, Transforming mission, 103-104.
45 Ibid 140.
46 Ibid.
47 Stott, John. Christian Mission in the Modern World. Intervarsity press, 2009
48 Bosch, Transforming mission, 143.
Mission and suffering: For Paul, suffering is a mode of missionary involvement with the world for the sake of the world’s redemption.49
The community has resources and power to remove obstacles and build bridges toward peace by the following actions:50 Communities can collectively bear the burden of wrongdoing, employ peace language through influential leaders, uphold justice, and play a vital role in restoring and embracing members by healing shame, welcoming them back, and supporting their journey toward harmony.51
Church Practices/Rituals:
A ritual is a set of actions or ceremonies that are performed in a prescribed, traditional manner, often with symbolic significance. By engaging in rituals, we remember our personal and communal narratives and articulate our beliefs about our existence, spirituality and the enigmatic nature of life. This allows us to live purposefully, with dignity and in social harmony
I see three significant tasks in rituals that strengthen the church as peace-agent: First, rituals reflect and reinforce collective values, shaping our identity 52 A Christian community finds its identity in Jesus Christ and understands herself as being both different from and committed to its society presenting a new way of life through Christ, spreading a counter culture and exhibiting in the present age signs of God's new world.
Second, rituals transform and unite us by reinforcing shared values.53 Rituals play a crucial role in shaping our collective behavior, particularly when prioritizing unity and reconciliation. The Lord's Supper liturgy, for example, encourages forgiveness and reconciliation, ingraining these values into our communal consciousness through repeated participation. Thus, rituals not only fulfill a sense of duty but also tap into our deeper desires, making forgiveness and reconciliation a habitual practice and essential value within the community.
49 Paul bears in his body “the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17) that he has acquired as a servant of Christ (2 Cor 11:23-28). He shares in Christ’s sufferings and completes in his flesh “what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).
50 Khoury Mansour. Theology of Reconciliation in the Context of Church Relations, 2020, 321-323.
51 Khoury Mansour, Rula. “Communities of Forgiveness: a Palestinian Christian Perspective”. Ex Auditu: An International Journal for the Theological Interpretation of Scripture, 35 (2019): 122-150. Pickwick, 2020.
52 Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Free Press, 1965.
53 Davis-Floyd, Robbie, and Charles D. Laughlin. The Power of Rituals: An Invitation to Life. New York, NY: New World Library, 2016.
Third, rituals play a role in creating and revitalizing cultural values, potentially transforming social structures.54 Since we are not only products of our culture, but also producers of our culture, through rituals we can construct cultures that value forgiveness, unity and embrace.55 Rituals also serve as channels to guide emotions and thoughts through their prescribed process, 56 reshaping memories, attitudes, and desires towards truth, repentance, and forgiveness and facilitating social change. Christian communities aiming to foster cultures of peace and unity may need to utilize resources creatively to achieve this goal.
The Church community carries within itself valuable resources for fostering unity, forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. Examples include the Lord’s Supper, foot washing, singing, preaching, teaching, fasting, and sharing a meal. These liturgies open space for the Holy Spirit to shape people as individuals and as a community (Acts 2: 42) Through fellowship, we enhance our identity in Christ and renew our covenant with God and the Church. Also, as rituals transform us on an individual and collective level, we learn to develop practices and habits that keep us accountable to walking in God's way (Micah 6:8). By changing our habits, our ways will also change.57 Finally, Rituals can serve transformative ends58 by promoting values (love, unity, embrace...) that run counter to those of the dominant culture (hatred, division, exclusion...) In this capacity, the Church, shaped by liturgy/rituals, spreads God's love and salvation, acknowledges pain, condemns evil, and overcomes evil with good (Matthew 5:13-16) thus, contributing to the realization of the kingdom’s signs.
Church practices/rituals play a significant role in patterning our understanding of the divine. They provide avenues for experiencing and expressing the mystery of the Holy in tangible ways. Community, as a social construct, reinforces faith through shared practices, beliefs and experiences. Rituals shape our beliefs, deepen our faith, foster unity and embrace nurturing through mutual support and accountability within the community. Through church involvement in the habits and practices, we gradually learn unity and reconciliation as a way of life, living in communion with God, one another and creation.
54 Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, 1973. And Turner, Victor, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti- Structure. Ithica, New York: Cornell Paperbacks, Cornell University Press, 1969.
55 Turner, V.W. & Turner, E., Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, University Press, Columbia, NY, 1978, 161-163.
56 Wepener, C.J., From Fast to Feast: A Ritual-Liturgical Exploration of Reconciliation in South African Cultural Contexts. Liturgia Condenda 19, Peeters, Leuven. 2009, 71.
57 Foster, Richard J. The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. HarperOne, 2018.
58 See Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays and Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti- Structure. Thus, ritual in this setting emerges as both social mirror and agent of socio-cultural change.
Conclusion
In the beautiful tapestry of the above theological frameworks and church practices, one thread binds them all: the pursuit of peace and reconciliation. As we explore the rich theologies of Volf's Embrace, ubuntu and sulha, we witness a symphony of forgiveness, justice and community woven together. Yet, beyond mere contemplation lies a compelling call to translate these truths into action. May we not merely admire these concepts, but also embody them in our practices and interactions. For in this symphony of embracing the other, forgiving relentlessly and seeking justice with love, we find the melody of God's transformative grace, inviting all into the harmonious rhythm of divine reconciliation.
A Response to “Peacemaking and Christian Unity”
Larry C. Ashlock
“A Tree Does Not Make a Forest”
2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:2-3, ESV
Introduction
Greetings, and grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the invitation to respond to Dr. Rula Khoury Mansour’s research entitled, “Cultivating Peace and Unity: Insights from Three Cultural Theologies.” Before proceeding with my response, I want to express our prayers and support for you and your family in these days. We share your grief over the passing of your father. I am reminded of Paul’s words, “our sorrow is not without hope,” and we pray that God’s word and Spirit comfort you this day (1 Thessalonians 4:13b).
Researchers know the importance of setting aside emotions to be able to approach objectively what is being researched. I had hardly begun reading the paper when I discovered that I was being challenged to address a matter that I had long believed was fully settled in my heart. I will address this moral concern later in my response, but I believe that it is important to set the stage by inviting each of us to permit God to ask what roadblocks there may be in our own hearts to making peace.
Rula writes, “For Apostle Paul, unity and peace are the distinguishing features of the Church’s authenticity [italics mine] that will attract others to God. The members of this community find their true identity in Christ rather than their race, culture, social class, or sex (Galatians 3:27).” This claim calls us to focus on something more than these typical ways of expressing identity as a means to the end of achieving peace.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
Unity has been made possible by God, but the practical reality is that it results from the hard work of love and peacemaking, where Christians choose to act against their sinful and broken nature[s]. (RKM, p. 1). Dr. Mansour narrows her focus mainly to peace and peacemaking throughout the paper. Time does not permit us to examine the research in detail, so I will offer a comparative overview of the three peacemaking approaches she presents, provide several observations, raise a question, then conclude with the way the research caused me to ask “Will I forgive?”
