Abstract
What does God think about nuns siphoning their blood into plastic baby bottles, then squirting the warm result onto a U.S. Patriot missile? What would He say to priests hammering on the door of a pristine F-16 fighter jet with pickaxes purchased from the local hardware store? If you ask one of the subjects interviewed by Sharon Erickson Nepstad they would tell you that they are following the personal example of Jesus Christ, the political subversive who advised us to turn swords into plowshares. These Plowshares activists are collectively part of a faith-based peace movement and individually adopt a progressive interpretation of their Catholic faith. In Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement, Nepstad takes a close look at this movement and its international counterparts. She surveys slightly over 50 activists and interviews another three dozen to find out why they become involved in this kind of creative high-risk activism, how they endure significant personal costs, and how they keep their spirits up despite the unmet objectives of achieving a peaceful society. Plowshares activists shared their personal documents with Nepstad and made movement archives available for her review. Social movement scholars have been discussing high-risk activism since at least the mideighties. Doug McAdam, for instance, theorized that people who otherwise had a free Qual Sociol (2010) 33:105–109 DOI 10.1007/s11133-009-9143-3
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