Religious Studies

256 pages, 6 x 9

978-0-86554-871-8, P251

$30.00 s, Paper

Index, bibliography

Blessed are the Peacemakers
A Christian Spirituality of Nonviolence

Michael Battle

Peacemaking in community is a crucial aspect of Christian spirituality.

Spiritual practices of peacemaking, Michael Battle says, are essential to, crucial for, the mystical process of losing and finding identity in God who constantly invites us toward relationship and community. Any spirituality of nonviolence in the community of peacemaking faces formidable challenges. The obvious obstacle of 'just war'–just one corollary of the constant struggle for survival in a world seemingly bent on self-destruction–continues to raise its ugly head. And what of other loud pretenders of Christian 'spirituality' who preach the validity of 'just war,' the at-any-cost survival of the 'righteous'? Genuine Christian 'spirituality', Battle rightly insists, involves no contradiction between individual and communal fulfillment, but involves instead our participation in the divine bending toward potentiality rather than destruction. Violence, that is, destruction of reality, is in fact the antithesis of Christian spirituality. Christian spirituality, practiced in the midst of a solipsistic and violent world, engenders divine reality that bids the human heart toward peace, genuine wholeness, and toward the 'real' world of divine intent.

Michael Battle has studied at Notre Dame, Princeton, Yale, and Duke (Ph.D. 1995). He is, since 1999, assistant professor of Spirituality and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School, and Episcopal priest at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Raleigh. In addition to many contributions to books and journals, he is the author of two books on Desmond Tutu, including Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu and The Wisdom of Desmond Tutu. Desmond Tutu performed several rites of passage for Michael and his family, including his ordination into the Anglican priesthood, the marriage ceremony for Michael and Raquel at the Olympic Village in Atlanta, and the baptism of their daughters, Sage and Bliss.

Titles of related interest

Nonviolence for the Third Milliennium

The Wars of America: Christian Views