Peace in Between: Understanding Precarious Peacemaking in a World of Enmity

This article develops a theological ethics of peace ‘in between’, which takes the process of peacemaking as indicative of the nature of peace. It explores the implications for theological ethics of Christian practices of peacemaking that are directed at conciliation, or ending enmity, beginning from some specific examples from twentieth- and twenty-first century peace church traditions, focusing on the precarity, the ambivalence, and the creative character of these peacemaking activities. Theologically, peacemaking is located not only ‘in between’ opposing parties, but also in the tension between the peace given in Christ and the present experience of conflict – a tension that I see reflected in representations of peace in Christian art. I present peacemaking ‘in between’ as itself integral to peace, rather than simply a set of means towards peace as an end – avoiding a straightforward opposition between God's peace and Christian peacemaking in history. I argue that this is particularly important in order to avoid equating the defeat of specific historical enemies or opponents with the defeat of enmity itself – while remaining actively engaged in peacemaking. I suggest, finally, that attention to precarity, ambivalence and creativity in the experience of peacemaking opens up wider questions about how to engage theologically with the ethics and practice of compromise.