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Eli McCarthy

Georgetown University, Justice and Peace Studies, Faculty Member

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Eli McCarthy, Ph.D., teaches at Georgetown University in Justice and Peace Studies. He is the editor of A Just Peace Ethic Primer: Breaking Cycles of Violence and Building Sustainable Peace (Georgetown University Press, 2020); and author of Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers: A Virtue Ethic for Catholic Social Teaching and U.S. Policy, (Wipf and Stock, 2012). He is currently working on an edited book on a just peace ethic. He has numerous articles in journals such as Catholic Social Thought, Political Theology, Peace and Justice Studies, and other media such as National Catholic Reporter, America Magazine, Responsible Statecraft, The Hill, etc. He serves on the steering committee of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. He is the co-founder of the DC Peace Team offering training and services in nonviolent communication, restorative justice, bystander intervention, and unarmed civilian protection.
Phone: 510-717-8867
Address: 6509 41st. Ave. University Park, MD 20782

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Papers by Eli McCarthy

Re-Imagining Catholic Ethics: Beyond ‘Justification’ of Violence and toward Accompaniment

Religions, Jun 28, 2024

Review of Social Defense

The Journal of Social Encounters, Mar 19, 2023

Transforming Armed Policing in the US: Contributions From Unarmed Civilian Protection Models

Bristol University Press eBooks, Jun 21, 2023

The Berrigan Letters: Personal Correspondence Between Daniel and Philip Berrigan

Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2016

Rosalie Riegle, Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2013

Praxis of Accompaniment: A Way of Just Peace amid the War in Ukraine

Journal of Catholic social thought, Dec 31, 2022

In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary ... more In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary Catholic social teaching, as well as similar trends in the broader Christian community. He articulates a refined just peace framework or process that has arisen from and within a pastoral approach that listens to the experiences and voices of people in conflict situations across various cultural spaces. He then turns to the recent and challenging case of the war in Ukraine to explore and argue for a just peace approach rooted in the praxis of accompaniment. The author also reflects on the distinction between and implications of an accompaniment approach and a justification-of-war approach to initiate more inquiry on this topic.

Praxis of Accompaniment: A Way of Just Peace amid the War in Ukraine

Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 2023

In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary ... more In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary Catholic social teaching, as well as similar trends in the broader Christian community. He articulates a refined just peace framework or process that has arisen from and within a pastoral approach that listens to the experiences and voices of people in conflict situations across various cultural spaces. He then turns to the recent and challenging case of the war in Ukraine to explore and argue for a just peace approach rooted in the praxis of accompaniment. The author also reflects on the distinction between and implications of an accompaniment approach and a justification-of-war approach to initiate more inquiry on this topic.

EMERGING HORIZON OF NONVIOLENCE

Asian Horizons, 2021

The theological discourse and praxis of nonviolence has a range of expressions. At the same time,... more The theological discourse and praxis of nonviolence has a range of expressions. At the same time, there are some predominant descriptions of nonviolence which narrow our view or even obstruct our praxis. These have critical implications for our approach to spirituality, conflict, and policy. In this essay, I unpack an emerging horizon of nonviolence from a theological perspective. This includes recognizing nonviolence as the positive reverence for dignity and life and thus, also the constant effort to avoid dehumanization and participation in other types of violence. I begin by describing a robust sense of nonviolence arising from global consultations with persons in violent conflict zones over the past five years or so. Next, I explain the different characteristics with some examples and analysis. I will demonstrate the value of this more robust approach to nonviolence drawing on some prominent voices in the Asian context. Finally, I identify some critical implications for the Catholic Church and religious institutions, government policy, and educational institutions.

A Theological Exploration: Nonviolence as Intersectional Praxis

Theological Studies

This article offers a theological vision of how nonviolence contributes to Catholic social teachi... more This article offers a theological vision of how nonviolence contributes to Catholic social teaching, and offers a crosscutting, intersectional praxis related to two destructive waves in the US: the public health crisis of COVID-19 and systemic racism. First, this article will describe some basic intersections of these two waves, and then draw on a theological description of nonviolence to analyze their intersectionality. Finally, this article will illustrate how nonviolence offers a praxis for a more sustainable transformation.

Religious Warrants

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace

War in Ukraine: Nonviolent Action and Just Peace Approach

War in Ukraine: Christian Accompaniment and Turning to Diplomacy

Templeton Foundation Blog, 2023

How does one respond to such horror as war? In January 2022, I was encouraged by U.S. Archbishop... more How does one respond to such horror as war? In January 2022, I was encouraged by U.S. Archbishop Wester's pastoral letter, illuminating Jesus' clear call to active nonviolence and making the argument to abolish all nuclear weapons. As the war in Ukraine approached in February 2022, a colleague and I offered our thoughts on some possible paths to avoid the war oriented by a just peace framework. What can we do now, especially as Christians?

