BOOKS, FAITH, WORLD & MORE

PEACEMAKING AT A NEW FRONTIER?
Reviews of At Peace and Unafraid and of Just Policing, Not War

Daniel Hertzler

At Peace and Unafraid: Public Order, Security and the Wisdom of the Cross, edited by by Duane K. Friesen and Gerald W. Schlabach. Herald Press, 2005.

Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative to World Violence, edited by Gerald W. Schlabach. Liturgical Press, 2007.

These two books have a common theme and a common approach: get a group of scholarly types together and read papers. Gerald W. Schlabach has been involved with both of these efforts. Gerald grew up as a Mennonite, served in Central America with Mennonite Central Committee and later joined the Catholic Church. He is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota; a member of Saint Peter Claver Catholic Church in St. Paul; and an associate member of Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis.

The first book is the result of a two-year process called "The MCC Peace Theology Project" which used five researchers, five regional consultations and one international conference. In addition to an introduction and conclusion, the 21 chapters appear in two parts: "In Search of Security: Wisdom and a Gospel of Peace" and "Seeking the Welfare of the City: Essays on Public Peace, Justice and Order."

The book is a veritable grab bag of insights. It addresses what we all need to give attention to: how to preserve and practice the radical Anabaptist tradition of love to all when we live in a society which is more concerned with order and security.

As stated in the Foreword, "Questions about the role of Christians in shaping society will never go away. Christians who resolve to live as peacemakers will continue to struggle with the need for order, wondering whether we can envision structures for order and society that do not rely on violence" (15). Duane Friesen describes the task as first of all "to learn our own language well" and the "ethical practices that mark the body of Christ."

In addition, he says, "We need to employ wisely at least four additional languages: prophetic witness, Christian vocation, the common good in democratic discourse, and middle axioms" (53). Middle axioms is a concept from John Howard Yoder, who observed that it is possible to call political entities to live up to their own standards even if they do not fully accept ours. Thus "For example, a government that is not committed to principled nonviolence may be held accountable to do everything in its power to seek a just peace without violence" (59). This multilingual stance serves as an introduction to the wide ranging message of the book.

Writers represent theology (Lydia Harder), Bible teaching (Mary H. Schertz), and activism (J. Daryl Byler and Lisa Schirch). Of particular interest to me are examples from Latin America: 1) Columbia, where a Mennonite peace position has become well enough known for some to ask for counsel on how to deal with issues of political rights; and 2) Paraguay, where some Mennonites have been appointed to government office.

Mennonite historian John D. Rempel reflects on the threats facing Mennonites in the effort to be faithful to the peace tradition. He finds four divergent perspectives among Mennonites on how to view the world: "separatist, prophetic, priestly, and realist" (353). He observes that how each views their relation to culture directs how they work at peacemaking.

He notes that the Anabaptist Pilgram Marpeck, whom he views as having been prophetic, left no ongoing tradition. The prophetic stance has been difficult to maintain without "augmenting it with elements of the separatist, priestly and realist stances. . . . Unfaithfulness threatens when one of the augmenting elements takes over the prophetic one" (361).

Chapter 19 by Gerald W. Schlabach describes his personal concern to relate "Just Policing and the Christian Call to Nonviolence," which is the subject of the second book. I myself have had difficulty seeing "just war" as other than an oxymoron, but there are those who take this theory seriously, and Schlabach takes such people seriously. He proposes that if "just" is restricted to "policing" and not "war" there’s something to talk about.

Schlabach observes that the difference between police action and warfare is that the former is subject to law and accountability and the latter is not. He describes what he sees a theory of just policing would require of "just-war affirming" churches on one hand and "Historic Peace Churches" on the other. In sum, he proposes that each side must be clear regarding what methods of policing they are prepared to support. Will Mennonites agree that police are necessary? If so, are they prepared to help with policing?

Schlabach’s chapter in this book anticipates what he has attempted to do in Just Policing, Not War, a more tightly organized book which considers this specific subject in some detail. Schlabach himself has written three chapters and is joined by a number of other theorists and practitioners.

