¡Presente!

Peace Studies / Christian Ethics

"In our cynical and morally impoverished times, Kyle B. T. Lambelet demonstrates that non-violent political action is effective because it is moral. ¡Presente! is a deeply researched, cogently analyzed work that shows how a religiously motivated social movement emerging from the left can make a difference. It offers much to think about and a ray of hope."
- Lesley Gill, professor, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University

"Lambelet develops a compelling analysis of the history and practice of the movement that emerged to make visible the School of the Americas (SOA). Lambelet challenges the ways both secularist social theorists and Christian theologians have understood nonviolence by setting out a political theology of nonviolent direct action that locates it as a tradition of practical wisdom grounded in a messianic horizon. In doing so, Lambelet makes a signal contribution to the growing literature at the intersection of Christian ethics, ethnography, and political theology."
- Luke Bretherton, professor of theological ethics and senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University

¡Presente! develops a lived theology of nonviolence through an extended case study of the movement to close the US Army's School of the Americas (also known as SOA or WHINSEC). Kyle B. T. Lambelet analyzes how the presence of the dead?a presence proclaimed at the annual vigil of the SOA Watch?shapes a distinctive, transnational, nonviolent movement. Lambelet argues that the messianic claim that the dead are presente need not devolve into either violence or sectarianism. In fact, the claim generates practical reasoning.

By developing a messianic political theology in dialogue with the SOA Watch movement, the book explores the political implications of the resurrection of the dead and contributes to studies of strategic nonviolence and civil resistance by demonstrating how religious and moral dynamics remain an essential part of such struggles.

Kyle B. T. Lambelet is a postdoctoral fellow at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He earned a PhD in theology and peace studies from the University of Notre Dame.