The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, 2016

This entry engages the revolutionary theme of nonviolence with special attention to post-colonial... more This entry engages the revolutionary theme of nonviolence with special attention to post-colonialism. First, the significant breakthrough and role of Gandhi is explained. Second, the basics and key elements of nonviolence are discussed, along with some ethical implications. Third, the entry explores the degrees of nonviolence in various movements and implications for success. Finally, some attention is given to emerging practices of nonviolence in contemporary society.

Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers: A Virtue Ethic for Catholic Social Teaching and US Policy by Eli Sasaran McCarthy

Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, 2017

Book Review: Mescher, Marcus: The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity

Theological Studies, 2021

B.’s next foundational concept is that these three components of the family can become fully huma... more B.’s next foundational concept is that these three components of the family can become fully human (bumuntu/ubuntu) only through their interpersonal relationships, among which the most important is that of begetting/birthing (“engendrement/enfantement”). For B., this begetting/birthing is carried out equally by all three groups to each other, with the not-yet-born begetting/birthing the living and the dead as well. The rest of the book elaborates how this African conception and practice of family can serve as the basis of an African ecclesiology. Chapter 2 explores the role of Jesus as the “proto-ancestor” and his “founding” (or better “begetting/birthing”) of the church, both before and after Easter. Chapter 3, the longest (81–176), studies how to structure the church and its hierarchy as a family in Africa, recommending the practice of la palabre, the African procedure of debate and decision-making based on consensus, in situations that require reconciliation, opposition, and heal...

The Gospels Draw Us Further: A Just Peace Ethic

Expositions, 2018

However long the night: making meaning in a time of crisis, edited by Sanders

The Berrigan Letters: Personal Correspondence between Daniel and Philip Berrigan, edited by Daniel Cossachi and Eric Martin, eds

Journal of Jesuit Studies, 2017

Called to Holiness: Integrating the Virtue of Nonviolent Peacemaking

Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 2014

Common contemporary assessments of nonviolence often describe it as primarily a rule against viol... more Common contemporary assessments of nonviolence often describe it as primarily a rule against violence or as primarily a strategy. For instance, the rule-based assessment is often found in Catholic social teaching and faces important limits. In this article, I first describe the trajectory of Catholic social teaching on nonviolence. Second, I analyze Jesus as a model of nonviolent peacemaking with assistance from scholarship by Glen Stassen and John Donahue. Third, I draw on William Spohn's work on virtue and scripture to argue that Christian practices of nonviolent peacemaking are most adequately assessed through a virtue-based ethic, and that nonviolent peacemaking itself is a central virtue. Fourth, I develop a set of core practices and explain some initial implications of integrating this virtue into Catholic social teaching and U.S. policy. Catholic social teaching (CST) is both a tradition of religious discourse and of translating such discourse into arguments for policy. Contemporary CST stands in a tradition of ethical discourse that has been moving toward integrating human rights and virtue. However, CST still maintains the tendency toward rule-based assessments of nonviolent peacemaking. 1 This tendency gets expressed in a rights-based approach to confronting conflicts, especially acute conflicts, and this approach offers some contributions but also some significant limits in correctly assessing, imagining, and sustaining nonviolent peacemaking. In this article, I argue that CST ought to employ a virtue-based assessment of nonviolent peacemaking even if supplemented by aspects of human rights theory. 2 This move would yield a more adequate way of

Summoning the Catholic Church : Turn to “ Just Peace ”

In this paper, I integrate key developments into a "just peace" moral analysis and argue for the ... more In this paper, I integrate key developments into a "just peace" moral analysis and argue for the Catholic Church to also develop and embrace a "just peace" approach. First, I describe present Catholic social teaching and the present threads I see related to just peace. Second, I describe the ecumenical turns to just peace and Glen Stassen's just peacemaking, which has similarities to present Catholic social teaching. Third, I offer a critical analysis of Catholic social teaching and just peacemaking to propose a turn to a freshly integrated "just peace" approach. in this active work and are especially reminded both that peace requires justice-making and justice requires peace-making. Jesus Christ, the presence and manifestation of God's love on earth, concretizes these themes in a set of formative and core practices. "Jesus lived in a warzone, under foreign military occupation, in periods of civil war and violent insurgency against the foreign occupiers and the domestic leaders who cooperated with occupying forces. He and his family were refugees and fled genocide." 5 Yet, Jesus makes it clear that he was not in favor of a negative peace based on the sword. Instead, Jesus models the way of just peace by becoming vulnerable, inviting participation in the Reign of God, caring for the outcasts and prioritizing those in urgent need, loving and forgiving enemies, people building, challenging the religious, political, economic, and military powers, healing and trauma healing of persons and communities, praying and fasting, along with risking and offering his life on the cross to expose and transcend both injustice and violence. Jesus centers Shalom on the embodiment of mercy and compassion in the Good Samaritan story. Jesus draws us to "righteousness," which refers to living in accord with the will of God. We know this will primarily through how Jesus lives, hence the "new commandment" from Jesus is to "love as I have loved you," i.e. the nonviolent love of neighbor, strangers and enemies. With Jesus' focus on healing and reconciliation, even with enemies, we have been increasingly learning that the kind of justice Christ leans us toward is restorative justice, i.e. focus on the wounds to relationships and how to heal those wounds.