A Comparative Overview of the Research
A central question is: How should we view our identities, relate to the “other,” and make peace with the “other?” (RKM, 1). Three distinct cultural, and theological perspectives offer profound insights into these timeless questions: Embrace, Ubuntu, and Sulha theologies. Each offers a unique lens through which to understand and promote peace. I have chosen to use a lateral view of the research to provide us with a combined view of the similarities and differences
First, Dr. Mansour raises the question of how we may view our identities. She rightly addresses one of the reasons for individual and cultural divides, a lack of our common human rootedness that is evident in the imago Dei Volf’s “embrace” approach, as well as a Christian use of African Ubuntu emphasize the image of God in every human life. Volf states that the Christian life is a unique fulfillment of what it is to be a human being (Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, 308). Desmond Tutu’s use of African Ubuntu as a theological method weds its meaning of “person,” and “human,” to a biblical view of God’s image in humankind (Adebo, 115, fn, 17; Cf. Genesis 126-27; 2:18-25). He sought to demonstrate the infinite worth of every person black or white, rich or poor, powerful or weak as a child of God. Arab Sulha, while not directly a theological approach to reconciliation and peace, does recognize the need to “humanize” the offended party and that a hurting individual impacts negatively the entire community. Terms like “dignity” and “honor” are a part of this concept. Accepting that God’s image resides in every human life is foundational to building peace (Volf, 308; Bundy, 16-19; Cf. also Zoughbi and Rainey, eds., Sulha, 128). I term this awareness as a key source of solidarity.
A second question concerns how humans relate to one another, which is foundational to
each of these approaches. There is a greater difference between the approaches at this point. The concept of interdependency surfaces in discussions related to peace and peacemaking. Volf develops his theological method around embrace which calls for the internalization of relationships (Volf, 161; See Luke 15:11-32, “the Father gives himself to his estranged son and receives him back, which illustrates a “heart embrace”). A process of “separating and binding,” both of which lead to interdependence is a key element in experiencing embrace (RKM, 1). This “will” to embrace requires effort but leads to genuine community.
In African thought, one moves from community to individuality (Battle, 45). One’s personhood, in Ubuntu, is understood to be formed “interdependently through community” (Battle, Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me, 45). The challenge is to become emancipated from social, political, economic, & religious injustice perpetrated by Whites. Nevertheless, as the African novelist Achebo writes metaphorically, coming into the house out of the rain makes it difficult to be willing to return outside into the rain. He meant that the allure of money and power plague Africans, just as it does Whites, and hinders true interdependency (Chinua Achebe, as quoted in Dowden, Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, 68).
In Arab culture, Sulha is a method used for centuries to keep Arab societies intact. Its roots are buried deeply in a rich heritage (Zoughbi and Rainey, Sulha, 128). While not based in Christian theology and practice, the key concept is to maintain the interrelatedness and interdependency of the culture (Cf. however, Genesis 31:43-54; Luke 15:20-24; and Matthew 26:26-30; RKM, 5). A central theme is forgiveness and reconciliation (RKM, 5). Basic to this approach is the understanding that hurting an individual means hurting the entire community at the same time. Volf’s approach requires a will to embrace, Ubuntu requires a will to let go of one’s own selfish desires or cultural animosities (Cf. Hutu and Tutsi; See Dowden, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, 68), and Sulha requires unbiased elders who shun aligning themselves with outside powermongers. Forgiveness and reconciliation are part and parcel of living interdependently with the “other.”
The third aspect is how to make peace with the “other,” a core element in the three approaches. In a broad sense, peace requires us to look within ourselves, to see what social attitudes are creating barriers, and to gaze without to find the systemic structures that erect obstacles to peace (Cf. Ephesians 2:14, “he himself is our peace”). Volf understands that we
must let go of identities that create exclusion (e.g. Nationalism). Tutu, while aware of the distinctives of each person, knew the importance of integrating cultures to unify against oppressive structures like Apartheid. (Cf. Yoruba and Igbo, Black and White South Africans). Sulha knows the importance of healing the festering wounds, that move the soul who has been hurt, to desiring to seek revenge, which then spreads throughout a community. Embrace strives to create a social vision that leads to peaceful societies (Volf, 315). Ubuntu contributes to a theology of reconciliation that leads to peace (Adebo, 115). And Sulha seeks peace that comes from long-term reconciliation (Mansour, 124). All three approaches are similar in that they require social agents to act to transform evil in the world (Cf. for example, Erickson, 4th ed., 1168 on Moltmann).
Observations
A couple of observations present themselves at this point. First, Dr. Mansour writes of the need for more practical application in Volf’s theology of embrace (RKM, 3). Volf, by the way, recognizes and discusses this reality in his revised edition of Exclusion and Embrace (see Epilogue). I have observed that Sulha, even for its known flaws, prioritizes keeping “others” at the table until resolution and reconciliation is achieved. Both parties are bound to conclude the difficult process of peacemaking by sharing a cup of hot coffee! (p. 9). We all may benefit indeed from doing the hard work of staying at the peacemaking table (See esp. Rula Khoury Mansour, Theology of Reconciliation in the Context of Church Relations).
Secondly, I observe the importance of becoming better equipped, both in the academy and in our churches, to wrestle with our theologies. Baptists in my nation are wrestling over questions about the God of Creation queries which have their place but we are losing people due to our inability to deliberate as both academy and church over a theology that expresses our role in God’s Kingdom plan going forward. The Lord is, after all, past, present, and future (Cf. Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, 80). Dr. Mansour’s work challenges us to settle our differences peacefully, so that we may lean more into the future.
A Question
Finally, a question to ask ourselves. Miroslav Volf presented a sketch of his new theology
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
of embrace in a conference. Jürgen Moltmann, his doctoral professor, was in attendance and asked him, “. . .Can you embrace a četnik?” The Chetniks (Croatian: četnik) were Yugoslav royalists and Serbian Nationalists who committed war crimes against the Muslims and Croats in World War II. Volf, being from Croatia, was challenged to the core of his being!
He knew the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The father in that parable gave himself to his estranged son and received him back into his household. Our Heavenly Father does the same with us through his Son, Jesus Christ. He does not deny us, who are “lost” and “dead” in our sins, his heart’s embrace. Volf knew that he needed to discover the will to embrace even his enemies. Foes become friends when we are willing to offer our embrace. Somehow, in doing so, Christ’s sacrificial suffering breaks through and God pours his peace into both hearts. Then the Lord builds redeemed communities out of our relational catastrophes. And now to address the moral concern.
Can I embrace the Third Ward in Houston, Texas?
I was a twelve-year-old boy in April 1968 when I sat with my father on a couch in our home and watched on television the news report of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My father looked at me and said, “Larry, this is a sad day.” We grieved together over the hatred shown toward Dr. King and Black Americans represented by that violent act. I never in all my life heard either of my parents use a racial epithet for black people. Black Americans were loved and defended in our Christian home.
My school district at that time “zoned” my neighborhood into predominantly minority schools, which was a form of racial desegregation. I endured for the next six years severe harassment and, at times, physical abuse from the Black and Hispanic people I had been taught from childhood to love and respect. On the other hand, I was also literally escorted from class to class, at times, by my fellow black athletes in order to be kept safe. Thus, a deep inner conflict was born in my heart. Why was “I” being so mistreated when I never had spoken or acted to harm a Black or Brown person? I began to encounter in a small but significant way what African Americans and Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans ha felt for many generations!
