Covenant of Peace: The Missing Peace in New Testament Theology and Ethics

by Willard M. Swartley

One would think that peace , a term that occurs as many as one hundred times in the New Testament, would enjoy a prominent place in theology and ethics textbooks. Yet it is surprisingly absent. Willard Swartley's Covenant of Peace remedies this deficiency, restoring to New Testament theology and ethics the peace that many works have missed.

In this comprehensive yet accessible book Swartley explicates virtually all of the New Testament, relating peace -- and the associated emphases of love for enemies and reconciliation -- to core theological themes such as salvation, christology, and the reign of God. No other work in English makes such a contribution.

Swartley concludes by considering specific practices that lead to peacemaking and their place in our contemporary world. Retrieving a historically neglected element in the Christian message, Covenant of Peace confronts readers anew with the compelling New Testament witness to peace.

Genres: Theology

560 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2006

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besides being a study of the proper role and place "peace" in Christianity, the book is just an excellent bible study. It looks at peace in the New Testament, and also looks at the NT through the lens of peace. The book is totally reliant on modern scholarship for its discussion (no acknowledgement really of the Fathers) but still it is very well researched and written.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot imagine that anyone has written a more comprehensive book on the peace themes of the New Testament. Inspired by Swartley’s Mennonite roots but not constrained by them, the book takes into account every way in which each New Testament author has or has not considered peacemaking and active nonviolence as one of the themes of their message. Unlike similar “themed” theologies which may interpret in favour of their theme past its breaking point, Swartley is honest about when the writings do and do not emphasize the theme of peace. Careful to leave no stone unturned, he does a fantastic job of applying strong scholarship to the New Testament from beginning to end in order to reveal a deep and integrated emphasis on peacemaking and reconciliation by the authors who told us about Jesus and what He taught.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a module on Reconciliation. Extremely thorough approach to the theme of peace in the New Testament. Planning on buying my own copy when funds allow as I could see myself using it time and time again as background reading for preaching etc.