Christian Peace Theology and Nonviolence toward the Truth: Internal Critique amid Interfaith Dialogue*

precis:

This article surveys theological debates over war and violence within the Christian tradition in a way that assumes others—particularly Muslims—are listening in. It presents Christian pacifism as the sort of internal critique that representatives of any faith tradition must honestly do in order to dialogue well with others in the service of peace. Practitioners of interfaith dialogue might thus recognize in this case study one of the first principles of their very discipline, namely, that nonviolence toward the truth is a commitment so basic to ecumenical and interfaith conversation that it may not be a goal at all but, rather, the beginning we must already have made in order to dialogue at all.