EDH Book

Here at the London Book Fair March 10-12, 2026. A bit overwhelming, but great education and opportunity. Looking forward to Los Angeles Festival of Books April 18-19, 2026.

Jesus says that he came to bring not peace but division. Techniques the master uses situationally include stonewalling, walking away, quick retort, story-telling, incisive and pointed analysis, escalation, generating ancillary conflict – or some combination. Often strategically applied.

Why does Jesus respond to conflict one way one time, differently the next time? Possibilities are that responses are: a) part of a larger strategic game plan; b) based on Jesus’ perception of specific situations in the moment; c) random; and/or d) some combination of the above.

The book "Conflict & Peace" includes more detailed consideration of these response options.

At Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus is apprehended by a non-Jewish Canaanite woman. Questions: A) Is her behavior appropriate? B) What about Jesus’ response? Figuring out the meaning of this scripture may be pivotal to understanding Jesus’ mission – both the easy and tough parts.

Chapter 10 of "Conflict and Peace" reaches back 17 centuries to the event of marriage between church and state.

In 325 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine took the step that forever changed Christianity; he convened the 1st universal council of the church at Nicaea in Asia Minor. The Council was called to resolve the theological question: Was Jesus God? If so, in what way and to what extent?

At Nicaea, an initial modest proposal is made – Jesus is “of like essence” with God the Father. Constantine praises the proposal, then dictates a different outcome. Jesus is not of just “like essence” but of the "same essence” as the Father – a bedrock of the trinitarian formulation of three in one.

During Constantine’s reign, the status of Christianity changed from enemy to religion of the state. The emperor who foisted the Nicene formulation on Western civilization went on in short order to exile religious opponents and in 326 AD to murder his oldest son and then his wife.

The legacy of Constantine is the wedding of church and state. And the silencing of dissenting voices pursuant to the purported apostolic authority of a single monolithic church – emerging to rule with full force of imperial law for over a millennium. From diversity to hegemony.