Making Friends of Enemies: Reflections of the Teachings of Jesus

by Jim Forest

Discusses Jesus' teachings about loving our enemies, considers the nature of love, and explains how we should enmity

Hardcover

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Jim Forest is a writer, Orthodox Christian lay theologian, educator, and peace activist. As a young man, Jim served in the U.S. Navy, working with a meteorology unit at the U.S. Weather Bureau headquarters near Washington, D.C. It was during this period that he became a Catholic. After leaving the Navy, Jim joined the staff of the Catholic Worker community in Manhattan, working close with the founder, Dorothy Day, and for a time serving as managing editor of the journal she edited, The Catholic Worker.

In 1964, while working as a journalist for The Staten Island Advance, in his spare time he co-founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship, working closely with Tom Cornell. This became a full-time job for both of them in 1965, a time that coincided with deepening U.S. military engagement in Vietnam. The main focus of their work was counseling conscientious objectors.
In 1968, while Jim working as Vietnam Program Coordinator of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jim and thirteen others, mainly Catholic clergy, broke into nine Milwaukee draft boards, removing and burning some of the files in a nearby park while holding a prayer service. Most members of the "Milwaukee Fourteen" served thirteen months in prison for their action.
In the late sixties and mid-seventies, Jim also worked with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, first as Vietnam Program coordinator and later as editor of Fellowship magazine. From 1977 through 1988, he was Secretary General of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, work which brought him to the Netherlands. He received the Peacemaker Award from Notre Dame University's Institute for International Peace Studies and the St. Marcellus Award from the Catholic Peace Fellowship.

In 1988, Forest was received into the Orthodox Church. Since 1989, he has been international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship as well as editor of its quarterly journal, In Communion. Jim had a long-term friendship with Thomas Merton, who dedicated a book to him, Faith and Violence. Jim also accompanied the famed Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. He and his wife Nancy, a translator and writer, live in Alkmaar, The Netherlands.

Reviews

[Tomek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've given this book 4 stars, but only because it's an earlier edition of Forest's Loving Our Enemies: Reflections on the Hardest Commandment (my review of which can be found: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). This earlier edition, though absolutely worthy in its own right, is a little less-developed than the subsequent revision.

[Wayne Northey]

Great!

[Sister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I thought it would be a self-help book: do these things and you'll get along better with the people you can't stand. It's not. It helps you to be reflective about yourself and them, using Scriptural references. It's actually more like 3 1/2 stars.