EDH Book

03/12/2026

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.

01/19/2026

Another recent review for "Conflict & Peace ..." from Online Book Club. Link:

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Conflict and Peace: At Home with Jesus" by Eric D. Hovee.] 4 out of 5 stars. Conflict & Pe

12/29/2025

Click on book photo below for web site link to access reviews of this book as compiled by Amazon to date:

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

12/18/2025

Merry Christmas with the author of peace amid conflict! Available now on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Peace-At-Home-Jesus/dp/B0DZY22DT6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1GME16VOKWX74&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sWZOjfYhnlr_C60voe6hjQ.e-_J96O4ZDCZVBMST9iCjrZkgPZYwW5AFvDSMXcCR6s&dib_tag=se&keywords=9798895430750&qid=1745353809&sprefix=9798895430750%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1

12/12/2025

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.

12/01/2025

"Conflict & Peace" is now live on Reedsy Discovery - together with full text of the 1st chapter of the book.

Synopsis: In this book, author Eric Hovee traces a never-ending Christian dialogue and practice that may espouse peace but often engages in conflict. The author explores this interplay through 12 pioneers who shape Christianity as it has been handed down to us today. We begin ...

11/30/2025

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.

11/23/2025

With Chapter 12, I conclude the contents of my book "Conflict & Peace: At Home with Jesus" by addressing the Savior's role in bringing peace out of conflict.

Conflict & peace go hand-in-hand with Jesus of Nazareth. No meek and mild do-gooder would rhetorically ask: “Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth?” Conflict may be embraced as when Jesus cleanses the Temple for worship rather than as a livestock marketplace.

Luke’s gospel quotes Jesus as saying he came not to bring peace but division to the earth. Mathew’s gospel ups the ante with Jesus quoted as saying he did “not come to bring peace but a sword” ... even stipulating that “one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”

Jesus can step over potential conflict with a short but pointed remark. When disciples attempt to shunt children aside, we hear the shepherd call out: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

The continued vitality of Christianity depends on encouragement of diverse viewpoints and experiences. Starting with Paul and extending through Constantine and Luther, Christianity too often has been driven by the imperative that the “winner takes all.”

Jesus claims to be “the way, the truth and the life,” sent as God’s son not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. In practice, there are diverse ways to get there—all somehow mediated through Jesus via this Savior on behalf of God the Father.

To a non-Jewish Canaanite woman (pictured), pivotal to meaningful interaction is dogged persistence despite being dismissed by disciples and rebuked with seemingly bigoted remarks from a Savior. Fully engaged until the master relents, saying: “Let it be done for you as you wish.”

10/29/2025

With Chapter 11, I skip forward more than a millennium, jumping from Roman emperor Constatine to Martin Luther as religious reformer.

In October 1517, an Augustinian monk posted notice requesting public discussion at Germany’s Wittenburg University. With his 95 Theses, 33 year old monk Martin Luther declared an end to the 1,200 year era of Catholic monopolization of western Christian belief and practice.

With Luther, the universal church created centuries earlier by Emperor Constantine was faced with a challenger over an issue as old as the dispute between the apostle Paul and Jesus’ brother James. Is salvation from eternal damnation acquired as a matter of works or faith?

More so than other religious heretics, Martin Luther changed not only the church, he altered the state. Economic and social energies unleashed by Reformation heralded the end of feudalism, triumph of market-place capitalism, resurgence of education, and a gradually swelling tide of democracy.

As a master marketeer, Luther piggy-backed on recent invention of the printing press to create the world’s first media market. He would make the printed Bible and a wide range of publications available to the masses –- in the common language of the day – all part of “Brand Luther.”

Unfortunately, Luther’s reformation remains incomplete as this flawed reformer failed to throw off the shackles of Nicaea, to accept diverse interpretations of Jesus’ message, and to embrace a true priesthood of believers. That time, that fulfillment of reformation, has yet to come.

10/18/2025

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.

10/13/2025

I have previously posted a review of my book, available at:
https://wp.me/p3cyvH-Dgm

Now also available is a brief interview as to how I came about writing this book -- and challenges along the way, at:
https://wp.me/p3cyvH-EtG

Eric D. Hovee Author Interview Conflict & Peace explores the struggles of twelve Biblical figures and their contributions to Christianity as it is known today. Why was this an important book fo…