Dr. Mansour’s paper has caused me to become aware of a deeply hidden wall of separation behind which I sometimes hide for protection when I recall those specific days more
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
than five decades ago. So, Rula, you have asked me “Larry, can you embrace Houston’s poverty stricken and politically disenfranchised Third Ward? I can now say to you, “Yes.” Healing is possible.
To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ across this great continent. You also have been instrumental in my healing by always offering me your embrace. Despite the long history of colonial oppression and exploitation, you have invited me into your families and your lives. Dr. Emiola Nihinlola was the President of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary when the organization I lead, the Baptist Center for Global Concerns, had a teaching and consulting partnership with our brothers and sisters in Christ at that school. I recall speaking on pastoral leadership to a gathering of faculty, students, and church leaders and members from the city of Ogbomoso. There began to be a rumbling in the back of the auditorium soon after I began to speak. A few among the many who were gathered protested that a White man was speaking to them. Dr. Nihinlola came to the microphone and quieted the audience. He looked at me and said, “He is a Black man.” Then he pointed to himself and said, “I am a White man.” He went on to say that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. His embrace and demonstration of the Spirit’s fruit of peace was the first step toward the deeper healing that I have sought for decades.
Dr. Nihinlola, Dr. Ademola Ishola, Dr. Duro Ayanrinola, General Secretary Elias Apetogbo, and a greater cloud of witnesses have modeled this peacemaking spirit. Indeed, they have shown me the harm in remaining isolated by events in my distant past. The African proverb with which I opened this response comes to my mind: Truly, a tree does not make a forest. Thank you, Dr. Mansour, for reminding us that we need each other!
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
PEACEFULNESS AND THE PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH MEETING
Cassandra Aline Jones
INTRODUCTION
An 11-year-old girl was having difficulty processing her feelings about the death of the only pastor she had ever known. She knew he had been ill for a while, although he had con@nued preaching. She remembered the @tle of his last sermon: “My Grace Is Sufficient ” Her pastor was her grandfather’s best friend. Her pastor was a friend to all the children in the huge Children’s Church. For one year, her beloved church family, as well as her mom and grandparents were in bereavement. There were signs of a grieving family, it seemed everywhere in her life. At the end of that year, she experienced something new, and in many ways frightening:
THE CHURCH MEETING
Her mom sat her down to aNempt to explain to her the series of mee@ngs she was about to observe. Her mom said, “you are going to hear, and see some things at church you’ve never experienced before. But it is important that you be there with us to listen, hear, watch, and think about, because our next pastor will be your pastor as well. Although that 6th grade girl did not quite understand what her mom was talking about, she listened and took her at her word. Then her mom said, “Your family is here to answer any ques@ons you have. You know you can talk to me about anything”. In fact, there were indeed a series of mee@ngs that this young girl aNended with her family
They were eye opening, some@mes surprisingly vola@le, and some@mes just funny. She had many ques@ons about Rev so-and-so, Deacon so-and-so, Sunday School teachers, WMU leaders, youth leaders, etc.
She had ques@ons about:
• Why certain things were said
• Why people were so angry
• Why others were crying
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
• What was happening and what was going to happen?
The scenes of those mee@ngs were indelibly seared into her memory long aZer the next pastor was selected and installed. So much so, that the mere men@on or sugges@on of “church mee@ng” triggered anxie@es that she preferred not to remember
Throughout her adult life she has par@cipated, presented, and even presided at church mee@ngs. The church mee@ngs were in congrega@ons which had received teaching, sermons and reminders of who we are as the Body of Christ… the “ecclesia” - the People of the Book. However, there is one ques@on which con@nues to rise in these experiences: How does the “unity” that Jesus prayed about demonstrate itself peacefully when we are in the process of decision-making?
There are congrega@ons who conduct their business applying strong democra@c processes: each congregant with one vote, and the majority vote is the result. Other congrega@ons conduct their business by keeping themselves aNen@ve to the Holy Spirit and following His leadership.
There are also Bap@st congrega@ons who conduct their business as people using democra@c prac@ces, who simultaneously meet and share together – and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit seek to discern the mind of Christ for ministry and mission.
This paper will not include a complete review of the biblical, theological or historical understanding of Bap@st polity.
This paper will focus upon the call to peace and unity in decision making in the church body in the se`ng of church mee@ngs.
The presenta@on will offer a biblical and addi@onal clarifying views that may be applied immediately in any local congrega@on, hopefully to alleviate tensions.
The Research Ques@on for this presenta@on is: How do specific prac0ces be2er protect the unity of the church to ensure accountability and decision making are working well?
The thesis of this paper is Unity and Peacefulness are not only possible but taught and demonstrated in the New Testament. The basis of unity and peacefulness in the local church is biblical, theological and prac@cal.
“ECCLESIA AND DECISION-MAKING”
In the New Testament there are examples for the basis for “ecclesia” decision-making. The example of Acts 11 is how radical reorien@ng of social interac@ons in the Chris@an community arises during a deep dispute about whether Gen@le Chris@ans must adopt Jewish laws and customs. Peter experiences a surprising revela@on that God is offering “that repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18) to Gen@les without requiring them to become Jews first. But when he travels to Jerusalem in the company of some uncircumcised (Gen@le) men, some of the Chris@ans there complain that he is viola@ng Jewish law (Acts 11:1-2). When challenged in this way, Peter does not become angry, does not aNempt to lord it over the men by reminding them of his leading posi@on among Jesus’ disciples, does not denigrate their opinions, and does not impugn their mo@ves.
Instead, he tells the story of what happened to lead him to this conclusion and how he sees God’s hand in it, “If then God gave them the same giZ that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” (Acts 11:17). No@ce that he portrays himself not as wise, nor morally superior, but as one who was on the verge of making a serious mistake un@l corrected by God.
Then he leaves it to his challengers to respond. Having heard Peter’s experience, they do not react defensively, do not challenge Peter’s authority in the name of James (the Lord’s brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church), and do not accuse Peter of exceeding his authority. Instead, they too look for God’s hand at work and reached the same conclusion as Peter. What began as a confronta@on ends with fellowship and praise. “When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God” (Acts 11:18). We can’t expect every dispute to be resolved so amicably, but we can see that when people acknowledge and explore the grace of God in one another’s lives, there is every reason to hope for a mutually upbuilding outcome.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
In Acts 15 the council met to discuss the issue of what Gen@les should do when conver@ng to Chris@anity. Acts 15 actually contains both an example of a doctrinal issue (circumcision and keeping the Old Testament law), and a human issue that arose between Paul and Barnabas over whether they should take John Mark on the second missionary journey. In the case of the doctrinal issue, Peter learned that Gen@les could be saved by the blood of Christ on the condi@on of an obedient faith in Christ without being circumcised and obeying the law of Moses.
