bg真人

In November 1989, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) convened a joint session of its Peace Committee and Ecumenical Peace Theology Working Group to address a question posed by Mennonite ethicist and church leader J. R. Burkholder: 鈥淐an we make sense of Mennonite peace theology?鈥� The goals of the session were to describe the varieties of Mennonite peace theology on offer at the time, find an approach that would be most useful to MCC鈥檚 work, and consider how to articulate that perspective in ecumenical contexts. 

In the resulting 1991 volume, Mennonite Peace Theology: A Panorama of Types, Mennonite scholars and church leaders analyze ten unique approaches to Mennonite peace theology: historic nonresistance, culturally engaged pacifism, social responsibility, apolitical nonresistance, the pacifism of the messianic community, radical pacifism, realist pacifism, Canadian pacifism, liberation pacifism, and neo-sectarian pacifism.

Thirty-five years after the initial gathering, Mennonite Peace Theology continues to challenge readers to discern how to live out the gospel of peace both faithfully and effectively in their respective contexts. This second edition includes a new type, shalom political theology, by theologian Malinda Elizabeth Berry and a new preface by MCC director of planning and learning, Alain Epp Weaver. 

鈥淲hat I have found so useful about this simple collection of essays is that it makes undergraduate students open their eyes wide in wonder. It raises a question they never thought to ask: Is there more than one way to be a Mennonite pacifist?鈥� 

鈥� Malinda Elizabeth Berry, from 鈥淪halom Political Theology鈥�

鈥淢ay the reissuing of Mennonite Peace Theology . . . stand not as a definitive panoramic rendering of Anabaptist peace theology today but rather as a spur to more vigorous efforts to understand and to encourage global conversation and mutual discernment amid the diverse theological ways Anabaptists worldwide articulate their commitment to Christ鈥檚 way of peace.鈥� 

鈥� Alain Epp Weaver, from the preface

About the editors

John Richard (J. R.) Burkholder (1928鈥�2019), PhD, was professor of religion at Goshen College (Ind.), where he helped start what is now the Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies Department. He also taught at what is now Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and served as founding director of the Dallas Peace Center, program administrator for Mennonite Central Committee and Fellowship of Reconciliation, and coordinator of peace and social concerns for Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries, among various other roles. In 2010, a collection of his essays was published by Herald Press as Prophetic Peacemaking: Selected Writings of J. R. Burkholder.

Barbara Nelson Gingerich, AM in Divinity, served as managing editor of the Institute of Mennonite Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, where she oversaw the production of Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology and edited or oversaw the publication of 30 books, including the two volume Take Our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayer Book. Now in active retirement, she lives in Goshen, Indiana, with her husband James.

To order

Online (credit card)

• US: Through the
• US:
• Canada: Through the
• Canada:
• UK:
• Germany:
• France:
• Spain:
• Italy:
• Australia:

By mail (check or card)

• Contact the Institute of Mennonite Studies at ims@ambs.edu for pricing.
• Make checks payable to 鈥渂g真人鈥� and send to:
  Institute of Mennonite Studies
  bg真人
  3003 Benham Avenue
  Elkhart, IN 46517 USA