Re-Imagining Catholic Ethics: Beyond ‘Justification’ of Violence and toward Accompaniment

Religions, Jun 28, 2024

Review of Social Defense

The Journal of Social Encounters, Mar 19, 2023

Transforming Armed Policing in the US: Contributions From Unarmed Civilian Protection Models

Bristol University Press eBooks, Jun 21, 2023

The Berrigan Letters: Personal Correspondence Between Daniel and Philip Berrigan

Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2016

Rosalie Riegle, Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2013

Praxis of Accompaniment: A Way of Just Peace amid the War in Ukraine

Journal of Catholic social thought, Dec 31, 2022

In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary ... more In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary Catholic social teaching, as well as similar trends in the broader Christian community. He articulates a refined just peace framework or process that has arisen from and within a pastoral approach that listens to the experiences and voices of people in conflict situations across various cultural spaces. He then turns to the recent and challenging case of the war in Ukraine to explore and argue for a just peace approach rooted in the praxis of accompaniment. The author also reflects on the distinction between and implications of an accompaniment approach and a justification-of-war approach to initiate more inquiry on this topic.

Praxis of Accompaniment: A Way of Just Peace amid the War in Ukraine

Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 2023

In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary ... more In this essay, the author describes the trajectory toward a just peace framework in contemporary Catholic social teaching, as well as similar trends in the broader Christian community. He articulates a refined just peace framework or process that has arisen from and within a pastoral approach that listens to the experiences and voices of people in conflict situations across various cultural spaces. He then turns to the recent and challenging case of the war in Ukraine to explore and argue for a just peace approach rooted in the praxis of accompaniment. The author also reflects on the distinction between and implications of an accompaniment approach and a justification-of-war approach to initiate more inquiry on this topic.

EMERGING HORIZON OF NONVIOLENCE

Asian Horizons, 2021

The theological discourse and praxis of nonviolence has a range of expressions. At the same time,... more The theological discourse and praxis of nonviolence has a range of expressions. At the same time, there are some predominant descriptions of nonviolence which narrow our view or even obstruct our praxis. These have critical implications for our approach to spirituality, conflict, and policy. In this essay, I unpack an emerging horizon of nonviolence from a theological perspective. This includes recognizing nonviolence as the positive reverence for dignity and life and thus, also the constant effort to avoid dehumanization and participation in other types of violence. I begin by describing a robust sense of nonviolence arising from global consultations with persons in violent conflict zones over the past five years or so. Next, I explain the different characteristics with some examples and analysis. I will demonstrate the value of this more robust approach to nonviolence drawing on some prominent voices in the Asian context. Finally, I identify some critical implications for the Catholic Church and religious institutions, government policy, and educational institutions.

A Theological Exploration: Nonviolence as Intersectional Praxis

Theological Studies

This article offers a theological vision of how nonviolence contributes to Catholic social teachi... more This article offers a theological vision of how nonviolence contributes to Catholic social teaching, and offers a crosscutting, intersectional praxis related to two destructive waves in the US: the public health crisis of COVID-19 and systemic racism. First, this article will describe some basic intersections of these two waves, and then draw on a theological description of nonviolence to analyze their intersectionality. Finally, this article will illustrate how nonviolence offers a praxis for a more sustainable transformation.

Religious Warrants

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace

War in Ukraine: Nonviolent Action and Just Peace Approach

War in Ukraine: Christian Accompaniment and Turning to Diplomacy

Templeton Foundation Blog, 2023

How does one respond to such horror as war? In January 2022, I was encouraged by U.S. Archbishop... more How does one respond to such horror as war? In January 2022, I was encouraged by U.S. Archbishop Wester's pastoral letter, illuminating Jesus' clear call to active nonviolence and making the argument to abolish all nuclear weapons. As the war in Ukraine approached in February 2022, a colleague and I offered our thoughts on some possible paths to avoid the war oriented by a just peace framework. What can we do now, especially as Christians?

