Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 9 Christianity, and established it as the official religion of the empire. In effect, he threw out the commandment to love one’s enemies and turned to the pagan Cicero to justify Christian violence, sowing the seeds for the so-called just war theory. During the seventeen centuries since, Christians have waged war, led crusades, burned women at the stake, persecuted Jews and Muslims, kept slaves, run concentration camps, prayed for successful bombing raids, and built and used nuclear weapons. Jesus’ teachings of nonviolence have rarely been discussed, much less implemented. Even as recent popes have proclaimed a “Gospel of Life,” they’ve made exceptions, leaving loopholes for justified killing. That may be about to change. In April, eighty prominent Catholic peace- makers from twenty-five nations were invited to the Vatican for a conference to discuss formally abandoning the just war theory. The event was hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Cardinal Peter Turkson, the leader behind Pope Francis’s recent encyclical on the environment, opened the conference by reading a long letter of welcome from Pope Francis. Cardinal Turkson participated in the conference and approved the closing statement, which was then presented to the pope. For three days, we deliberated about ques- tions of violence, war, and nonviolence. Many attendees shared personal experiences practic- ing nonviolence, often in warzones. I was asked to speak about Jesus and nonviolence. That’s easy, I said: Jesus did not teach us how to kill or wage war or make money; he taught us how to be nonviolent. In the Sermon on the Mount he John Dear, a Catholic priest, is the author of thirty books on peace and nonviolence, including Walking the Way, Living Peace, and his latest, The Beatitudes of Peace. johndear.org Photograph by PL Gould/IMAGES/Getty Images