Marie DENNIS, ed. Choosing Peace:The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2018. pp. 256. $25,00 pb. ISBN 9781626982703. Reviewed by Robert P. MARKO, Aquinas College, Grand Rapid, MI 49506.

In April 2016 an international conference, “Nonviolence and Just Peace: Contributing to the Catholic Understanding of and Commitment to Nonviolence" was held in Rome with 80 participants that included activists and theologians who created Choosing Peace. CP begins with the text of Pope Francis’ Message to Cardinal Turkson and the participants and concludes with the pope’s 2017 World Day of Peace Message.  Throughout the text, co-president of Pax Christi International, Marie Dennis, invites us  to use the words of the Bishop of Rome, “to reflect on nonviolence as a style of politics for peace.” (222)

Essentially CP balances ethical and theological essays with analysis of world conflict and  reflections on  factors that contribute to effective nonviolent resistance.  Beginning with Dennis’ introduction, one finds an appeal to the Catholic Church to move from the just war paradigm to a just peace tradition.  Therefore in the last chapter which contains Francis’ World Day Message, Gerald Schlabach argues that the pope moves the moral tradition.  That direction is similar to what John Paul did with capital punishment. Schlabach predicts that just war tradition will be damned with faint praise, or killed with a thousand cuts.” (240)  

Several essays stand out and will be used in my teaching and assignments.  Bishop Dowling of South Africa makes it clear, noting reflections by Francis on Syria and Oscar Romero on El Salvador, that the question of nonviolence is complicated and not to be seen today as traditional non-resistant pacifism. Terrence Rynne in “Jesus and Nonviolence” offers a superb analysis of the biblical witness citing the best recent evaluations of scriptural data essentially pointing in the direction  of militant nonviolent resistance to evil.  Lisa Cahill’s following chapter 5 traces recent Catholic tradition on nonviolence including the thinking of popes from Paul VI to Francis.  Here as throughout CP, moral theology is supplemented by dialogue with experience of participants including even papers before the conference from Somalia, Philippines and the United States. Significantly, Dennis offers us examples of violence and effective nonviolent resistance. Ken Butigan and John Dear provide us in chapter 6 with vivid examples of that nonviolent tradition.  The work was personally beneficial to this reader as one who, despite arguments from Gene Sharp and others,  has seen nonviolence as a spirituality rather than ethical imperative.  Maria Stephan in chapter 7 argues for active nonviolence as an effective political tool.  Rose Marie Berger’s essay in chapter 8 on just peace practice affirms, rightly I believe, that the concept of peace does receive the attention war does in the Christian tradition.

In short, Dennis’ CP  provides a marvelous reflection on what the contributors hope will be what the subtitle affirms,  “The Catholic Church Returns to Nonviolence.”  The argument for just peace will give those of us who advocate highly restrictive versions of just or justified and limited war much food for thought.   Moreover, there are gems in the book that were new to me such as seeing the Acts of Thekla, found in chapter 6, as an example of  women’s resistance to power.  The take on Pope Francis’ airplane “magisterial off the cuff remark” on August 18, 2014 that dialogue with Isis should not be a lost cause and “it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor” is a great corrective to what many saw as an affirmation of justified violence.  (215) Stopping, in light of the humanitarian crisis, called for not dropping bombs but the “means to stop him would have to be evaluated.” (215)

I clearly preferred the essays of scholars to some of the remarks which may characterize minutes or notes from academic committee meetings. .  Nevertheless, all in all, Dennis’ work is highly recommended for university and personal libraries and supplemental reading in courses on war and peace and Catholic social teaching.