{"id":39929,"date":"2026-08-17T18:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=39929"},"modified":"2026-08-17T18:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:19:08","slug":"world-council-of-churches-peace-treatise-if-you-want-peace-go-and-talk-to-your-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=39929","title":{"rendered":"World Council of Churches Peace treatise: \u201cIf you want peace, go and talk to your enemy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EDUCATION FOR PEACE . <\/p>\n

An aticle from the World Council of Churches<\/a><\/p>\n

The editorial team of Ralf Becker, Rev. Karen Hinrichs, Prof. Dr Heinrich Sch\u00e4fer, and Dr Theodor Ziegler are presenting\u00a0\u201cIf you want peace, go and talk to your enemy: An Ecumenical Peace Treatise\u20132026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Published as a special volume in the\u00a0\u201cedition pace\u201d series, the publication is being presented in cooperation with the Ecumenical Peace Network and enhanced by a preface by Dr. Konrad Raiser.<\/p>\n

Through the concept of\u00a0\u201cpeace logic,\u201d the book points to ways in which conflicts could be resolved through diplomacy and civil conflict resolution, and wars may be prevented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The document aims to provide Christians and humanists with a clear, ethical orientation toward peace. It calls for an unequivocal commitment to military disarmament and for all states to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in times of massive rearmament. It notes that churches, in particular, can be a strong, clear voice for peace and contribute to building a culture of peace.<\/p>\n

Coeditor Sch\u00e4fer said that the treatise attempts to offer the perspective of grassroots organizations. “Within the team, we first decided to orient ourselves closely to the prophetic-Jesus tradition, following the example of the prophet Micah and the Sermon on the Mount,\u201d he said. When viewed in the light of their original context, the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount contain clear, practical recommendations even for policymakers on how to prevent violence.\u00a0\u201cThis theology is most in line with grassroots Christian movements, but of course aiming at the entire church. These theological reflections were complemented by a critique of the\u00a0\u201cmyth of redemptive violence\u201d by the American theologian Walter Wink. Finally, we incorporated a political science perspective through Hanne-Margret Birckenbach\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Peace Logic.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

(Article continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question for this article:<\/div>\n
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What are the most important books about the culture of peace?<\/a><\/p>\n

(Article continued from left column)<\/p>\n

Sch\u00e4fer described how all of this was repeatedly discussed and expanded upon over the course of about half a year in online plenary sessions as well as among individual plenary members.\u00a0\u201cIn this way, more ideas came to light during the editorial process than initially anticipated, such as the perspective of the churches in East Germany, documents from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican, and theological input provided by historic peace churches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sch\u00e4fer also noted that, when it comes to secular ethics, there are various points of connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program of strengthening grassroots initiatives, cooperating with secular peace actors, and fostering a culture of nonviolence\u2014these strategies are entirely in line with our approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Spiritually speaking, the Sermon on the Mount contains more than just practical recommendations, he noted.\u00a0\u201cIt also establishes prayer as a source of courage and points to the coming Kingdom of God,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cFurthermore, the prophet Micah offers us a magnificent vision of the success of our commitment to peace: the beating of swords into plowshares.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sch\u00e4fer noted that, first, the prophets\u2019\u00a0call for justice and peace\u2014as such, but not in its theological rationale\u2014can be directly linked to the demands of secular ethics.\u00a0\u201cNuclear armament has been an issue for the peace movement in Germany since the mid-1950s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem has been exacerbated today by the fact that the chancellor has decreed the purchase of nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles for Germany, Sch\u00e4fer notes.\u00a0\u201cThis violates important international treaties, most notably the Two-Plus-Four Treaty, which is fundamental to the right of a united Germany to exist,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201c\u00a0The peace movement, however, is always at a disadvantage when faced with such decisions made without public or even parliamentary debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite everything, the challenge set forth by the prophets and Jesus\u2014to speak to the enemy rather than threaten him\u2014remains the best guide for those who seek peace,\u201d concluded Sch\u00e4fer.<\/p>\n

Download a free copy of the book<\/a><\/p>\n

– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDUCATION FOR PEACE . An aticle from the World Council of Churches The editorial team of Ralf Becker, Rev. Karen Hinrichs, Prof. Dr Heinrich Sch\u00e4fer, and Dr Theodor Ziegler are presenting\u00a0\u201cIf you want peace, go and talk to your enemy: An Ecumenical Peace Treatise\u20132026.\u201d Published as a special volume in the\u00a0\u201cedition pace\u201d series, the publication … Continue reading World Council of Churches Peace treatise: \u201cIf you want peace, go and talk to your enemy\u201d<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,76],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-39929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-for-peace","category-global","tag-global"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39931,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39929\/revisions\/39931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}