Precarious Peace and Quaker Testimonies: Two New Books

I just received in the mail yesterday two new books from Quaker Life for me to review and I am really excited about both books.  The first is called “A Precarious Peace: Yoderian Explorations on Theology, Knowledge and Identity,”  by Chris K. Huebner.  Huebner is a  professor of theology and ethics at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The news release states,

“A Precarious Peace is intelligent, at times elegent, and unremitting in its depiction of the church as a counter-polis, gifted with witnesses and martyrs and a distinctive voice, but resistant to the frozen embrace of a theology captured by method and harnessed to rootless abstratction.  Huebner’s range and voice makes what he has to say relevant to Christians of all stripes, and among the many virtues of the book is that it shows, without trying to, the increasin insignificance of denominational divisions or the intellectual work of the church.”  — Paul J. Griffiths

As the book sets out the argue for pacifism in a way that is meant to challenge our deepest assuptions, Huebner uses dialogue partners such as, Rowan Williams, John Milbak, Karl Barth, and of course John Howard Yoder.

I really am excited not only to read this book but to write a review for QL.

The second book I receieved is “The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony 1652-1661 and 1960-1994, Conflict, Non-Violence and Conciliation,” by Gerard Guiton.

I am excited about this book for two reasons, first looking at these specific testimonies in depth is something that will definately be useful for my own research, and secondly (and more specifically) these years are of particular interest as I am concerned with both old and new Quakerism.

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