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BOOK REVIEWS
persist. Alexander provides a putative theory of how moral principles and the moral sentiments play an indispensable role in effective choice, acting as fast and frugal methods to solve problems in social contexts. Whereas each individual within a social context has goals, the ability of
each to attain his goal is constrained by the fact of society. The structure of society thus constrains how people interact, how people learn, and what people may do to attain their goals. Regent University
Bradford McCall
Covenant of Peace: the Missing Peace in New Testament Theology and Ethics. By Willard M. Swartley. Pp. xviii, 542, Grand Rapids MI/Cambridge, Eerdmans, 2006, $35.00.
In what should become an important contribution to both fields of Scripture and Christian Ethics, Mennonite scholar Willard Swartley seeks to place peace at the centre of New Testament studies. Crucial to Swartley’s thesis is the close linguistic study of Greek and Hebrew words for peace. Here he notes the way in which the peace language of the Bible has been largely overlooked by Scripture scholars, even those working in biblical based ethics. Based on his analysis of the New Testament, in contrast peace is central to the Gospels, to Paul and Pauline literature – and even to the Book of Revelation. Moreover, he argues, this is profoundly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures: the image of God as a violent warrior has been disastrously misread by scholars. In the Synoptic Gospels, he argues, Jesus is consistently represented as God’s peacemaker. Matthews presents Jesus as the opposite of an imperial, warlike messianic Son of David – he is the messiah-king who shows his followers the peaceable way of life through his life and thought. Mark represents Jesus as a peacemaker who challenges the forces of evil but does not accept the system’s violence as normative. His is a nonviolent confrontation with evil that leads to his death and vindication as God’s Son. In LukeActs we seem a similar representation of Jesus as the messiah of peace whose example guides and inspires his followers in the church. Peace is also central to the message of St Paul, argues Swartley, whether one examines Paul’s Christology or his exhortations to the Christian community. Consistently Paul advocates nonviolent resistance to evil. This is true too in the Johannine Corpus, where peace and mission are intimately connected. Even the Book of Revelation – notorious in some circles – proclaims this message. The Christian communities are called upon to resist the powers of empire nonviolently to the point of martyrdom. It is not the Christian community’s task to seek vengeance against the enemies of God. That is up to God. But it is a dangerous misreading, Swartley argues, to assume that God’s vengeance will follow the conventional patterns we normally associate with vengeance.
Though God is represented as a warrior in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is a misreading to assume that God acts like a conventional warrior. By close reading of texts, Swartley points out that divine vengeance is best understood by the insight that violence rebounds on the violent. God does not inflict violent punishment; we inflict on ourselves. So too should we read Revelation’s promise of divine reckoning: the empire of antichrist will destroy itself. Willard Swartley has amassed a vast array of scriptural texts to argue his case. As such it should appeal to Scripture scholars and Christian ethicists alike. Though I cannot make any claim to being the former, I am increasingly aware of the need for a more subtle and scientific use of scripture in Christian ethics. Apart from the few who specialize in ‘Scripture and Ethics’, most ethicists are, I suspect, nervous of Scripture – with the result that to outsiders moral theology can appear at times quite rationalist, even (dare I say it) ‘ungodly’! Given that most of us cannot be expert in both disciplines it is valuable – and challenging – to be presented with a book like this. It is valuable in the sense that Swartley’s clear exposition of Scripture challenges us to see the foundation texts of Christian tradition with new eyes. No doubt biblical scholars can and will dispute with him over the particular meanings of words – given that Greek has this tendency to have a range of subtly distinct meanings attached to words this seems inevitable. For Christian ethicists the value and challenge of this book is to invite us to a reorientation of our thinking about peace. Many, if not most, are sympathetic, or at least acquiesce, to a ‘just war’ ethic. Though this approach is rooted traditionally in classical philosophy and jurisprudence, transposed into Christian tradition by Ambrose and Augustine, some exponents also seek to trace it back to Scripture, particularly to Hebrew Scripture’s image of God as a warrior and of the legitimation of force by God’s Chosen, the Israelites. This step is called into question by Swartley’s book. By implication of Scripture’s normativity for Christians, the whole just war tradition is also called into question.