The Truce of God

The title of this book comes from an experiment put forward by the monastery of Cluny in the Middle Ages that Christians in the surrounding area should not fight each other from Mondays to Wednesdays inclusive. Essential to Williams' ideas on peace in this revised book from the mid-1980s is a general diagnosis of an underlying 'sickness of the spirit' behind the anxieties of modern life. Influenced by the radical writings of Thomas Merton, Williams asserts that the catholic (universal) Church must be a standing challenge to all war-oriented policy, a stance that he has maintained with respect to Iraq. The Church must reject doctrines involving retaliation and the balance of terror. Williams is pragmatic in the sense that he does not expect to make a large difference but idealistic in relation to fundamental principles.