Contents

From the Editor

RELIGION AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS by Joseph C. Liechty

Articles

A CRITIQUE OF JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN’S JUST WAR AGAINST TERROR AND AN ADVOCACY OF A CONSTRUCTIVE ALTERNATIVE by Pamela K. Brubaker, Glen H. Stassen, and Janet L. Parker

This jointly authored article critically evaluates the claim of Jean Bethke Elshtain that the war on terror meets the criteria of just war theory, presents evidence that elements of just peacemaking theory offers an effective alternative, and offers wisdom from World Council of Churches’ consultations on violence and terrorism about the role faith communities can play in peacebuilding.

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ENGAGING THE POWERS OF NONVIOLENCE by Julie Todd

Walter Wink’s notion of “Jesus’ Third Way” has become central in discourse on Christian nonviolent theory and activism. This paper critiques this nonviolent ethic as it’s put forth by Wink in Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in an World of Domination. Given its broad, popular readership and application, it is important to analyze other perspectives that his argument marginalizes. This analysis challenges Wink’s nonviolent ethic on the basis of its universalizing norms, lack of context, simplification of violence, and lack of revolutionary demands.

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THE POLITICS OF LOVE AND WAR by Robert C. Johansen

Book Reviews

BELIEF AND BLOODSHED: RELIGION AND VIOLENCE ACROSS TIME AND TRADITION by James K. Wellman Jr., ed.

Guy Lancaster

MEMORY AND VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA by Ussama Makdisi and Paul A. Silverstein, eds.

Pepijn van Houwelingen

PALESTINE PEACE NOT APARTHEID by Jimmy Carter

John Berteaux

THE POLITICS OF PAST EVIL: RELIGION, RECONCILIATION, AND THE DILEMMAS OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE by Daniel Philpott, ed.

Rebecca Johnson

Case Studies

THE WORK OF CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS IN COLOMBIA by Julie P. Hart

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) provides an organized, faith-based, nonviolent response to injustice in areas of acute conflict around the globe. One of the current program sites is Colombia. Colombia is torn by a fifty-year long civil war, drug trafficking, and the U.S.-led war on drugs. CPT began its work in Colombia in 2001 by invitation of the Colombian Mennonite Church. The team currently accompanies ten communities termed “Humanitarian Spaces” and multiple civil society organizations in order to reduce the violence against these groups. This case study evaluates the work of CPT in relation to nine principles of nonviolent direct action synthesized from nonviolent leaders and literature. The study involves participant observation of the Colombia project, interviews with team members, interviews with Colombian nationals, interviews with individuals in the broader nonviolence community in North America, and examination of team documents from 2004 to 2008. In general, CPT Colombia uses the nine nonviolence principles well, especially the principles of “seizing moral initiative” and “confronting and exposing injustice.” There is significant room for improvement in four areas: “mental preparation,” “training oppressed communities,” “withdrawing consent from injustice,” and “asserting one’s humanity.”

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