Institute of Mennonite Studies

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: ＂Can we make sense of Mennonite peace theology?＂ 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’s 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.

＂What 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?＂ - Malinda Elizabeth Berry, from ＂Shalom Political Theology＂

＂May 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’s way of peace.＂ - Alain Epp Weaver, from the preface