The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, 2016

This entry engages the revolutionary theme of nonviolence with special attention to post-colonial... more This entry engages the revolutionary theme of nonviolence with special attention to post-colonialism. First, the significant breakthrough and role of Gandhi is explained. Second, the basics and key elements of nonviolence are discussed, along with some ethical implications. Third, the entry explores the degrees of nonviolence in various movements and implications for success. Finally, some attention is given to emerging practices of nonviolence in contemporary society.

Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers: A Virtue Ethic for Catholic Social Teaching and US Policy by Eli Sasaran McCarthy

Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, 2017

Book Review: Mescher, Marcus: The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity

Theological Studies, 2021

B.’s next foundational concept is that these three components of the family can become fully huma... more B.’s next foundational concept is that these three components of the family can become fully human (bumuntu/ubuntu) only through their interpersonal relationships, among which the most important is that of begetting/birthing (“engendrement/enfantement”). For B., this begetting/birthing is carried out equally by all three groups to each other, with the not-yet-born begetting/birthing the living and the dead as well. The rest of the book elaborates how this African conception and practice of family can serve as the basis of an African ecclesiology. Chapter 2 explores the role of Jesus as the “proto-ancestor” and his “founding” (or better “begetting/birthing”) of the church, both before and after Easter. Chapter 3, the longest (81–176), studies how to structure the church and its hierarchy as a family in Africa, recommending the practice of la palabre, the African procedure of debate and decision-making based on consensus, in situations that require reconciliation, opposition, and heal...

The Gospels Draw Us Further: A Just Peace Ethic

Expositions, 2018

However long the night: making meaning in a time of crisis, edited by Sanders

The Berrigan Letters: Personal Correspondence between Daniel and Philip Berrigan, edited by Daniel Cossachi and Eric Martin, eds

Journal of Jesuit Studies, 2017

Called to Holiness: Integrating the Virtue of Nonviolent Peacemaking

Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 2014

Common contemporary assessments of nonviolence often describe it as primarily a rule against viol... more Common contemporary assessments of nonviolence often describe it as primarily a rule against violence or as primarily a strategy. For instance, the rule-based assessment is often found in Catholic social teaching and faces important limits. In this article, I first describe the trajectory of Catholic social teaching on nonviolence. Second, I analyze Jesus as a model of nonviolent peacemaking with assistance from scholarship by Glen Stassen and John Donahue. Third, I draw on William Spohn's work on virtue and scripture to argue that Christian practices of nonviolent peacemaking are most adequately assessed through a virtue-based ethic, and that nonviolent peacemaking itself is a central virtue. Fourth, I develop a set of core practices and explain some initial implications of integrating this virtue into Catholic social teaching and U.S. policy. Catholic social teaching (CST) is both a tradition of religious discourse and of translating such discourse into arguments for policy. Contemporary CST stands in a tradition of ethical discourse that has been moving toward integrating human rights and virtue. However, CST still maintains the tendency toward rule-based assessments of nonviolent peacemaking. 1 This tendency gets expressed in a rights-based approach to confronting conflicts, especially acute conflicts, and this approach offers some contributions but also some significant limits in correctly assessing, imagining, and sustaining nonviolent peacemaking. In this article, I argue that CST ought to employ a virtue-based assessment of nonviolent peacemaking even if supplemented by aspects of human rights theory. 2 This move would yield a more adequate way of

Summoning the Catholic Church : Turn to “ Just Peace ”

In this paper, I integrate key developments into a "just peace" moral analysis and argue for the ... more In this paper, I integrate key developments into a "just peace" moral analysis and argue for the Catholic Church to also develop and embrace a "just peace" approach. First, I describe present Catholic social teaching and the present threads I see related to just peace. Second, I describe the ecumenical turns to just peace and Glen Stassen's just peacemaking, which has similarities to present Catholic social teaching. Third, I offer a critical analysis of Catholic social teaching and just peacemaking to propose a turn to a freshly integrated "just peace" approach. in this active work and are especially reminded both that peace requires justice-making and justice requires peace-making. Jesus Christ, the presence and manifestation of God's love on earth, concretizes these themes in a set of formative and core practices. "Jesus lived in a warzone, under foreign military occupation, in periods of civil war and violent insurgency against the foreign occupiers and the domestic leaders who cooperated with occupying forces. He and his family were refugees and fled genocide." 5 Yet, Jesus makes it clear that he was not in favor of a negative peace based on the sword. Instead, Jesus models the way of just peace by becoming vulnerable, inviting participation in the Reign of God, caring for the outcasts and prioritizing those in urgent need, loving and forgiving enemies, people building, challenging the religious, political, economic, and military powers, healing and trauma healing of persons and communities, praying and fasting, along with risking and offering his life on the cross to expose and transcend both injustice and violence. Jesus centers Shalom on the embodiment of mercy and compassion in the Good Samaritan story. Jesus draws us to "righteousness," which refers to living in accord with the will of God. We know this will primarily through how Jesus lives, hence the "new commandment" from Jesus is to "love as I have loved you," i.e. the nonviolent love of neighbor, strangers and enemies. With Jesus' focus on healing and reconciliation, even with enemies, we have been increasingly learning that the kind of justice Christ leans us toward is restorative justice, i.e. focus on the wounds to relationships and how to heal those wounds.

