Until Justice and Peace Embrace

Until Justice and Peace Embrace by Nicholas Wolterstorff. How should a Christian insert himself or herself into the world’s social order? How can he or she set goals and determine courses of action that are conducive to the establishment of a just and peaceful social order? Nicholas Wolterstorff here addresses these difficult questions in terms of the biblical concept of shalom. Arguing for the general perspective of “world-formative Christianity,” he begins by describing the version of that perspective which emerged among the early Calvinists of England and the Continent. Convinced that we cannot act responsibly and effectively unless we undertand the structure and dynamics of our modern social order, Wolterstorff next offers an introductory analysis of the “modern world-system.” He then discusses two contemporary versions of world-formative Christianity – that of the South American liberation theologians and that of the Amsterdam neo-Calvinists. The Book’s central chapters address three of the most fundamental issues of the modern mass poverty, nationalism, and urban ugliness. Finally, Wolterstorff argues for the vital relationship that must exist between liturgy and social action in the life of the Christian; he concludes with a discussion of the relation of theory to practice. A scholarly and well-documented work, Unitl Justice and Peace Embrace is also engaging and accessible to the educated layperson.