The Reading Warehouse

For decades, the Catholic Church and historical peace churches such as the Mennonites have come together in ecumenical discussions about war and peace. The dividing point has always been between pacifism, the view held by Mennonites and other peace churches, and the just war theory that dominates Catholic thinking on the issue. Given the transformation of global relations over this period--increased interdependency and communication as well as the fall of the Soviet Union, emerging nationalism movements, and the slow development of international courts--the time is right to rethink the Christian response to war.

Gerald Schlabach has proposed just policing theory as a way to narrow the gap between just war and pacifist traditions. If the world can address problems of violence through a police model instead of a conventional military model, there may be a role for Christians from all traditions. In this volume, Schlabach presents his theory and has invited a number of scholars representing Catholic, Mennonite, and other traditions to respond to the theory and address a number of key questions:

What do we mean by policing?
Can policing solve conflicts beyond one's own borders?
How does just policing theory address terrorism?
Is international policing possible, and what would it look like?
Is just policing a Christian solution that meets the criteria of both traditions?

This important volume offers a fresh and meaningful discussion to help Christians of all traditions navigate the difficult questions of how to live in these times of violence and war.

Gerald W. Schlabach is professor of theology and former chair of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He holds a PhD in theology and ethics from the University of Notre Dame. During much of the 1980s he worked in Central America on church-related peace and justice assignments. Schlabach is co-founder of Bridgefolk, a movement for grassroots dialogue and unity between Mennonites and Roman Catholics. He is active in the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, which is engaged in a sustained conversation with the Vatican in favor of a "just peace" framework for Catholic teaching and practice. His books include Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence, and Sharing Peace: Mennonites and Catholics in Conversation, both from Liturgical Press.