The disagreement between Paul and Barnabus, in Acts 15, is also one which we all can iden@fy. Chris@ans can have some sharp disagreements. Bap@st can pray, but Bap@sts can also fight! Local congrega@ons cannot agree on a decision, and a group leaves that ministry. Or, in other cases, the congrega@on splits. Then there are some devasta@ng experiences, where the congrega@on is completely dissolved! Because our denomina@onal bodies are large groups of local congrega@ons, we have seen the same results in larger bodies. We have seen everything from arguments, to law suits, to fights and splits to actual murders in denomina@onal body mee@ngs
In 1880, the Na@onal Bap@st Conven@on USA, Inc (NBCUSA). had its first session. This is the largest Black Body of Bap@sts in America. There have been schisms in this body. One of the largest disagreements, in the 1960’s, led to a group of ministers leaving the NBCUSA, and forming another African American Conven@on which is known today as the Progressive Na@onal Bap@st Conven@on (PNBC). The PNBC believed that churches across the United States were suffering from an iden@ty crisis fostered by racism, and conserva@ve poli@cal policies and prac@ces that supported segrega@on and other systemic racist ideals.
The PNBC supported Dr Mar@n Luther King Jr’s struggle for freedom for African Americans. These were the majority of the pastors and churches who openly supported the marches, boycoNs, and all that you have learned and read about our Civil Rights Movement in America. In addi@on, there were many local congrega@ons throughout the NBCUSA that made the decision to go against the desires of their na@onal president and fully supported the Civil Rights Movement. Many congrega@ons located in the west, north, and east were fully engaged
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
by sending finances, shoes for those long marches, and representa@ves to par@cipate in many ways.
Some of the areas of importance for PNBC were:
• Full and ac@ve involvement in civil rights advocacy and ac@vism
• tenure for offices held
• fully suppor@ng and ordaining women into the ministry
• a unified giving program
The Na@onal Bap@st Conven@on, which was at that @me led by Dr Joseph Harrison Jackson, was opposed to involvement in the Civil Rights Movement for many reasons. Dr Jackson was known to say publicly: “Now is not the @me. Just pray and wait”. He advocated seeking change through the court system rather than by direct ac@on. He believed civil disobedience would inflame racial differences. He spoke against sit-ins, marches, protests, and strong advocacy during this movement and even denounced the historical MARCH ON WASHINGTON in 1963 as “dangerous and unwarranted”. I am proud to say that my pastor and members of my family were par@cipants in the March on Washington. The NBCUSA also did not have a tenure for leadership, and they did not support women in ministry and few significant forms of leadership. Chris@ans have been disagreeing for a long @me! These disagreements can discourage us, give us pain, and even challenge our faith.
The very apostle who exhorted Chris@ans to be “of the same mind” (Phil. 2:2) didn’t always aNain that ideal himself. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along on their next missionary journey, but Paul disagreed, because Mark had deserted them earlier (Acts 13:13).
What made their disagreement so disheartening was the subsequent division that resulted. In this text, we have two men fully commiNed to Christ disagreeing over the applica@on of biblical principle. The tension is that Paul was pu`ng a greater emphasis on one principle, and Barnabas on another. As they each placed their principles in the balance, the argument was over which way the scales were @pping.
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
A theology of peace is more than the way we do something at a specific @me and place – for example, a church mee@ng. It is, in fact, a lifestyle! Humanity is made in the image of God; and our Creator invites us to live in the Peace of God.
If this theology was embraced in daily living by every Believer, would there be a need for this paper presenta@on? The atmosphere and behaviors con@nue to overflow from a lifestyle of peace.
“What wholeness is wrought by “the God of peace who . . . , by the blood of the eternal covenant, equips them with everything good that we may do his will” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
“What harmony is there for those whose hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus by the peace of God”. (Phil 4:7)
“Equipped with the shoes of the gospel of peace, they bear witness that for believers Jesus is their peace, having broken down the wall of hosElity between them and God and between one another” (Ephesians 2:14)
Is it possible, as many members of ONE BODY, live, worship, and conduct our business in peace without the unity the Jesus prayed for us to aNain?
UNITY!
In John 17 Christ prays that “we may be one”. We see the desire that Jesus had for all Believers in Christ to have visible unity. That is where I con@nue to wrestle. Have I seen unity in my life in the church?.
• within or beyond my local congrega@on?
• within or beyond the Bap@st denomina@on?
• within the global body of Chris@ans?
• How is unity defined?
If we read the same scripture texts regarding JUSTICE, why do some believe having the 10 commandments in every school room is jus@ce, but feeding those same children healthy meals and providing them with health care is not? Of course, we will differ in the way we get
things accomplished, but why are we not unified in what it means to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God”
If Bap@sts enter, and leave a church mee@ng at odds, is there s@ll unity? If Bap@st denomina@ons argue and separate over the issue of women in ministry, are we ONE? If there are 5 Bap@sts in a room with 8 interpreta@ons of the same scripture text…are they unified?
How is unity understood by children, like that 11-year-old girl? What is demonstrated to them every day? How is unity visible to the unbeliever who has no knowledge of denomina@ons only that they hear your verbal claims of Chris@anity? How do we describe unity in our daily demonstra@ons?
If our loyalty to our poli@cal party is more visible than our peace and unity with fellow Believers, surely, we cannot expect anything different in our church mee@ngs. If we never embody what Jesus meant in John 17, how will it be proven undeniable in the church mee@ng?
RECOMMENDED PRACTICES
Reverend Doctor Ruth Moriarty published SLOW WISDOM: How do Bap0sts discern the mind of Christ at the Church Mee0ng? Moriarty ’s qualita@ve study with four par@cipant Bap@st church’s, collected and analyzed data by thema@c and axial coding. She reports Bap@st discernment is iden@fied, ar@culated, and named as SLOW WISDOM. Her study provides prac@ces to consider.
It is defined as “slow” because it listens to all members and seeks consensus agreement through a prayerful and prophe@c atmosphere. The theological emphasis on par@cipa@on, described as ‘this body life’ is shown to be based on biblical images of the church as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-27), and as the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4-5)
Her work compares slow wisdom to late author bell hooks’ prac@cal wisdom; however slow wisdom finds broader terms of expression and ra@onale for par@cipa@on and the church mee@ng is recast as a radical place. Bap@st discernment is expanded from a biblical basis to recognize the wisdom in the lived experience of faith and bodily prac0ce of aNending the Church Mee@ng as fundamental to discernment. Slow Wisdom begins with prayer. In prayer,
10th
the church mee@ng begins by listening to each other and God in either one large group or in small groups.
Slow Wisdom, when exercised in the Church Mee@ng, can be characterized as a radical space of inclusion. This research stated, “Slow wisdom is not present when the Church Mee@ng fails to listen to all members.” Listening to members speaking at the Church Mee@ng is iden@fied by par@cipants as part of the process of discernment for Bap@sts. Integral to discernment is then, the 0me necessary to hear and process members’ contribu@ons over more than one Church Mee@ng. Listening is offered to one another as members, and to and from God in prayer.