Just Peace Ethic Primer: Breaking Cycles of Violence and Building Sustainable Peace

The just peace movement offers a critical shift in focus and imagination. Recognizing that all li... more The just peace movement offers a critical shift in focus and imagination. Recognizing that all life is sacred and seeking peace through violence is unsustainable, the just peace approach turns our attention to rehumanization, participatory processes, nonviolent resistance, restorative justice, reconciliation, racial justice, and creative strategies of active nonviolence to build sustainable peace, transform conflict, and end cycles of violence. A Just Peace Ethic Primer illuminates a moral framework behind this praxis and proves its versatility in global contexts.

With essays by a diverse group of scholars, A Just Peace Ethic Primer outlines the ethical, theological, and activist underpinnings of a just peace ethic.These essays also demonstrate and revise the norms of a just peace ethic through conflict cases involving US immigration, racial and environmental justice, and the death penalty, as well as gang violence in El Salvador, civil war in South Sudan, ISIS in Iraq, gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, women-led activism in the Philippines, and ethnic violence in Kenya.

A Just Peace Ethic Primer exemplifies the ecumenical, interfaith, and multicultural aspects of a nonviolent approach to preventing and transforming violent conflict. Scholars, advocates, and activists working in politics, history, international law, philosophy, theology, and conflict resolution will find this resource vital for providing a fruitful framework and implementing a creative vision of sustainable peace.

Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers: A Virtue Ethic for Catholic Social Teaching and U.S. Policy

Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of ad... more Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of adequately challenging the use of violence in U.S. policy? The opportunities and developments in approaches to peacemaking have been growing at a significant rate. However, violent methods continue to hold significant sway in U.S. policy and society as the commonly assumed way to "peace." Even when community organizers, policymakers, members of Catholic leadership, and academics sincerely search for alternatives to violence, they too often think about nonviolence as primarily a rule or a strategy. Catholic Social Teaching has been moving toward transcending the limits of these approaches, but it still has significant room for growth. In order to contribute to this growth and to impact U.S. policy, McCarthy draws on Jesus, Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, and King to offer a virtue-based approach to nonviolent peacemaking with a corresponding set of core practices. This approach is also set in conversation with aspects of human rights discourse to increase its possible impact on U.S. policy. As a whole, Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers offers an important challenge to contemporary accounts of peacemaking in the U.S.

SUMMONING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: TURN TO “JUST PEACE”

In this paper, I integrate key developments into a “just peace” moral analysis and argue for the ... more In this paper, I integrate key developments into a “just peace” moral analysis and argue for the Catholic Church to also develop and embrace a “just peace” approach. First, I describe present Catholic social teaching and the present threads I see related to just peace. Second, I describe the ecumenical turns to just peace and Glen Stassen’s just peacemaking, which has similarities to present Catholic social teaching. Third, I offer a critical analysis of Catholic social teaching and just peacemaking to propose a turn to a freshly integrated “just peace” approach.

UN Sustaining Peace Agenda and Just Peace Norms: Toward a more Coherent, Transformative, and Fruitful Framework

Notre Dame University Sustaining Peace Conference, 2019

What kind of society are we willing to imagine? What horizon will orient our approach to peace? I... more What kind of society are we willing to imagine? What horizon will orient our approach to peace? In this essay, my argument is that the UN Sustaining Peace agenda or “meta-policy” would be enhanced with a just peace ethic. First, I will describe the sustaining peace agenda. Second, I will describe a just peace ethic. Third, I will analyze how this ethic can enhance the sustaining peace agenda, along with specific action steps toward this more coherent, transformative, and fruitful approach.

Nonviolence and Just Peace Presentation at University of San Diego Conference: Dialogue with U.S. Military

I focus on three areas in this reflection. 1) What is a just peace framework and how it applies ... more

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