In case anyone needed to be convinced, Ivan J. Kauffman reviews the unhappy record of Christians killing Christians. He proposes, however, that after the "Gandhian Revolution" there is evidence that injustice can be opposed without resorting to violence. Then Glen Stassen applies the formula to the fight against terrorism. And Schlabach takes two chapters in discussion of his theory of just policing versus just war with comparisons between Catholic and Mennonite thinking.

The survey is thorough and the reasoning is careful, but there seems to be a theoretical "what if" tone about his discussion. What else could there be? Schlabach is sensitive to both sides of the dilemma in seeking common understanding. In the end he proposes a concept of "vocation" as the task of Mennonite pacifists—but recognizes this can easily become patronizing in the Niebuhrian manner with Mennonites seen as nice to have around but not to be taken seriously.

Schlabach concludes that "In a divided Christian church we must presume that history and circumstances have made some gifts, lessons, and words from the Lord relatively inaccessible to some Christians, though intended for all. In this situation the very vocation of Christian pacifist communities may well be to offer a living, socially embodied argument that nonviolence is normative for all" (106).

Three more basically theoretical chapters follow in the last of which Reina C. Neufeldt imagines a world where new paradigms of constructivism and globalization replace the worn out constructs of liberalism vs. realism. "Does this allow us to imagine a world where just community policing is used to maintain order beyond the state? The future holds many possibilities" (165). Yes, of course, but we wonder who will be listening. As she writes, "The next task is to test the machinery and ensure it will fly" (167).

From here it is some relief to move to John Paul Lederach’s chapter, "The Doables: Just Policing on the Ground." Throughout his professional life, Lederach has combined theorizing and practicing. He is able to ask, "What practices are readily available that connect to the framework of just policing?" (175). He proposes "a shift toward human security as the guidepost, rather than national security" (188). He observes, of course, that "the most significant point of diversion still remains the point where Christians in the two traditions debate whether just policing must require exclusively nonviolent methods" (189).

As a pacifist, Lederach has regularly been at work in efforts to ameliorate conflict. In addition he was involved in the development of the Center for Justice and Peacemaking at Eastern Mennonite University. This program provides graduate academic study as well as seminars on conflict transformation for persons from around the world. More recently Lederach has moved on to Notre Dame University.

The final chapter in the book is by Drew Christiansen, identified as a consultant to the International Catholic-Mennonite dialogue from 2000-2004. This seems to have been a most remarkable happening: After some 400 years, instead of being persecuted Mennonites have become conversation partners with Catholics. Indeed this book itself is "Dedicated, with gratitude, to the peacemaking legacies of John Howard Yoder and John Paul II."

Christiansen writes at length about changes that need to happen to both Catholic and Mennonite churches to make coming together on issues of war and peace believable. Organizationally, the two are so different it is hard to imagine an effective combined strategy. Catholics are hierarchical and Mennonites congregational. Also, a just war tradition opens the average Catholic to an assumption about violence which many Mennonites would find problematic.

Yet, he says, "the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in fact, has declared that the just war has gone the route of the death penalty. That is, it may be permissible in principle, but in practice it is no longer applicable." He adds that "As Gerald Schlabach has insisted, the real issue for the vast community of the Catholic Church is how to make just policing a truly Christian charism and not simply the baptism of the warrior ethos" (210).

The book includes a 17-page bibliography. Eight of the sources listed are credited to John Paul II and 15 to John Howard Yoder.

If, as John Rempel observes, Mennonites cannot expect to maintain their prophetic peace witness without support from other Christians, this Catholic-Mennonite dialogue provides a point of reference for anyone serious about such issues and prepared to address them.

In The Mennonite for Jan. 8, 2008 is a list of the "top 10" news stories carried in the publication in 2007. Included is a photo of Mennonite World Conference president Nancy Heisey presenting "a framed image of Anabaptist martyr Dirk Willems to Pope Benedict XVI." Nancy Heisey and the Pope? If we have seen this, perhaps we can imagine greater things to come. Is peacemaking really at a new frontier?

—Daniel Hertzler, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, is chair of the elders, Scottdale Mennonite Church.