Pacifism in the Social Ethics of Walter George Muelder

This study of Muelder's pacifism and its relation to his social ethics is an important contribution to the analysis and assessment of both phenomena as they developed in this century. As dean of the leading Methodist School of Theology, Boston University, Muelder was always asking hard questions concerning the social implications of denominational doctrine. He discussed the importance of not permitting science and technology to outdistance ethical considerations. He applied the Boston Personalist tradition to contemporary social issues, sharpened his democratic socialist and pacifist approach to the resolution of conflict. He emphasized the tensional, or dialectical, unity of theory of practice, the search for emergent coherence, and the interdisciplinary nature of religious ethics.