Book Review:

Thinking Hard about Peace: Michael Battle's Blessed are the Peacemakers. Reviewed by Amanda McFarlan.

Towards the end of Blessed are the Peacemakers, a Christian Spirituality of Non-Violence, author Michael Battle recounts a meeting with Mother Teresa. "After the service, I clumsily asked Mother Teresa what the most important thing is in spirituality. That was the way I asked it. The atmosphere did not allow me show (sic) off my theological language, and there was no one around I could impress with my spiritual prowess, because after all, I (sic) standing in front of Mother Teresa. What is the most important thing in spirituality? You could guess her response: prayer."

What Mr. Battle neglected to do in his meeting with Mother Teresa, that is, show off his theological language, is made up for abundantly in this book. Non-theologians looking for how a non-violent Christian can live and act in a violent world, will have to wade through a great deal of theological language in order to reach Mother Teresa’s conclusion.

Mr. Battle spends the first sections of his book defining the relationship between spirituality and non-violence. This is where Mr. Battle puts his theological training (Notre Dame, Princeton, Yale and Duke) on display. The core values and ideas that the author expresses, that spirituality and peacemaking are a communal activity, are compelling, but in laying out an academic framework, his repetitive, turgid prose gets in the way of a great idea.

The relationship between spirituality and non-violence is defined, and Mr. Battle argues that Christians need to "cease the contradictions between person and community that prevent the natural relationship between spirituality and non-violence." He outlines and defines spirituality in great detail in both a Christian historical context and within the context of a North American individualistic society. Mr. Battle defines prayer and looks briefly at the concepts and history of just war, holy war and pacifism. Mr. Battle also touches briefly on the responsibilities of Christians regarding tyrannical rule.

I must admit that when I opened Mr. Battle’s book, I was already a convert to non-violence. I marched against the Iraq invasion, I applauded and supported the Canadian government’s refusal to participate in the invasion in Iraq. I was already a seeker of a non-violent Christian way. I was looking for something beyond the scope of this book. I was looking for a "how-to" book, that is, how does one practice a Christian spirituality of non-violence. What are the explicit statements and strategies of Christian non-violence that go beyond not condoning abusive nation-state behavior?

The most powerful answer to the question "how to" comes only in the last third of the book, and the poetic and inspirational language are Dr. Martin Luther King’s. King said, "It is axiomatic in social life that the imposition of frustration leads to two kinds of reactions. One is the development of a wholesome social organization to resist with effective, firm measures any efforts to impede progress. The other is a confused, anger-motivated drive to strike back violently, to inflict damage. King goes on to say, "in the history of the movement for racial advancement, many creative forms have been developed-the mass boycott, sit-down protests and strikes, sit-ins-refusal to pay fines and bail for unjust arrests, mass marches, mass meetings, prayer pilgrimages, etc…there is more power in socially organized masses on the march than there is in guns in the hands of a few desperate men. Our enemies would prefer to deal with a small armed group rather than with a huge, unarmed but resolute mass of people". Mr. Battle does point out that a crucial problem of Christian non-violence is that submission to God’s non-violence carries the irony of being passive and yet really being extremely active and disciplined.

Mr. Battle argues persuasively that spirituality is a communal activity and that "Peacemaking, the essence of building community, should always be at the heart of Christian spirituality." Indeed, peace is not passive, but a process that proactively builds community and births the Kingdom of God. Mr. Battle argues that we must bond the person with community, and that "ceaseless prayer is crucial for our healthy relationships with God as opposed to fragmented or non-functional prayers of individualistic forms of Christian spirituality."

If you are a theologian looking for a complex, intellectual theological argument to support a non-violent approach to spirituality, then perhaps this is the book for you. For Christians already intuitively convinced that violence is not the answer, there are few new insights in this book.