You may not fancy yourself as a Scripture scholar, but you probably know the Old Testament word for “peace”: the beautiful Hebrew word, “shalom”. In the Bible the word means so much in terms of human fulfillment that there is nothing better you could wish for another person. The New Testament word for peace? If you know anyone named “Irene,” then you know the Greek word for “peace”. It is spelled the same as Irene in English, although it is pronounced differently. Nevertheless it carries into the New Testament all the fullness of the Old Testament meaning, and more.
The word peace in the Bible — Shalom/Irene — whether the Hebrew or the Greek, carries not only our English connotation (the absence of warfare, the absence of discord and confusion), but also a very positive meaning. Usually when we speak of peace on earth we have in mind what a certain widow had in mind when she placed the following inscription on her late…
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