Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers

Synopsis: Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of adequately challenging the use of violence in U.S. policy? The opportunities and developments in approaches to peacemaking have been growing at a significant rate. However, violent methods continue to hold significant sway in U.S. policy and society as the commonly assumed way to "peace." Even when community organizers, policymakers, members of Catholic leadership, and academics sincerely search for alternatives to violence, they too often think about nonviolence as primarily a rule or a strategy. Catholic Social Teaching has been moving toward transcending the limits of these approaches, but it still has significant room for growth. In order to contribute to this growth and to impact U.S. policy, McCarthy draws on Jesus, Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, and King to offer a virtue-based approach to nonviolent peacemaking with a corresponding set of core practices. This approach is also set in conversation with aspects of human rights discourse to increase its possible impact on U.S. policy. As a whole, Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers offers an important challenge to contemporary accounts of peacemaking in the U.S. Endorsements: "Many believe, myself among them, the world must change its violent course if humanity is to survive and go forward. The opposite of violence, and its cure, is nonviolence; but the term is still shrouded in confusion. This well-researched book does a masterful job making nonviolence--arguably the most important principle we can learn--available to millions of readers." --Michael Nagler, Professor Emeritus, University of California Berkeley "Using the time-tested virtue approach to ethics, McCarthy helps us cultivate the dispositions, practices, and rules needed for nonviolent peace-building. But then, with virtue's ability to culturally adapt, he engages Hindu, Christian, and Muslim models, and proposes a contemporary, realistic vision. He translates this vision into the language of human rights so as to give it even more universal appeal. The result is an interreligious, comprehensive project of a new world order. A truly timely and engaging work!" --James F. Keenan, Boston College "This is an excellent book. It is highly original and intellectually precise, while remaining grounded in the Christian life and passion for social change. McCarthy cuts across standard divisions of just war theory and pacifism to create a public and political peacemaking ethic of virtue for an era in which Christian action for global justice is not optional." --Lisa Cahill, Boston College "McCarthy's deep discussion of the challenges of nonviolent peacemaking should be essential reading for all would-be peacemakers and, more especially, for all those who still see lethal force as the answer to international problems." --Alan Goulty, Former British Ambassador to Sudan Author Biography: Eli Sasaran McCarthy is Adjunct Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at Georgetown University. He has published an essay in Peace Movements Worldwide, along with articles in the Peace Studies Journal and the Journal of Political Theology.