A Cruciform Reading List*

John Howard Yoder
– The Politics of Jesus
– War of the Lamb: The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking
– Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution
– Nonviolence – A Brief History: The Warsaw Lectures
– The Original Revolution: Essays on Christian Pacifism
– What Would You Do? (If a violent person threatened to harm a loved one)

Stanley Hauerwas
– The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics
– Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony
– War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity 

Walter Wink
– Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way
– The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium
– Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament
– Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence
– Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination

Ron Sider
– The Early Church on Killing: A Comprehensive Sourcebook on War, Abortion, and Capital Punishment
– Nonviolent Action: What Christian Ethics Demands but Most Christians Have Never Really Tried
– Christ and Violence

J. Denny Weaver
– The Nonviolent God
– The Nonviolent Atonement

Michael Gorman
– Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross
– Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology
– Reading Revelation Responsibly – Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation

Church History
– Caesar and the Lamb: Early Christian Attitudes on War and Military Service, George Kalantzis

Old Testament Studies
– The Politics of Yahweh: John Howard Yoder, The Old Testament, and the People of God, John C. Nugent

New Testament Studies
– The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, Richard B. Hays
– Sermon on the Mount, Scot McKnight
– Paul’s Non-Violent Gospel: The Theological Politics of Peace in Paul’s Life and Letters, Jeremy Gabrielson

Theology/Ethics

– Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, Glen H. Stassen
– Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church, Darrin W. Snyder Belousek
– Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
– What About Hitler?: Wrestling with Jesus’ Call to Nonviolence in an Evil World, Robert Brimlow
– The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith, Stuart Murray

Popular Level (Non-Academic) Texts
– Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence, Preston Sprinkle
– A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor’s Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace, Brian Zahnd

Secular Texts
– The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People, Jonathan Schell
– The Just War Myth: The Moral Illusions of War, Andrew Fiala 

* Note, I’ve categorized the list first by authors with more than one recommended text and then by topic. This reflects no particular order of chronology or personal preference.

How about you?
Have you read any of the books above?
Which are your favorites?
Are there any excellent non-violent texts I have left off of the list?