“Faithfulness to Christ in church mee@ngs shows itself in pa@ent listening, with space for the dissen@ng voice, and willingness to go on wai@ng and praying when we are not sure where God is leading us” (Moriarty, 2024). There are unique and dis@nc@ve voices to listen to and hear in the process of discernment. I hasten to say that listening in this way, in a church mee@ng, takes @me, but it is slowness that helps the discernment process. This is a communal nature of learning through dialogue and listening to others in discernment while seeking the mind of Christ together.
The third prac@cal ac@on of Slow Wisdom is: Hearing Into Ac0on. We either hear a mul@tude of different voices or we hear a lone prophe@c voice – both guide our discernment in new direc@ons and offer an inclusive par@cipatory decision-making prac@ce. Hearing these voices in the dialogue leads to ac@on.
Dialogue demands a new way of hearing that awakens speech and new way of seeing. Elaine Graham suggests this as “giving birth to a new language of libera@on” (Graham, 2007).
Finally, Slow Wisdom seeks a form of consensus as a mark of discernment. In the Morarity study, consensus was reached in one of two ways:
• seeking consensus via vo0ng to decide on a resolu@on
• using small groups to increase par@cipa@on to refine resolu0ons with the primary aim of reducing conflict through vo@ng.
In the model of Slow Wisdom, “seeking consensus is understood firstly as a form of embodied knowledge used to indicate discernment for par@cipants”. It is achieved by ensuring the full par@cipa@on of members through small group work processes and / or tes@ng the room before vo@ng. This study also revealed that the model fails when all members are not present and par@cipa@ng in Slow Wisdom. Low aNendance of younger members, and low aNendance of Black or Brown members in a predominately Anglo congrega@on also limit the possibility of success.
Some may argue, “where is the Holy Spirit?” The Holy Spirit is at work throughout the exercise of Slow Wisdom. The Holy Spirit works through prayer. The Spirit works through the dialogue – even when there are dissen@ng voices. The Spirit works through our hearing and understanding. The Spirit works through moments of enlightenment and learning. The Holy Spirit works through the process of consensus and vo@ng.
CONCLUSION
2 Thessalonians 3:16 reads, “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” If we are living in peace, being quick to forgive is a characteris@c that is already a part of who we are. One of the exci@ng things about being Bap@sts is that we are not a monolith. We are not homogenous. We value different voices. We have different lived experiences. We are endeared to our unique lived experiences. We don ‘t merely par@cipate in dialogue, we highly value dialogue. And God is in our discourse. Yes, we will have disagreements in and outside of the church mee@ng. We’re Bap@sts! Should that divide us? Should that define our rela@onship with one another? Even aZer a decision has been made by vo@ng, consensus or both, some may be displeased with the outcome. Does it have to destroy our rela@onship?
Does an outcome have to be the reason we leave the church or distract us from Kingdom Building? The decision-making process should be couched in prayer, with an all-
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
inclusive par@cipa@on, willingness to hear all voices and age groups, and a willingness to par@cipate in our local congrega@on’s process towards meaningful consensus.
Church Mee@ngs look different in every church globally. However, there must be something these mee@ngs have in common for it to be included in our focus on being peacemakers. I submit that as Chris@ans, we have so much work to do to embody peace in ourselves, with one another, as well as being ONE as Christ prayed.
Behaviors at a church mee@ng cannot demonstrate what the individual congregant doesn’t already embody. Prac@ces like Slow Wisdom will not work with individuals who refuse to tear down the walls, remove their masks, honestly confront those thoughts and ac@ons which are at war with peaceful living, and be in that space as their authen@c selves. When we are willing to surrender that which separates us, to Christ, and see each other as Christ sees us, we will experience the Church Mee@ng as a beau@ful and radical expression of Bap@st Faith and prac@ce.
Thank You!
10th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Graham, E. (2007) Hearing one another to speech. Church Times, 3/1/07.
Haymes, B., Gouldbourne, R. and Cross, A. (2008) On Being the Church – Revisioning BapEst
IdenEty. Studies in Bap@st History and Thought. Volume 21. Milton Keynes: Paternoster
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Educa0on as the Prac0ce of Freedom New York: Routledge
hooks, b. (2003) Teaching Community: Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2010) Teaching Cri0cal Thinking: Prac0cal Wisdom. New York: Routledge.
Jennings, W. (2010) The Chris0an Imagina0on: theology and the origins of race Yale University
Pres: New Haven/London
Jennings, W. (2020) AXer Whiteness: An educa0on in Belonging. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.
World Council of Churches. (2021) FacilitaEng dialogue to Build Koinonia. Faith and Order Paper
No 235. Churches and Moral Discernment Volume 4. Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches Publica@ons
Yancy, G. (2019) Engaging Whiteness and the Prac0ce of Freedom: The crea0on of subversive academic spaces. In Davidson Guadalupe, M and Yancy, G (ed) 2009
Five Hundred Years after the First Believers’ Baptisms in Zurich: The Anabaptists
and Christian Peace
Witness
Martin Rothkegel
1. Shaped by Persecution: Anabaptist Beginnings and the Rise of Anabaptist Traditions
On January 21, 1525, a handful of eager Bible readers met in a house in the Swiss city of Zurich and put into practice, what they had recognized as the biblical mode of becoming Christian. An account of the meeting, composed some thirty years after the event but seemingly based on the recollections of an eyewitness, reads as follows:
“Because God wanted one united people, separated from all other peoples, he brought forth the [...] light of his truth, to shine with all its radiance in the present age of this world. He wanted in particular to visit the German lands with his Word and to reveal the foundation of divine truth, so that his holy work could be recognized by everyone. It began in Switzerland, where God brought about an awakening. First of all a meeting took place between Ulrich Zwingli, Conrad Grebel (a member of the nobility), and Felix Mantz. All three were men of learning with a thorough knowledge of German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. They started to discuss matters of faith and realized that infant baptism is unnecessary and, moreover, is not baptism at all. Two of them, Conrad and Felix, believed that people should be truly baptized in the Christian order appointed by the Lord, because Christ himself says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Ulrich Zwingli, who shrank from the cross, disgrace, and persecution that Christ suffered, refused to agree. He said it would cause an uproar. But Conrad and Felix said that was no reason to disobey the clear command of God. [...]
One day when they were meeting, fear came over them and struck their hearts. They fell on their knees before the almighty God in heaven and called upon him who knows all hearts. They prayed that God grant it to them to do his divine will and that he might have mercy on them. Neither flesh and blood nor human wisdom compelled them. They were well aware of what they would have to suffer for this. After the prayer, [a priest called] George Blaurock [“George with the blue coat”, MR] stood up and asked Conrad Grebel in the name of God to baptize him with true Christian baptism on his faith and recognition of the truth. With this request he knelt down, and Conrad baptized him, since at that time there was no appointed servant of the Word. Then the others turned to George in their turn, asking him to baptize them, which he did. And so, in great fear of God, together they surrendered themselves to the Lord.
They confirmed one another for the service of the Gospel and began to teach the faith and to keep it. This was the beginning of separation from the world and its evil ways.”1
The key word of this famous account is “separation” From hindsight, the unknown Anabaptist author interpreted the first baptism of January 1525 as the foundation act of a believers’ church, a community which is based on voluntary individual profession of faith, a free faith community in fundamental opposition to the model of church which had then been dominant in European Christendom for more than thousand years.
