Peace Be with You

“If revenge and retaliation are the best responses that our nation could muster after 9/11, then Jesus did not have to come, live among us, and preach a radical understanding of ‘neighbor’ that includes the enemy.” —David Carlson

In the wake of the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, as tension between Christians and Muslims rises, author David Carlson seeks guidance in the modern-day deserts of monastic communities across America. Are Christianity and Islam destined to confront one other as clashing civilizations? Peace Be with You: Monastic Wisdom for a Terror-Filled World clearly answers “No.”

Peace Be with You is the result of more than thirty interviews conducted with abbots, nuns, monks, and even a Mennonite pastor who works at a Franciscan retreat center. Hear the wisdom of these men and women in their own words as they speak with hope to a suffering world. Follow Carlson’s moving and at times difficult journey to discover a new, yet ancient basis for genuine peace between Christianity and other religions, especially Islam.

“Sadly,” he says, “Jesus has been drafted into this war. But Jesus as the banner-carrier of Christendom or Christian culture has, from the beginning, been unacceptable to me. Also unacceptable is the belief that Jesus gives the Coalition Forces some advantage. Jesus would neither be dressed in military khaki nor would He carry a weapon. This image, to others as well as me, is that of a false Christ.”