Humanity's long history of intermittent conflicts and contemporary violence undermines Christian's (and their Jewish and Muslim fellow believers) religious confidence in and moral commitment to world peace. The principal issue is the ambiguity of God's presence and action in the world as we experience it. In A Contemporary Theology for Ecumenical Peace, this problem is addressed by relating biblical theology to contemporary philosophical and theological perspectives to motivate and sustain the practice of love and justice in the context of civil religion.

Humanity's long history of intermittent conflicts and contemporary violence undermines Christian's (and their Jewish and Muslim fellow believers) religious confidence in and moral commitment to world peace. The principal issue is the ambiguity of God's presence and action in the world as we experience it. In A Contemporary Theology for Ecumenical Peace, this problem is addressed by relating biblical theology to contemporary philosophical and theological perspectives to motivate and sustain the practice of love and justice in the context of civil religion.

In Pathways for Theology in Peacebuilding: Ecumenical Approaches to Just Peace Sara Gehlin maps out theological resources for peacebuilding and discusses the meaning of just peace from the perspectives of theological ethics, biblical interpretation, spirituality, and ecumenical vision.

Christian theology and ethics have wrestled with the challenge to apply Jesus's central message of nonviolence to the injustices of this world. Is it not right to defend the persecuted by using violence? Is it unjust if the oppressed defend themselves--if necessary by the use of violence--in order to liberate themselves and to create a more just society? Can we leave the doctrine of the just war behind and shift all our attention toward the way of a just peace? In 2011 the World Council of Churches brought to a close the Decade to Overcome Violence, to which the churches committed themselves at the beginning of the century. Just peace has evolved as the new ecumenical paradigm for contemporary Christian ethics. Just peace signals a realistic vision of holistic peace, with justice, which in the concept of shalom is central in the Hebrew Bible as well as in the gospel message of the New Testament. This paradigm needs further elaboration. VU University gathered peacebuilding practitioners and experts from different parts of the world (Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia, and Europe) and from different disciplines (anthropology, psychology, social sciences, law, and theology)--voices from across generations and Christian traditions--to promote discussion about the different dimensions of building peace with justice.

A collection of the writings & statements of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which challenges the taboos & controversies swirling within religious doctrine, addressing issues such as church unity, papal primacy & divisions within Christianity.

Theology and the Political, edited by Alexei Bodrov and Stephen M. Garrett, is a volume animated by the motif of political action as witness in a missional key. The book makes a unique interdisciplinary contribution to the field of political theology.

This book offers ecumenical essays that focus on Reformation Christianity and on current Lutheran-Catholic understandings and relationships. It addresses important issues, including the meaning of the Reformation, the reception of Luther in Germany and beyond, contemporary ecumenical dialogues, and pathways to the future. There is also some inclusion of Jewish and Orthodox traditions as well as attention to global issues. Taken as a whole, the primary method of this book is theology informed by history, hermeneutics, ethics, and social theory. Within the structure of the book can be found the classic hermeneutical circle: What was the meaning of the Reformation for Luther in his own time? What are various ways in which Luther and the Reformation have been interpreted in history? How does knowledge of these things help us today to understand the Reformation and to move forward?