Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked together by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). , edited by Walter Wink Prof. Dr. Walter Wink is Professor emeritus at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. His faculty discipline is biblical interpretation. He previously worked as a parish minister and professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. . Orbis Books. Since 1915, the Fellowship of Reconciliation has been the most influential faith-based peace organization in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and, indeed, the world. The FOR exposed the insanity of World War I, promoted nonviolent responses to the Holocaust, fought Cold War nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "nuclear weapon States" by the , introduced active nonviolence to the civil rights movement, and pioneered a dialogue among Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Native American peacemakers This article is about the pacifist organization. For other meanings, see Peacemaker (disambiguation). Peacemakers was an American pacifist organization. . Now, to mark the FOR's 85th anniversary, Walter Wink has distilled nearly a century of peacemaking Peacemaking See also Antimilitarism. Agrippa, Menenius Coriolanus’s witty friend; reasons with rioting mob. [Br. Lit.: Coriolanus] Antenor percipiently urges peace with Greeks. [Gk. Lit. wisdom in this collection of essays drawn from FOR publications. Many of the classic peace essays--from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" to Thich Nhat Hanh's "Being Peace"--appeared in the pages of Fellowship or its predecessors. Though the diversity of voices is remarkable, the collection reveals the abiding legacy of three individuals: Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Reinhold Niebuhr. The book's title is a quote from Gandhi, and he is mentioned in roughly half the essays, by authors as diverse as the German Lutheran Martin Niemoeller, the Trappist monk Thomas Merton Noun 1. Thomas Merton - United States religious and writer (1915-1968) Merton , and the Irish Nobel laureate Noun 1. Nobel Laureate - winner of a Nobel prize Nobelist laureate - someone honored for great achievements; figuratively someone crowned with a laurel wreath Mairead Corrigan Mairead Corrigan (born 27 January, 1944), also known as Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, was the co-founder, with Betty Williams, of the Community of Peace People, an organization which attempts to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Maguire. Most often, Gandhi appears as the `apostle of active nonviolence--in King's words, "the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interactions between individuals to a powerful and effective social force." Gandhi helped Western Christians recognize that Jesus' "cheeky" resistance to violence offered an alternative to both just war theory and the social withdrawal of many peace churches. Martin King appears in the text as the most important American practitioner of Gandhian nonviolence. Essays by Glenn Smiley, James Farmer, Vincent Harding, and King himself underscore the continuity between Gandhi and King and the FOR's important role in training civil rights activists in Gandhian nonviolence. These essays remind us that nonviolence is a tactic not only for peace activists but also for all who fight against racism, poverty, and oppression. Several essays grappling with the FOR's prodigal son, Reinhold Niebuhr, are the book's most intriguing. Niebuhr began his career as FOR president, but with the rise of fascism in Europe, he defected to promote a "realistic" use of violence on behalf of justice. Niebuhr's critique stemmed from the Augustinian theology of original sin. Failure to acknowledge the reality of sin, Niebuhr argued, led liberal pacifists to expect easy victories and to sacrifice justice for the sake of peace. The essayists The following is an abbreviated list of essayists, arranged alphabetically by last name (years of birth and death, if applicable, and country of birth, are noted in parentheses). Note: An individual's country of birth is not always indicative of his or her nationality. who respond to Niebuhr do not speak with one voice. Most value his emphasis on justice and insist on the need for a nonviolent revolution. But they differ in their response to Niebuhr's pessimistic assessment of human nature. John Swomley agrees with him, but argues for an "apocalyptic" pacifism pacifism, advocacy of opposition to war through individual or collective action against militarism. Although complete, enduring peace is the goal of all pacifism, the methods of achieving it differ. that acknowledges our inability to overcome violence by ourselves. Henri Nouwen admits that humans are sinful, but finds this sinfulness primarily in "the voice of self-loathing" that keeps us from working for peace. G. H. C. Macgregor and Martin King suggest that Niebuhr was right to stress human depravity but wrong to neglect God's sanctifying power. Niebuhr, King writes, "was so involved in diagnosing man's sickness of sin that he overlooked the cure of grace." Editor Wink, for his part, argues that Niebuhr's critique applies to "theological liberalism" but not to genuine nonviolence. Others counter Niebuhr's pessimism with a radical faith in human nature. A.J. Muste writes that pacifists are "simply those who do what they want to do; who let the creative in them function." Mary Evelyn Jegen insists that the FOR's core vision "is a hunch, an intuition of goodness, of sheer human goodness." This sounds a lot like liberalism! It also sounds like Gandhi, who based his nonviolent strategy on the Hindu doctrine that every human soul contains a seed of divinity. Some Christian mystics champion this view, but orthodox theologians rejected it early on. Gandhi invites us to reconsider: Perhaps nonviolence is more than a supernatural grace, available only to an elect few. Perhaps it is the heart of human nature. Peace may be the way to our deepest selves. Dan Buchanan teaches theology and peace studies at Saint John's University Saint John's University, main campus at Jamaica, New York City; Roman Catholic; coeducational; established 1870 as St. John's College. Its present name was adopted in 1954. It is the largest Catholic university in the country. A second campus (est. in Collegeville, Minnesota. |
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