In the first centuries after Christ, primitive Christianity had been a strictly pacifist Jewish missionary movement fiercely persecuted by the Roman Empire. This changed in the fourth century, starting with Constantine the Great who was the first Roman emperor who actively supported the Christian church. An important outcome of Constantine’s religious politics was the Council of Nicaea in 325 which will be commemorated by many Christians in 2025 for its seminal definition of the Christological dogma which eventually became the doctrinal standard for mainstream Christianity.
However, the pursuit of doctrinal uniformity in the Church was part of a political agenda. Emperor Constantine and his successors needed a stable, state-controlled church in order to stabilize and legitimize the political system of the declining Roman Empire. Within two or three generations, the church was transformed into a coercive state religion which did not tolerate any other religion, with the exception of the Jews. By 400 AD death penalty was introduced to suppress those who did not agree with the state church. At the same time, the practice of infant baptism became prevalent. Infant baptism excluded the possibility of becoming Christian by voluntary conversion. A century before Constantine, the Christian author Tertullian had stated: “Nobody is born as a Christi an, one must become Christian oneself.”2 A century after Constantine,
In 476 A.D, the political system of the Roman Empire ultimately collapsed in Western Europe, and Germanic kings took over power. But the principle of state religion survived these changes and remained one of the most stable factors in European societies until the nineteenth and even twentieth centuries. As Baptists, we should be clear about what kind of religion European Christendom used to be. Many Christians today tend to perceive Islam as an intolerant religion, based on the well-known atrocities of religious extremists in the last decades. But we should be aware that classical Islam usually upheld the principle that in an Islamic state Christians and Jews can be tolerated as “peoples
1 The Chronice of the Hutterian Brethren, Volume I. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1987, 43f.
2 “Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani,” Tertullian, Apologeticum 18,4.
of the book”. Obviously, this did never mean religious liberty in the modern sense. But for the sake of truth, we should acknowledge that for many centuries, historical Islam allowed for greater religious diversity than European Christendom. The century-long dominance of the Christian religion in European history was based on persecution and bloodshed.
In the Anabaptist perception, the turn in Christian history under Constantine the Great from persecuted to persecutors was “the fall of the Church”, using the same term as in the “fall of Adam”.
By her entanglement with the worldly power, the church became the “Babylonian harlot”, or as an Anabaptist chronicler of the sixteenth century put it, “the sheep took on a thoroughly wolfish nature [...], anyone who ventured to speak against the Roman bishop or pope was soon judged a heretic and condemned to die by the sword, fire, or other cruel means.”3
Believers’ baptism based on a free and individual profession of faith, as first practiced on January 21, 1525, in Zurich, implies a fundamental change in the history of Christianity back to the primitive Christian model of a voluntary faith community instead of the coercive state religion of “Constantinian” Christendom. Seen from this perspective, the Anabaptists deserve a place of honour in Christian history as the harbingers of a model of church which is not only compatible with, but even based on religious liberty. In many Anabaptist texts we find the argument: “Faith is a free gift of God, and only God can give it. Therefore, no human being can force to believe by violence.”4
For contemporary Catholics and magisterial Protestants, however, the Anabaptists were heretics, rebels against the divine order of Christian society, dangerous fanatics, and even in recent historiography there is still a tendency to marginalize the Anabaptists and to depict them as underprivileged outsiders who had virtually no impact on the general history of the Christian religion. It is the merit of several twentieth century historians who were, in one way or another, affiliated with believers’ church traditions to establish a new perspective on the Anabaptists. The Mennonite Harold Bender (1897-1962), the Congregationalist and Quaker Roland Bainton (1894-1984), the Unitarian George Williams (1914-2000), and the Methodist Franklin Littell (1917-2009) made the Anabaptists the object of serious academic research and emphasized their significance as pioneers of religious liberty and a non-coercive model of church. Especially influential was Harold Bender’s programmatic essay “The Anabaptist Vision” of 1943 in which he stated that “the Anabaptist movement [...] must be pronounced one of the most momentous and significant undertakings in man's eventful religious
3 Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, 31.
4 Bender, Harold S.: “The Anabaptists and Religious Liberty in the Sixteenth Century” Mennonite Quarterly Review 29, 1955, 83–100.
struggle after the truth. It gathered up the gains of earlier movements, it is the spiritual soil out of which all nonconformist sects have sprung, and it is the first plain announcement in modern history of a programme for a new type of Christian society which the modern world, especially in America and England, has been slowly realizing: an absolutely free and independent religious society, and a State in which every man counts as a man, and has his share in shaping both Church and State.”5
Crucial for Bender’s argument was that the programmatic “vision” of a free church in a free society was seminally present in the Anabaptist tradition from its very beginnings in Zurich, 1525. Bender’s historiographic approach thought was shaped by paradigms of interpretation according to which the very essence of a historical phenomenon is most purely recognizable in the moment of its origin, and subsequent developments must be judged according to whether or not the original essence and DNA is faithfully preserved or corrupted.
Professors like this kind of approach because it is much easier for the students if you present a whole topic in connection with a specific date, a specific place, a person, an iconic event. And, even more relevant, it is in accordance with evangelical theological hermeneutics according to which the primitive stage of New Testament Christianity is normative, and all later developments and traditions are given no normative relevance. In accordance with this approach, Bender wrote a biography of Conrad Grebel, one of the first baptized persons in Zurich, and presented him as a founding figure and reformer comparable to Martin Luther and John Calvin.
More recent research since the 1970s has shown that things are more complicated and in fact quite ambiguous.6 The first Anabaptists in Zurich obviously did not have a clear vision and program, and it was not even the case that by baptizing each other the founded a new church. They knew in advance that the authorities will not tolerate any rebaptisms of persons already baptized in infancy, and that the act of rebaptism would be punished by prison, expulsion or death. Within a couple of days and weeks after the first baptisms, the participants of the baptismal meeting were dispersed in various directions and most of them never met again.
Conrad Grebel died of the plague during his escape, others were arrested and eventually executed. Some who were priests tried to become village pastors during the Peasants’ War, but these
5 Bender, Harold S.: “The Anabaptist Vision” (1943/44), online: https://www.goshen.edu/mhl/Refocusing/d-av.htm
6 Stayer, James M.: Anabaptists and the Sword. Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press, 1973; Stayer, James M./Packull, Werner O./Deppermann, Klaus: “From Monogenesis to Polygenesis: the Historical Discussion of Anabaptist Origins”, Mennonite Quarterly Review, 49, 1975, 83–105; Roth, John D./Stayer, James M. (eds): A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521–1700. Leiden: Brill, 2007; Brewer, Brian C. (ed.): T & T Clark Handbook of Anabaptism. London: Clark, 2022.
experiments to introduce believers’ baptism in the traditional parishes lasted only a couple of months and ended with the suppression of the peasants’ revolts in late 1525. The most successful among the earliest Anabaptists was Doctor Balthasar Hubmaier, a learned theologian who attempted to carry out local Anabaptist reformations in the parish churches of Waldshut, a small South German town near the Swiss border, and in the small territory of Nikolsburg in Moravia, which is today part of the Czech Republic. In Hubmaier’s writings you do not find any hint that he was envisioning anything like a free church in a pluralistic free society he was arrested and died on the stake before realizing the implications of voluntary baptism. All in all, between the 1520s and the 1620s several thousand Anabaptists were executed by fire, sword, and water by Catholic and Protestant authorities in Europe.
