Long, Edward LeRoy, Jr. Facing Terrorism: Responding as Christians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. Pp. 117. $12.95.

The author of this book is a veteran scholar in studies of peace and war, and a counselor to the Presbyterian Church (USA) in this field. The occasion of it is of course the specific terrorist act that happened on September 11, 2001, the al Qaeda movement that planned it, and the church task force that was formed to probe the issues it raised. But Long makes clear in his first chapter that terrorism is not new, nor can it be clearly separated from other forms of rebellion and war. Terrorists express the hatred against exploiting power that is shared by all revolutionaries. They attack non-combatants to spread fear, as the United States did when it dropped atomic bombs in World War II. They defy legitimate authority, like all rebels, in the name of the people they claim to represent. Like all who fight against great odds they reckon not only with their own resources, but with the victory of God. The underlying problem is not terrorism in itself, but the “vortex of violence” into which our world is being drawn. How can this trend can be reversed and contained?

Long describes three basic methods. The first, which he calls the crusade model, uses violence to stamp out violence. The division between good and evil is absolute. There is no negotiation or compromise. Military action uses war to establish order and peace. This seems to be the model of the United States government at the moment. But the enemy is not a government, but a force with many centers, a movement united only in regarding us as evil. There is no end to such a war.

The second method is law enforcement. It has a long history which Long traces, going back at least to the League of Nations. Its principle is police action, though it may at times use military force in a limited war, as was the case in Korea five decades ago, or may fight for its very life as in World War II. It depends on a structure of international law and institutions that legitimates and governs every nation's action. Like all law enforcement, this model assumes that the problem will always be there. Its objective is to contain and minimize terrorism, to bring its perpetrators to justice.

There are problems with this model, too. Its institutions are new and the United States, especially, has not given them full support. Enforcement agencies have not been adequately authorized and financed. The questions how far civil liberties may be abridged for the sake of security, when and how far military action is justified, and how decision makers are chosen and controlled, remain. The use of violence in this context may be necessary but it is always questionable. “Agonized participation” is Long's phrase for the war against Hitler and Japan, and for much recent use of violence even in the service of international law.

The third model Long offers is peacemaking. This is not appeasement. It aims to transform the parties to a conflict by human contact, by establishing common interests amid diversity of faiths, convictions, cultures, and power centers. Its aim is new ways of living together in order, peace, and reconciliation. Long sees this model at work in the Carter Center, in the U.S. Institute of Peace, and in some United Nations work, but basically he commends it to Christians as their ministry. It depends on faith, humility, and servanthood in the use of power. It involves admission of fault, repentance and forgiveness, even when these are not reciprocated. It is a witness to the gospel.

There are problems with this model as well. Violent action can undermine it, whether from the dominant power or from the resisters, as the example of Israel and Palestine shows. It depends on new relationships between old enemies being institutionalized in enforced structures of justice and law, which leads to questions about the ability of the United Nations to take on this role. It raises the question of the faith undergirding the process. Are there ultimate reasons—among Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and others, as well as among Christians—for believing in it? What is the relation between evangelism, by whatever faith, and peacemaking?

These questions go beyond the book. But for any group that cares about the problems of terrorism, Long lays a foundation in this brief but substantive volume for pursuing them.

Charles C. West
Princeton Theological Seminary