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Presentation
The Editors

The -Bible commands believers to choose life. According to the first article in this issue of SIDFC, if we are to do so there is no alternative but to pursue peace. Yet the consequences of such a choice are not light. The question is are we prepared to pay the price of peace?
,Professor Abecassis describes three kinds of peace but only one of these, the peace of the river, carries within it the quality of life for which humanity yearns. The cost we have to pay for this is to overcome the violence that is within us both as groups and as individuals; that is, we must master the destructive potential of such violence. After all the Kingdom of God surrenders itself to the violent according to the Gospel.' Violence can be creative if harnessed correctly. How is this to be done? It is easy to answer "by loving" but how how do we achieve such love?
Can the Bible guide us into the era of peace? Can the Jewish and the Christian traditions, founded on the Scriptures, show the way? Or is war too deeply embedded therein? This issue of SIDIC considers these questions and offers some responses. None is entirely satisfactory and the quest goes on.
It has been said that "there is no way to peace but peace is the way". This applies to every aspect and to all stages of life. Peace is to be pursued and can never be abandoned by those who follow the Biblical tradition. Within it an incomprehensible God is revealed, a God who overcomes evil and gives life from the dead, who generates hope in the human heart, a hope which in its turn never dies but endures and brings forth new creation.
Finally we must ask where we are with regard to the Shalom we seek between the Churches and the Jewish People? Because the roots of Christianity lie in Judaism this Shalom is the most crucial for the Church and a paradigm of all others. It would be possible to list some achievements but as recent events show and as everyday words and actions reveal, even in this limited sphere the peace of the river does not yet freely flow. Let us continue in faith, in hope and with greater energy to work at our God-given task.
"Jews and Christians, as children of Abraham, are called to be a blessing for the world (cf. Gen. 12:2 ff.), by committing themselves together for peace and justice among all peoples..." (John Paul II, W. Germany, 1980).