As I said before, in spite of the justified critique of Bender’s “Anabaptist Vision”, I agree that believers’ baptism “implies” a fundamental change from coercive state religion to a community based on free profession of faith, from Christendom back to the primitive Christian model of believers’ church. These implications were made explicit in the famous Schleitheim Articles of 1527. In spite of the persecution, Anabaptism was a quickly growing movement, or rather there were several regional movements of different theological views. One of the first attempts to negotiate agreements between the various groups and branches of baptizers’ movements took place when preachers and elders of persecuted Anabaptist groups gathered in Schleitheim in February 1527. They agreed upon a programmatic church order in which they clearly gave up all attempts to introduce believers’ baptism in the extant traditional parish structures. Instead, they affirmed the formation of separate believers’ churches completely detached from the public church and from the secular authorities.
For the Anabaptists gathered in Schleitheim, the separation of church and state was tantamount to strict pacifism. They declared that Christians should not have actively be engaged in any function of secular authority, in the office of the sword, as Paul had described it in Romans 12. “The sword”, they declared, “is a necessary order of God, but outside the perfection of Christ.” Those who belong to Christ must respect and obey secular authority, but the cannot be part of it and must live a life of discipleship according to the “perfection of Christ,” by which they meant a life according to the Sermon of the Mount: no participation in violence, killing, war, and death penalty, no active participation in secular law courts and judgements, no oaths.
In other words, by 1527 the early Anabaptists had come to a clear vision of a free church but had no idea what a free society or state could look like. The experience of persecution, of being a defenceless minority in a hostile “world” or majority society, shaped their ecclesiology and spirituality more than anything else. The analogy between the Anabaptist experience and that of the early
Christians in the New Testament was evident, and this strengthened their certainty that they are the true churches and the true Christians in opposition to the dominating, persecuting church. It seems paradox, but persecution and the steadfast faith witness of the numerous Anabaptist martyrs contributed much to the credibility and the missionary success of the Anabaptist movement. In contemporary interrogation minutes, many Anabaptists confessed that they decided to join the movement and to be rebaptized because they had been impressed by the courage with which convicted Anabaptists faced their execution.
On the long run, there were only two options for the Anabaptists: either to go underground or to emigrate. Within two decades after the first Zurich baptisms, most Swiss, South German and Austrian Anabaptists joined one of two Anabaptist churches or denominations, either the Swiss Brethren or the Hutterian Brethren. The Swiss Brethren were a clandestine underground church with local congregations in Switzerland, South West Germany and the Rhinelands. Many of their believers intentionally moved from towns and cities to the countryside, preferably to remote places, where they could live their faith under the radar of the authorities. From time to time they met for clandestine worship in private homes or in secret places in the forest. Preaching, baptizing and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper were the responsibility of ordained itinerant ministers who coordinated the extended network by regular synods and conferences. The Amish and a part of the modern Mennonites have their origins in the Swiss Brethren tradition.7
The other option was to emigrate to the Hutterian Brethren in Moravia. Moravia, the south-eastern part of what is today the Czech Republic, was one of the few places in early modern Europe where local nobles welcomed the immigration of Anabaptist refugees. The Hutterites were named after their founder Jacob Hutter, who was arrested on a mission trip in 1525 and executed in the following year. They developed a unique way of life based on community of goods and life in self-administrated settlements with very limited interaction with the majority populations. The Christian communism practiced by the Hutterites enabled them to absorb large numbers of incoming refugees, many of whom arrived without any financial means. The Hutterites believed that God had appointed Moravia as the Promised Land of end time, as the place where all true believers should gather before the second coming of Christ. Around 1600, no less than 20.000 Hutterites lived in Moravia which then equalled the population of some of the largest cities of that time or of a medium size principality. Just two decades later, the Hutterites were expelled from Moravia.8 After long periods of decline and
7 Rothkegel, Martin: The Swiss Brethren, a Story in Fragments: the Trans-Territorial Expansion of a Clandestine Anabaptist Church, 1538-1618 Baden-Baden: Koerner, 2021.
8 Rothkegel, Martin: “Anabaptism in Moravia and Silesia.” Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 163–215.
migrations through Eastern Europe, surviving groups of Hutterites emigrated to North America where they experienced a demographic recovery. Today, up to 50.000 Hutterites are said to live on communitarian colonies which preserve many elements of the unique Hutterite way of life once shaped in Moravia.9
The point which I want to make is that the two most significant denominations which emerged from the early Anabaptist movements, the Swiss Brethren and the Hutterites, were shaped by persecution. They developed very idiosyncratic lifestyles and traditions. Preserving these traditions enabled them to survive but isolated them from the rest of society and from future developments in the history of Christianity. In spite of some basic analogies like the principles of believers’ baptism and the separation of church and state, a twenty-first century average Baptist has little in common with direct descendants of the historical Anabaptist tradition like the Amish and the Hutterites.
2.Anabaptists and Baptists
This brings me to my second point; the way Baptists perceived the traditions of the continental Anabaptists. It is well known that one of the two major English Baptist movements of the seventeenth century, the General Baptists, resulted from the encounter and interaction between a group of English Separatist Puritan refugees in Amsterdam with the Dutch Waterlander Anabaptists, a branch of the Mennonite traditions. Initially, the leaders of the English group, the theologian John Smyth (d. 1612) and the gentleman Thomas Helwys (c. 1575-1616), rejected the continental Anabaptists as heretics.
The abhorrence of the continental Anabaptists among English Protestants was based on the tragic episode of the Anabaptist kingdom of Munster 1534-5, a militant interlude in the history of the Dutch and North German Anabaptist movement. Even though the surviving Anabaptist groups in the Netherlands adopted pacifist positions and a separatist believers’ church ecclesiology under the leadership of Menno Simons (1496-1561) by the late 1530s, in the eyes of their Calvinist opponents they remained dangerous fanatics. Anti-Anabaptist polemics were part of the Calvinist legacy of the English Puritans Separatist groups.10 Even when Smyth and his followers became convinced in 1609 that baptism required personal faith and voluntary confession, they preferred to baptize themselves rather than receive baptism from the Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites. However, in the remaining
9 Schlachta, Astrid von: From the Tyrol to North America. The Hutterite Story Through the Centuries. Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora, 2008.
10 Waite, Gary K.: Anti-Anabaptist Polemics: Dutch Anabaptism and the Devil in England, 1531-1660. Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora Press, 2023.
three years of his life, Smyth drew ever closer to Mennonite positions and after his death, his congregation fully merged into the Waterlander denomination.
