Terrence J. Rynne

This examination of the relationship of Jesus's life and teaching to Gandhi's development of nonviolence packs a lot of content into its less than 200 pages. In addition to tracing Gandhi's evolution of satyagraha, inspired by the Sermon on the Mount particularly, Rynne also argues convincingly against the doctrine of atonement and outlines the development of thinking about Gospel nonviolence by four different Christian theologians, from CF Andrews through Bernard Haring and Walter Wink to show more John Howard Yoder. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. show less

This short book covers a lot of ground: the nonviolence of Jesus, the nonviolence of the early church, the origin of just war and its superseding the nonviolent tradition in much of Christianity, the "rediscovery" of nonviolence (especially in the Catholic tradition) and a summary of recent developments in Christian nonviolence. I found Rynne's book thought-provoking, inspiring and rooted in the real world.

This is an exploration of the life of Jesus and the teachings of Gandhi, one that puts nonviolent action at the very heart of Christian salvation.