The Concept of Peace

This classic study of peace, first published in the 1970s, has lost none of its power over the years and is reissued for the first time as a paperback after being long unavailable. The author has written a new preface, reflecting on developments since the book was written. Beginning with a survey of the many areas in which human life is fractured - international relations, race relations, the relationship between human beings and nature, and the family - John Macquarrie shows that peace requires a two-fold knowledge, technical and eschatological, i.e. with a particular goal in mind. He goes on to relate the biblical idea of shalom to the problems of contemporary society, asking whether peace or conflict is the basic human state. This leads on into discussions of conflict and violence, and how they can be dealt with in our dangerous modern world.