Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. . . . The slogan posted outside an Air Force base I once drove by proclaimed: "Peace is Our Business." What kind of peace did Jesus have in mind? How does one go about being a peacemaker? It seemed like a nice idea, but quite vague. Actually, at the time he said them, Jesus' words were anything but ambiguous. They were a direct challenge to the ruling, Roman ideology. Like other words he uttered that might sound innocuous today, these blessings were a taunt hurled at the foreign rulers of his homeland and their domestic supporters. The empire's main claim to fame and legitimacy was that Rome, and Rome alone, was the peacemaker.
— Harvey Cox, When Jesus Came to Harvard