The Anti-War

The liberal Quaker renewal of a century ago fostered a pacifist ideology that diverged from the existential faith-commitment to peace manifested by earlier Friends. But the optimism that world powers could be persuaded to adopt peace faltered as military-industrial interests grew more entrenched during the 20th century. Today's darkening human prospect forces Friends to reclaim their identity as a people of God that resists the dominant culture and wages an "anti-war," a militant inversion of empire's militarist imperatives. Two inverse perspectives are required to reframe the issues. "Peace Finds the Purpose of a Peculiar People" begins with a close reading of 1 Peter 2:4-17. It then describes how the peace testimony developed among early Friends in the 17th century.