Just a handful of persons, among them Thomas Helwys, decided to return to England because they refused to submit to the quite hierarchical leadership of the Mennonite elders and because they had objections against the strictly apolitical pacifism of the continental Anabaptists. There is evidence that the handful of small house churches formed Helwys’ adherents maintained contacts with Dutch Anabaptists and even translated some continental European Anabaptists texts from Dutch into English. However, the initial Dutch Anabaptist influence played no major role for the subsequent development of the General Baptist tradition which seemingly evolved from the Helwys group.11
The second major English Baptist tradition, the strictly Calvinist, or “Particular”, Baptists, clearly denied any connections with the ill-famed continental Anabaptists from the beginnings. As the General Baptists before them, the Calvinist Baptists were denigrated as dangerous Anabaptists by their opponents. They were all the more eager to refute this allegation and to present themselves as the most orthodox Reformed Protestants.12 It was only in the eighteenth century that the English Baptists carefully integrated the continental Anabaptists of the sixteenth century into their denominational historiography.
They did this for a theological reason. Like all Protestants, the Baptists claimed that their faith is not a recent human invention but identical with the faith of the Apostles and the New Testament Church. Like all Protestants, they claimed that the true Christian doctrine is based on Scripture alone and that Scripture is clear, that it can be understood without the traditions and the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This inevitably leads to the conclusion that there must have been true Christians who understood the Scriptures correctly even before the rise of the Baptists in the seventeenth century. Like other Protestants, the Baptists therefore endeavoured to construct a prehistory of their own denomination, a chain of witnesses to the truth who were, in a sense, Baptists before the Baptists.
We can observe this in Thomas Crosby’s History of the English Baptists (1738), John Gill’s The Divine Right of Infant-Baptism Examined and Disproved (1749) or in Joseph Ivimey’s History of the English Baptists (vol. 1, 1814). In these works, the Swiss and South German Anabaptists and the non-militant
11 Coggins, James R.: John Smyth's Congregation: English Separatism, Mennonite Influence and the Elect Nation. Waterloo, Ont.: Herald Press, 1991.
12 Bingham, Matthew C.: Orthodox Radicals: Baptist Identity in the English Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Mennonites are referred to as members of a chain of spiritual predecessors which connects the modern Baptists with the times of the early church. Curiously, this uncritical way of constructing church history continued even in the twentieth century, most notably in the case of James Milton Carroll’s Trail of Blood (1931).
A new wave of Baptist interest in recovering the Anabaptist legacy came in the late nineteenth century from the United States. In the context of the democratic political culture of the United States, the historic Anabaptists appeared as pioneers of modern values such as religious freedom and congregational democracy. At a time when German Lutheran professors still condemned the Anabaptists as a subversive heresy incompatible with the principles evangelical doctrine, American Baptist historians like Henry S. Burrage (A History of the Anabaptists in Switzerland, 1882), Albert Henry Newman (A history of anti-pedobaptism, 1897) portrayed them as the most consistent champions of the Reformation. Henry C. Vedder wrote the biographical monograph Balthasar Hübmaier (1905) which interpreted Hubmaier as a Baptist before the Baptists, a genuinely Baptist reformer of equal rank with Martin Luther and John Calvin, and even more attractive to an American readership than Luther and Calvin, both of whom advocated rather authoritarian forms of civil and ecclesiastical government and explicitly appreciated the violent suppression of religious dissent.
It is quite telling that the Baptists in Germany took up the legacy of the Anabaptists only after the First World War and the end of monarchy and the state church system. Baptist mission in Germany started in 1834, and from the beginning they were accused of being a dangerous rebellious sect just as the Anabaptists of Münster. The German Baptists, for their part, denied any connection or similarity with the historical Anabaptists in their apologetic literature. This changed significantly with the establishment of the first German democracy in 1919. Now the Baptists referred to the Anabaptists as their spiritual ancestors and as evidence that the believers’ church tradition goes back to the German Reformation and is not just a recent import from England and America.
The Baptist appropriation of Anabaptist history reached a peak in 1928, when the Baptist World Alliance organized a memorial celebration on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the execution of Balthasar Hubmaier in Vienna. Newspapers around the world reported on the event which had carefully been planned with the intention to increase the public respectability of the Baptists in Central and Eastern Europe and to protest against the ongoing persecution of the Baptists and other religious minorities especially in Romania.
3.Anabaptist
Nonviolence and the Necessity of Christian Peace Witness
The Baptist focus on Hubmaier had a specific reason. Hubmaier did not only publish a substantial number of theological treatises which recommend him as a respectable theologian of the Reformation. Additionally, he opposed to the turn of most Swiss and South German Anabaptists to an apolitical and unconditioned pacifism as expressed in the Schleitheim Articles of 1527. Hubmaier advocated active involvement of baptized Christians in the political sphere and the government’s right to use violence against criminals and to self-defence in case of war. This corresponded to positions traditionally prevalent among Baptists. From a Mennonite perspective, in contrast, pacifism was traditionally regarded as a binding command of Christ and essential to the Anabaptist tradition and to Mennonite identity. Harold Bender, for example, could not regard Hubmaier as a classic representative of true evangelical Anabaptism, but rather categorized him as a marginal figure or halfAnabaptist.
In 2025, both Baptists and Mennonite-Anabaptists will commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the first Zurich baptisms, and I wish they will do it together in as many countries as possible. In Germany we have formed a joint Baptist-Mennonite committee in which also representatives of the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran and Reformed Protestant traditions participate. Of course, the question of violence and non-violence is one of the central issues of our activity. Our positions towards peace and war range from unconditioned pacifism to affirming a conditioned right to self-defence. Most of us reject the original Anabaptist position that a Christian should abstain from any kind of political opinion and responsibility. Especially as Europeans who enjoy the precious privilege to live in a democratic society, we must accept the moral duty to carry our share in political responsibility, must participate in elections and take stands in political debates. I think all members of the joint Baptist-Mennonite committee would subscribe to the ideas formulated in article 19 of the important 1925 Southern Baptist confession of faith:
“It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war. [...] We urge Christian people throughout the world to pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace, and to oppose everything likely to provoke war.”
“All in their power to put an end to war”: this becomes a demanding statement when one relates this to real war, to the present wars. The German joint Baptist-Mennonite committee started to plan the memorial activities for the five hundredth anniversary of Anabaptism in 2019. At that time none of us anticipated the wars that broke out with the Russian invasion to Ukraine in February 2022 and with the attack of the Hamas on Israel in October 2023. Since then, it has become unpopular to speak about
peace and nonviolence. The logic of violence has become dominant as democratic societies feel increasingly threatened, but this logic brings us ever closer to the risk of a nuclear conflict in which everyone loses, and no one wins. How much are the parties to the conflict prepared to pay for a victory?
Let me close with a personal remark and a historian’s confession that history provides no clear answers on the questions of the present. When I was young, I was deeply impressed by John Howard Yoder’s The Politics of Jesus (1972) which reinterpreted the Anabaptist peace witness for the period of the Cold War between the communist East and the democratic West in a very inspiring way. A lot of time has passed since then. Yoder has been discredited for gross moral misconduct that was uncovered after his death, and the world has become much more complicated. However, I still believe in “duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness.” How much are the prepared to pay for peace? May the spirit of Jesus lead our words and actions.
A bibliography of Anabaptist primary sources in English and Spanish translation: https://www.goshen.edu/mhl/enganbib.html
