The following is a list of resources that I recommend if you are wanting to dive deeper into particular aspects of understanding and applying Jesus’ approach to peacemaking.  The resources range from books and articles to blogs and websites.  There are online videos and audio sermons listed.  If you know of any good resources, please let me know.

Online Sermon Series: Inglorious Pastors–Waging Peace in a World of War

The following is a six part sermon series from The Meeting House church in Ottawa, Canada.  Here is their overview of the series and also the teaser video for the series.  If you’d like to watch or listen to the six sermons, just go to this link:

http://www.themeetinghouse.com/pageid/1700/#

“In the sixteenth century a renegade group of Christian leaders rebelled against their own religion. These dissenters called for the church to separate from the state and to reject all forms of violence. They waged their war with weapons of peace, and many died for their radical cause of calling Christians back to the way of Christ. Known as “Anabaptists”, they dared to think that Jesus should be taken seriously when he taught his followers to turn the other cheek, love their enemies, and do good to those who hate them. Join us as we learn practical lessons for how we live today–lessons from the teachings of Jesus, embodied in the lives of these Inglorious Pastors” (The Meeting House).

 

Books On The Early Christian Attitude To Violence & Treatment Of Enemies:

  • My favorite book on this topic is John Cadoux’s The Early Christian Attitude To War.  Though a pacifist himself, many have commended its impartial presentation of facts.  This is a scholarly read, yet easy to understand.  Though I recommend a printed form of the book (you’ll want to do lots of note taking!), thankfully this work has been made available for free online and in many different formats (Kindle, PDF, HTML, etc.).  You can choose the format you’d like and read the book here.
  • It Is Not Lawful For Me To Fight: Early Christian Attitudes Toward War, Violence, and the State by Jean-Michel Hornus, translated by Alan Kreider and Oliver Coburn.
  • Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace by Roland H. Bainton
  • Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution by John Howard Yoder, edited by Theodore J. Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker

 

Violence In The Old Testament:

  • There is a very articulate and succinct overview by author and blogger Derek Flood on the topic of violence in the Old Testament.  This link will take you to his Huffington Post article entitled Does Defending The Bible Mean Advocating Violence?  And here you can download a PDF of Flood’s Sojourner article entitled How Paul Disarms Violence In the Bible (And How We Can Too).
  • You may also enjoy Derek Flood’s recent book Healing The Gospel: A Radical Vision For Grace, Justice, And The Cross.  This short book of roughly 100 pages is a quick and easy read.  Surprisingly articulate.  Flood’s main point is to point out that the New Testament speaks of justice as restorative in nature…focused on making things right that have been wronged.  In other words, it is not a retributive, punishment based concept of justice that sees justice satisfied when evildoers have been punished for their wrong.

Jesus’ Teaching on Enemy Love in the Sermon on the Mount:

  • My senior pastor recently preached two brilliant sermons based on Matthew 5:38-48.  The provides a stellar overview of Walter Wink’s interpretation of Matthew 5:38-42, and the second warns about perpetuating the downward spiral of retribution if we do not seek to defeat enmity with love.  Here is the first sermon on the “Eye for an eye” passage, and here is the second sermon on Jesus’ call to love our enemies.