Overview
Henri Nouwen wrote this book twenty years ago as his personal response in a time of heightening Cold War tensions. Its publication now, in a new era of fear and violence, is particularly timely. On the one hand Peacework represents a passionate call to all Christians to embrace Jesus' ethic of peacemaking as an "unconditional, unlimited, and uncompromising" demand. But Nouwen goes on to show that peacemaking is more than a matter of carrying placards or opposing war. It must begin with a life of prayer, a movement from "the dwelling place" of fear and hatred and into the house of God. The next step is to "resist the powers of death"—not just in the form of armies and armaments, but in our everyday selfishness and bondage to destructive consumer values. Finally we are called to celebrate life and to build communities in which love, forgiveness, and compassion bind us in solidarity with a wounded world.Synopsis
Henri Nouwen wrote this book twenty years ago as his personal response in a time of heightening Cold War tensions. Its publication now, in a new era of fear and violence, is particularly timely. On the one hand Peacework represents a passionate call to all Christians to embrace Jesus' ethic of peacemaking as an "unconditional, unlimited, and uncompromising" demand. But Nouwen goes on to show that peacemaking is more than a matter of carrying placards or opposing war. It must begin with a life of prayer, a movement from "the dwelling place" of fear and hatred and into the house of God. The next step is to "resist the powers of death"—not just in the form of armies and armaments, but in our everyday selfishness and bondage to destructive consumer values. Finally we are called to celebrate life and to build communities in which love, forgiveness, and compassion bind us in solidarity with a wounded world.