Interfaith Just Peacemaking: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on the New Paradigm of Peace and War

248 Pages·2012·2.186 MB·English

by  Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (eds.)

Interfaith Just Peacemaking

Interfaith Just Peacemaking
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
on the New Paradigm of Peace and War
Edited by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
interfaith Just Peacemaking
Copyright © Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-33989-7
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and
has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1 -3 49-3 4244-0 ISBN 978-1-137-01294-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137012944
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Interfaith Just Peacemaking : Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives on
the new paradigm of peace and war / edited by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite.
p. cm.
1. Peace—Religious aspects. 2. Judaism. 3. Christianity. 4. Islam. I.
Thistlethwaite, Susan Brooks, 1948–
BL65.P4I57 2011
201'.7273--dc23 2011024626
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: January 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Christian Preface ix
J. Bryan Hehir
Jewish Preface xiii
Reuven Kimelman
Muslim Preface xv
Jamal Badawi
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction 1
1 Support Nonviolent Direct Action 9
Christian Reflection 10
James B. Burke
Jewish Reflection 15
Peter S. Knobel
Muslim Reflection 19
Mohammed Abu- Nimer
2 Take Independent Initiatives to Reduce Threat 33
Christian Reflection 35
Matthew Hamsher
Jewish Reflection 40
Robert Eisen
Muslim Reflection 43
Zeki Saritoprak
3 Use Cooperative Conflict Resolution 51
Christian Reflection 53
Susan Hayward
Jewish Reflection 56
Reuven Firestone
vi (cid:79)(cid:3) Contents
Muslim Reflection 61
Zainab Alwani
4 Acknowledge Responsibility for Conflict and Injustice
and Seek Repentance and Forgiveness 69
Jewish Reflection 70
David Gordis
Muslim Reflection 75
Muhammad Shafiq
Christian Reflection 80
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
5 Advance Democracy, Human Rights, and Interdependence 87
Muslim Reflection 88
Louay M. Safi
Jewish Reflection 92
Blu Greenberg
Christian Reflection 99
Matthew V. Johnson Sr.
6 Foster Just and Sustainable Economic Development 111
Christian Reflection 112
Pamela K. Brubaker
Muslim Reflection 117
Waleed El- Ansary
Jewish Reflection 122
Nancy Fuchs- Kreimer
7 Work with Emerging Cooperative Forces in the
International System 131
Jewish Reflection 132
Robert Eisen
Christian Reflection 136
Matthew Hamsher and Glen H. Stassen
Muslim Reflection 138
Zeenat Rahman
8 Strengthen the United Nations and International
Efforts for Cooperation and Human Rights 145
Muslim Reflection 146
Najeeba Syeed- Miller
Jewish Reflection 151
Robert Eisen and Alvin K. Berkun
Contents (cid:79) vii
Christian Reflection 155
Andrew Sung Park and Katherine Schofield
9 Reduce Offensive Weapons and the Weapons Trade 169
Christian Reflection 170
Glen H. Stassen
Muslim Reflection 176
Patricia Anton
Jewish Reflection 181
Reuven Kimelman
10 Encourage Grassroots Peacemaking Groups
and Voluntary Associations 195
Muslim Reflection 196
Rabia Terri Harris
Jewish Reflection 203
Peter S. Knobel
Christian Reflection 208
Duane K. Friesen
Conclusion 217
Definitions of Key Terms 221
Contributors 225

Christian Preface
I have been invited by friends and scholars whose work I respect to contribute
a brief preface to this important book; I am happy to do so. I do so as someone
who did not participate in the writing of the book or the broader process from
which it emerged, but as someone whose work has been absorbed by the nor-
mative and strategic issues of war and peace for 40 years.
Writing from that perspective, this book is important for three reasons. First,
along with its predecessors, it will find a place in the growing literature on the
role of religion in international relations and world politics. For over three cen-
turies the analysis and practice of world politics has treated religion as virtually
a black box. During this time it surely has been recognized that religious convic-
tions and participation in religious communities have been important motiva-
tions (for good and bad) in the lives of individuals, nations, and cultures. But
that recognition has been joined with the apprehension that explicit inclusion
of religious ideas and communities in the worlds of diplomacy, politics, and
strategy would not only complicate all these fields, but likely would intensify
conflict rather than ameliorate it. In the Western world, where the formal study
of international relations and the diplomatic history of modern world politics
are rooted, the specter of the religious wars in Europe of the sixteenth and sev-
enteenth centuries has been the abiding memory. The lesson learned was that
religion was best treated as a private reality but not a component element in the
understanding or the practice of empires, states, or nations. In important and
incremental ways that assumption has been challenged over the last 40 years.
The driving force has not been an organized body of advocates “for religion.”
It has rather been the need to understand major substantive changes in world
politics, which were largely unintelligible without some analytical role for reli-
gious ideas, communities, and leaders. From Saudi Arabia to San Salvador, from
Israel to Iran, from Poland to the Philippines, and from South Africa to Sudan,
the “religious factor” must be accounted for in explaining the problems faced,
the outcomes in specific situations, and the persistence of religious themes in
world affairs. This book will fit into wide- ranging discussions now under way
not only among theologians, moralists, and students of religion but among