The relationship between the church and the world has been an uneasy one. Much like our human relationships it has consisted of flirting, total commitment, outright hostility, manageable communication, and all manner of in-betweens. For over two thousand years Christian faith traditions in various cultures have had to ask about this relationship. The answers given have been simplistic, complex, variegated, honest and dishonest, political, social, philosophical, theological, and more. In short, there is no single answer that seems to suffice, and every generation must discern for itself how it will approach its understanding of church and world.

The renewed interest in Empire and the myriad of books published on the topic of _______ and Empire (fill in the blank) in the United States brings to the fore this discussion in our own time. For some, America is the New Empire, an incarnation of the empire of the Apocalypse, a resurgent version of ancient empire, the Babylon of biblical prophecy, the whore that deceives. Yet for others, America as Empire is salvation, bringer of enlightenment, democracy, freedom, and free markets. This clash of views within the churches only highlights that this problem is not yet solved, nor does a solution appear for the foreseeable future. It would seem that we bring our own hopes or disillusionments to the table when we discuss the relation of Christian faith to politics and that these presuppositions inform our conclusions; conclusions based not on evidence as much as an emotional commitment to a worldview each of us thinks is “God-given.”

After 9-11 we moved into a new phase of conflict. Previously, wars were fought between nation-states; now we are in an ideological conflict of a war against terror. This war is fought both with words and with guns. It is a war that has no exit strategy. It is a utopian war fought by leaders who think that violence can overcome violence, that the problem is the solution. The stance of the United States on torture during the Bush administration (2000-2008) was a clear indication of this strategy; torture demands torture in return. The invocation of lex talionis, an eye for an eye, has not brought an end to our conflicts but taken us back to the archaic response of primitive religion. In regard to the problem of violence, we are not evolving but regressing. Our hope for world peace or peace within our time is grounded in the illusion that all we need is a great big blast of violence to stop the perpetrators of violence. My stick is bigger than your stick, so you watch out.

Thus Christianity finds itself mired in a situation in which it rejects violence in theory but justifies violence in reality, for the real world, so we are told, only understands the bigger stick concept. We have lived with the post-Constantinian synthesis of church and state for some 1,500 years and found it lacking. Christians of all stripes are less and less enamored with the power of the state, indeed with power in general. It is also the case that the rediscovery of Jesus has focused our awareness that his nonviolent “revolution” is distinctly different than all of the other revolutions we have experienced in this millennium and a half.

This collection of essays comes at this issue with the definite presupposition that peace as the world knows peace, in contrast to the peace that God gives, are two different realities. They do not have the same grounding although they have the same result—the cessation of violence. For our violence, controlling and containing our violence, is the key issue that faces us as a species today. We develop bigger and more effective weapons to deter our enemies from using their weapons while they in turn also develop more powerful weapons to deter us from using ours. And so worldly peace is usually a stalemate, with erstwhile war being the inevitable outcome when we don’t see eye to eye and a perceived slight escalates into full conflict.

The peace generated by the Christian church differs drastically from the peace provoked by the world’s domination systems. When Jesus told his disciples that “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives,” he spoke of a peace not begotten of force and violence but a peace born of love and justice (John 14:27 emphasis added).

For centuries, the church’s complicity with the “peace” the world gives has driven the peace that Christ gives into obscurity. Consequently, as in the past, the church needs prophetic voices. These voices cry out in the wilderness, beseeching us to repent of our sins, to turn from the false peace wrought by kingdoms of the world into the true peace intrinsic to the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ leaves us with a benediction of peace—the peace of God, the peace of God’s kingdom, and the peace of God’s people. And we, the people of God, who bear God’s image, also bear the responsibility to make peace as ministers of reconciliation and as a sweet aroma of Christ in every place.

Although work refining them has continued into 2010, the core of these essays stems from a conference held at Messiah College in August 2007 sponsored by Preaching Peace (www.preachingpeace.org). Our goal was to find a synergy that dealt with what Christianity without violence would look like. These presentations span the spectrum of discourse—theological, philosophical, ethical, practical. Craig Carter, Sharon Baker, and Brian McLaren brought the keynote addresses. Each of these speakers represents a different theological tradition that is wrestling with the problem of violence and peacemaking within the churches.

To help discussion within the churches, Preaching Peace has created a DVD featuring Dr. Sharon Baker (Messiah College), Dr. B. Keith Putt (Samford University) and Michael Hardin that can be used in tandem with this book for group discussions. There are eight twenty-minute sessions oriented to a lay audience with a study guide. These DVD’s can be found at the website, www.preachingpeace.org.

We would like to thank Messiah College for their gracious hospitality. Along with faculty members of the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies, our time together was stimulating and challenging in an atmosphere where real conversation could occur. Special thanks, of course, to our contributors and to all those who support them in their important work. As always, we thank Michael’s wife Lorri Hardin for her administrative work and behind the scenes labor that makes Preaching Peace events flow so smoothly. Sometimes we are asked if we have ever seen an angel. Michael replies, “Yes, I married one.”

—Michael Hardin, Executive Director, Preaching Peace, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

—Sharon L. Baker, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religion, Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania