Review of A Contemporary Theology for Ecumenical Peace

James Will. A Contemporary Theology for Ecumenical Peace. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 

A review by Alva R. Caldwell, Retired Associate Professor of Ministries at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

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At age eighty-six, James Will knew that he had one more book in him that needed to be written. Dr. Will had a story to tell, and a deep need to share that story. Having worked in a theological seminary as a member of the faculty and as director of the Peace and Justice Center at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, Dr. Will had spent a career addressing professional, academic audiences. But in this book, he made a decision to address a different audience. Although, still a book that has much to say to the academic community, it is primarily addressed to the laity of the church. The book is intended for a general audience.

The inspiration for the book grows out of Jeremiah’s lament, “'Peace, peace', they say, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:11). What is one to make of the fact that the world continues to find ways to reject peace, and to live in hostility? In the very first chapter of this important book, we get a flavor of what Dr. Will means by “Ecumenical Peace.” This is not an appeal for denominational unity; Will goes immediately to the fact that God through Abraham brought into being three great religious traditions, and from the beginning of the book, the reader is challenged to set aside any presumptions that Christianity alone has the answer to establishing peace. The three great Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity are called into an ecumenical exercise to live into the peace that God demands of us.

The book is small in size, only fifty-seven pages, but large in its challenge to live into an ecumenical peace. The book is clearly theological in nature, helping the reader to work through various expressions of what it means to approach life through process theology, platonic philosophy, panentheism, pantheism, creation theology, and also gives us beautiful expressions of what it means to talk about God as Creator, Liberator, Redeemer. Here he does the reader a great favor by wading through much of the theological language that can only confuse and aggravate the reader. Instead, Dr. Will, invites us to hear these theological expressions as an invitation to live into an experience of working with one another to bring about peace. In fact, Dr. Will speaks of the world as an “unfinished creation,” in which the Abrahamic religions are invited to participate in peace making. In his own words, he says, “God’s enabling of human co-creation of peace is actualized in human dynamic praxis in an unfinished creation…”(page 13)

This delightful book is also a kind of memoir. Some folks read and then conclude that there is “nothing I can do to make a difference.” One of the wonderful things this book does is to listen to this eighty-six year old man tell stories of when he was in ROTC, when he was in college, when he was a seminarian, when he taught in graduate school, and in these lovely memories of his reflections, he gives the reader some very concrete ways in which persons can make a difference. This makes this book particularly valuable as a study guide for a congregation seeking to be pro-active in promoting peace and justice. Unfortunately, the publisher has chosen to deal with this book as a “publish on demand,” meaning that copies are printed as they are requested. This makes the book quite expensive. The book sells through Amazon for $67.50, but even at this price, the book is well worth reading as a contemporary witness to ecumenical peace.