"Small Steps Toward the Missing Peace" chronicles the author's journey as a Mennonite peace activist, college teacher, and historian. The book traces Juhnke's story from his early moral formation in a Mennonite community in Kansas to writing the book that crowned his career, "The Missing Peace: The Search for Nonviolent Alternatives in United States History. (2001)"
The central theme of Small Steps is the tension between Christian pacifism and American militarism. Juhnke tells about the people and events that shaped his understanding of America in the light of Christian ideals in his youth, academic preparation, overseas experiences (Germany, Botswana, China), college teaching, and political involvements. The memoir culminates with the publication and reception of "The Missing Peace." That book, co-authored with Carol Hunter, is a revisionist interpretation of main themes in United States history from the viewpoint of peace values.

Traditional ways of living the Christian faith-shaped and guided by confessional norms-exhibit remarkable staying power in American religious life. Holding On to the Faith addresses issues related to the persistence of confessional forms of Christianity in the face of utilitarian, democratic, evangelical American popular religious culture. Whereas historians in the twentieth century typically used terms like "countervailing", "alternative", or "immigrant faith" to describe confessional Christianity, it is now clear that groups which have maintained roots in doctrinal, liturgical, and institutional traditions are an integral part of American life. In Holding On to the Faith ten scholars of American religion contribute chapters analyzing the American experience of ecclesial groups ranging from Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism to the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican/Episcopal, and even Mennonite traditions. Editors Douglas A. Sweeney and Charles Hambrick-Stowe discuss common themes and pose questions for further discussion.