The Bible matters for global affairs. It matters not only because it was influential, once upon a time,
but because it is a living, serious book which shapes hearts, minds, systems, and institutions even in the present day. The question of the United Nations and peace-keeping, the subject of this chapter, is therefore like a case study. I show, first, how Biblical ideas of justice shaped the early articulation of international order, of the ‘just and durable peace’ envisioned after World War II. I then show how this vision became translated and practically enabled, as in the case of the first armed-peace keeping mission in Suez in 1956. Over the course of the U.N.’s 69 peacekeeping missions (56 of them since 1988) this vision, and the practice of peacekeeping which is a part of it, has been seriously tested, and while in many cases found badly wanting, it remains a significant tool for that original Scriptural-project, a just and durable peace. Finally, I make an argument for the future of peacekeeping as part of global governance, for the special significance of engaging the Bible afresh for that future, and the possibilities this holds for realizing Isaiah’s ancient invocation to ‘beat swords into ploughshares.’