nonresistance.org literature page

NONRESISTANCE.ORG

But I tell you ...

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The Net of Faith by Peter Chelčický, tr. by Enrico Molnár

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Peter Chelčický was the earliest writer of the Reformation to promote nonresistance, predating Erasmus of Rotterdam and Menno Simons by 100 years and playing a key role in the founding of the Moravian Church. This is his most mature work, written in about 1443. In it he condemns the abuses of both the Roman Church and the Hussite Protestants and expounds on his own independent true-to-the-gospel theology. This is the only English translation of this monumental work but, sadly, it is incomplete. We can arrange a tax deductible donation if you are interested in contributing toward a new and complete translation.

The Early Christian Attitude to War by C. J. Cadoux

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Published shortly after the First World War, this book is an examination of Christian ethics regarding war and peace. It begins with the teachings of Jesus and continues through the first 2 centuries of the Christian era.

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

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This short story, written in response to the Spanish American War, is a good example of the author's acerbic wit and highly refined sense of irony. Twain was discouraged from publishing it during his lifetime, but left instructions for its publication after his death, saying, "None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth."

What I Believe by Leo Tolstoy

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Tolstoy is considered one of the greatest of all novelists, but following the publication of Anna Karenina his life underwent a complete change and he henceforth entirely devoted himself to Christ's teaching. In What I Believe Tolstoy describes his epiphany, expounds on the Sermon on the Mount, and contrasts the teachings of Jesus to the dogma and practices of the Orthodox Church. Many of his criticisms are equally applicable to most of today's Protestant Churches.

The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy

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Tolstoy continues his exposition of what is wrong with the Church and what is necessary to usher in the Kingdom of God in this work, which profoundly inspired both Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In the gospels Jesus told us what to do and how to live. In this book Tolstoy explains why those admonitions work and why they are, in fact, the only future that humanity has. He also prophetically explains why violent revolutions (such as the Russian revolution) ultimately fail to make things better and why genocides (such as those in Rwanda and Darfur) go unchecked. Please note that this is a new transcription - not the error riddled ones found on other websites.

Christian Non-Resistance in all its
Important Bearings by Adin Ballou

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Adin Ballou (1803–1890) was founder of the Hopedale Community and was a prominent promoter of pacifism, Christian socialism, and abolitionism. He was also involved with the New England Non-Resistance Society and the Universal Peace Union. He was a prolific writer and in this, his principal pacifist work, he presents the quintessential definition and description of nonresistance. If you read nothing else, read his inspiring explanation of the underlying principle of nonresistance.

Christian Non-Resistance in relation to
Human Governments by Adin Ballou

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This pamphlet contains Adin Ballou's address to the first annual meeting of the New England Non-Resistance Society, held in 1939. In it he describes the true nature of human governments, the non-resistants relationship and responsibility to them, and the non-resistant's true means of accomplishing the redemption and regeneration of society.

An Inquiry into the Accordancy of War with the
Principles of Christianity by Jonathan Dymond

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The first edition of this book, also simply and understandably known as On War, was published in 1823, and it formed the basis of a later expanded essay on the topic. It was doubtlessly both the product and the inspiration of the peace and nonresistance societies that were springing up in the early 19th century. This is perhaps the first concise and coherent statement of the position that Quakers had traditionally held for the previous 200 years. In it, Dymond also addresses the psychology of those who support war and systematically dissects and rebuts their arguments. Leo Tolstoy highly praised it in his Kingdom of God is Within You. If you read nothing else, read his description of Christianity's reputation.

Non-Resistance Asserted by Daniel Musser

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Daniel Musser, a Reformed Mennonite, wrote this lengthy pamphlet at the height of the American Civil War. This is one of the works that Leo Tolstoy highly praised in his Kingdom of God is Within You. Much of what Musser had to say is, indeed, praiseworthy and still valid. His major themes include a complete theology of man’s relationship to God in its pristine created state, after the fall, under the Mosaic Law, and in the power of the Holy Spirit; and the related topics of God’s immutability, His commands given in, and specifically intended for, each of these four states, and the importance of being different from the rest of the world.

War Inconsistent with the Religion of Jesus Christ
by David Low Dodge

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To David Low Dodge belongs the high honor of having written the first pamphlets published in America directed expressly against the war system, and of having founded the first peace society ever organized in America or in the world. His first pamphlet, The Mediator’s Kingdom not of this World, was published in 1809 and is included here as well. His second and more important pamphlet, War Inconsistent with the Religion of Jesus Christ, was prepared for the press in 1812, but its publication was delayed until 1815 due to America's war with Great Britain. In August of that year the New York Peace Society, the first in the world, was organized, with Mr. Dodge as its president.

A Solemn Review of the Custom of War
by Noah Worcester

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Noah Worcester (1758-1837) was a self-educated author, editor, peace activist, and Unitarian minister. He first published this pamphlet in 1814 and founded the Massachusetts Peace Society a year after that. He continued to write, edit, and publish the Society’s quarterly journal, The Friend of Peace, until 1828, publishing most of his work under the name Philo Pacificus. A Solemn Review was extensively reprinted in America, England, and Europe throughout the 19th century.

All War Antichristian by various authors

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The Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace was established in London, June 1816. Its object was to diffuse information to prove that ALL WAR is inconsistent with the spirit and precepts of Christianity, and the true interests of mankind; and to point out the means best calculated to maintain permanent and universal peace, on the basis of true Christian principles. The Society addressed itself to no particular or separate religious community, but was heavily influenced by the Quakers. This collection of tracts represents the "best of the best" of their literature.

Letters addressed to Caleb Strong by Samuel Whelpley

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Samuel Whelpley was a clergyman during the early years of the American nation and lived just long enough to see the establishment of the first American peace societies. In this book he admirably demonstrates the hypocrisy of those who would attempt to justify war and capital punishment on the basis of the Old Testament.