The Unarmed Truth: Following the Prince of Peace in a World of Violence

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Follow Jesus into the cross-shaped way of peace.

Pastor Jon Sherwood is an unlikely pacifist. Born into a military family and raised in the American Bible Belt, he was shaped by a difficult past of drugs and crime. Though surrounded by evangelical Christianity, he did not encounter Christ as the Prince of Peace until he began examining Jesus' words for himself. What he discovered changed not only his life, but the life of his church. In Southern evangelical "God and guns" culture, embracing the unarmed truth of Jesus' kingdom may seem unlikely. Yet this story shows it is not only possible but transformative.

For those, like Sherwood, who love Jesus yet have rarely heard nonviolence named as a central tenet of discipleship, The Unarmed Truth offers a Scripture-rooted invitation to examine our faith, culture, and inherited assumptions. In these pages, readers will discover how Jesus confronted violence--not by wielding coercive power, but by laying down his life. Through self-giving love of enemies, Jesus waged war on war itself and inaugurated a radically different way of peace. Discover the power of a faith that refuses violence and thus changes everything.

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Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

1       A War on Mars: A Southern Pastor’s (Reluctant) Journey into Nonviolence

2       But I Tell You: Jesus’ Vision of Enemy Love

3       Subversive Confrontation: Jesus and the Powers

4       A Cosmic War: The Apostles Follow Jesus into Nonviolent Battle

5       Swords into Plowshares: The Early Church Witness to the Sanctity of Life

6       A Marriage of Two Kingdoms: A Seismic Shift

7       No Blood but Our Own: The Historic Peace Churches

8       One Nation Under God: Christian Nationalism in America

9       God and Guns: The Myth of Redemptive Violence

10    Let God Sort ’Em Out: A Southern Congregation’s (Reluctant) Journey into Nonviolence and Hope for a New World 

11    Exilic Outposts: Peaceful Resistance and Uncivil Worship

Common Scriptural Questions about Christian Nonviolence

Common Ethical Questions about Christian Nonviolence

Study Guide

Notes

The Author

Endorsements

“For too long, a wider culture of violence has edited and shaped the gospel to fit the convenience of retaliation, retribution, and revenge. Sherwood unmasks these false notions and places us on the path of communal restoration.”

—Otis Moss III, professor of homiletics at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University

“Even rarer than changing one’s mind is truly changing one’s life. Sherwood has done both. He models repentance as the early church taught it, a radical reorientation of mind and life that comes from acknowledging Jesus’ lordship in everything.”

—Meghan Larissa Good, author of Divine Gravity

“An exciting book, reflecting a fresh discovery of Jesus-based nonviolence from an author with a most unlikely starting point. The Unarmed Truth demonstrates the continuing appeal of the radical way of Jesus.”

—David P. Gushee, author of Changing Our Mind and After Evangelicalism

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