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The Gospel of Peace: A Scriptural Message for Today's World
By Ulrich Mauser
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. 196 pp. $16.95

A number of years ago, I was asked to be a guest preacher for a Conference in the United Methodist Church. The invitation was for four sermons and a communion homily. The designated topic was peace." Peace," I thought to myself, "great topic." Assuming there would be plenty of written material, wisdom through the ages, I answered the invitation with an enthusiastic "yes." But as I began to gather material for the sermons, I was shocked to discover what a dearth of material there was. I found large numbers of books in the public policy section of the university library, but that was not what was needed. I searched and researched in a number of other libraries with little luck. I asked a good friend who is a rabbi who suggested to me a number of books in Hebrew. Left out on the limb, I began to choose five Scripture passages and the enormous task of determining the "Biblical Witness Toward Peace," which I eventually entitled the series.

436 - Reformed Spirituality: An Introduction for Believers

Ulrich Mauser's The Gospel of Peace is the book I needed. It gives the reader a definition of the biblical words for peace. It accomplishes exegesis of New Testament understandings of peace. And it sets the study in a clear intention: " [N]ow more than ever before is the time for peace. The study of the aspects of peace in the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament, is presented in the interests of the search for peace today."

Mauser opens the study with a beautiful call for peace that includes the details of the nuclear threat and the capacity for destruction that is our responsibility. The facts of our capacity for destruction are given along with sections on the economics of war and peace and a concrete picture of the results of a nuclear exchange. Mauser has a strong ability to communicate the irony of the nuclear arms race as a defense of freedom and peace.

Mauser includes an excellent word study on the biblical words for peace, shalom and eirene. Mauser defines the words, discusses the development of the words, the nuances and subleties of their use biblically, the contradictions in some contexts, the richness and distinction of their meaning. Mauser ends the chapter with another lovely call to the church for peace: that its worship must project constantly and centrally a love of peace, its government and administrative agencies have to pursue peace as a foremost concern, and its educational programs are obliged to elevate the subject of peace to a position of primary urgency.

Five exegetical chapters help the reader see how varied the use of peace is in the New Testament, how each of the writers use peace in the service of their distinct purposes. Mauser lets the many, distant, and sometimes disturbing voices of the Bible speak in their manifold variety. In Matthew, peace is first and foremost the healing of every manner of mental and physical disease and is manifest in Jesus' compassion. In Luke, peace is the entire flow of the good news. In Acts, peace is the unity of the Christian community within the Pax Romana. In Paul's letters, peace is more than a greeting and dismissal. Paul associates peace with the power of life and God's justification. Paul insists that God's peace involves the subjection to the experience of oppression and injustice. Finally, Mauser exegetes the great Christian hymn in Colossians 1:15-20, revealing Christ as the peacemaker who reconciles all things, including the hymn's connection to Sophia, as living power, God's Wisdom in God's image. Mauser exegetes Ephesians 2:11-12, which images a community grounded in peace, spreading peace, and preserving peace. Each of these chapters ends with a bibliography.

Mauser's final chapter, clear and beautifully written, calls Christians to accept God's gift of peace and to engage in the process of peace, which is vital and never static. He calls Christians to take on the discipline of peace, through the discipline of discernment and the discipline of being radical. The book is recommended to any person

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who is seriously seeking to understand the biblical witness to peace. It is especially recommended for study groups within congregations seeking to find ways to become peacemakers. The longing for peace, the call to peace, the vision for peace, even the path toward peace are clearly presented. The study is a word of inspiration and hope.

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow
Princeton University Chapel
Princeton, New Jersey