Religion and Violence/Nonviolence Research Papers (original) (raw)

- by
- •
- Christianity, Peace and Conflict Studies, Patristics, Systematic Theology

This essay discusses whether civil disobedience is an option for Christians in light of Paul's teaching in Romans 13. Using canonical and rhetorical criticism, and including a very brief section noting some important examples in the history of interpretation, the essay concludes that Romans 13 does not preclude the possibility of civil disobedience for Christians. The essay does not discuss the conditions under which civil disobedience might be right or necessary, though it does outline some theological and moral boundaries that mark faithful Christian civil disobedience.

- by Matthew Anslow
- •
- Theology, Politics, Biblical Studies, Nonviolence
- by Academic Publishing
- •
- Terrorism, Human Rights, Strategic Studies, Apocalypticism
- by David Cramer
- •
- Ethics, Disability Studies, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Stanley Hauerwas

Few subjects are as widely discussed in religious circles as War and Peace. Yet, as followers of Christ, we live in a world order run by sinners under the dominion of the Devil himself. Even so, religious people debate and argue over this multifaceted issue as if there is a more righteous position, condemning the world to its own trajectory. These positions range from Augustine's "Just Cause" to what is thought to be higher-minded notions like "Non-Resistance", "Non-Violence," or "Pacifism." As is usual, I will take you on a path right between all the thinking factions to present something that transcends the boundaries of the argument. I want to raise a more provocative thought as it relates to people whose aim it is to follow Christ and who see their citizenship to a different realm, yet while they live in this one.

- by Timothy L Price
- •
- Christianity, Philosophy Of Religion, Peace and Conflict Studies, Theology

Points out how religion is power; power will be used by others--even the non-religious; when things go awry, then, religion is then blamed, often by the same ones who have exploited its power. This calls for critical and wary analysis of the rhetorical use of religion as a pawn, followed by its being blamed as a scapegoat. Published in The Destructive Power of Religion; Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, edited by J. Harold Ellens (4 volumes, Westport/London: Praeger Publishers, 2004), Vol. 2, 265-83.

- by Paul N Anderson
- •
- Religion, Christianity, Political Philosophy, Ethics

Il lavoro che il lettore si appresta a leggere si pone l’obiettivo di puntare un riflettore sul pensiero nonviolento italiano, concentrandosi in particolar modo sulla figura di Aldo Capitini, che ne è il fondatore. La dissertazione espone l’argomento in modo agevole, allo scopo di permetterne una comprensione facile e fluida anche a coloro che entrano per la prima volta in contatto con il tema.
La struttura è composta da tre capitoli. I primi due si concentrano su Aldo Capitini. Si entrerà in contatto con la sua vita (con particolare riferimento al suo attivismo politico e nonviolento), con la sua riflessione filosofica, con progetti come il Centro di Orientamento Sociale (COS), con tematiche come l’obiezione di coscienza. Ampio spazio sarà poi dedicato al rapporto con altre personalità di spicco nonviolente dell’epoca, come Danilo Dolci e Pietro Pinna. Il terzo e ultimo capitolo, invece, sarà appannaggio di uno dei progetti di Capitini che ha forse lasciato maggiormente il segno: la Marcia per la Pace Perugia – Assisi, un evento che ormai raccoglie tra le decine e le centinaia di migliaia di persone in ogni sua edizione.

- by Angelo Cioeta
- •
- Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Nonviolent Civil Resistance, Filosofía, Assisi

In this article on imitation and violence I wish to interpret violent relations between human beings as founded on imitation of each other desires. (A desire for what other people desire.) Imitation, the desire to have what other people desire, is both the root to success and the root to violence. The article is inspired by the French philosopher, René Girard's (b. 1923) theory on imitative desire. In my view societies are continually threatened by violent imitation, and, at the same time, imitation is the factor which creates dynamic societies and cultures. Human beings are driven by desiring what other people desire, by wanting what others want.

- by Per Grande
- •
- Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Mimetic Theory, René Girard, Religion and Violence

The Quran: A New Translation I s lam ,T e r r o r is m and Jihad (18 A ug 2014 Ne w A g e I s lam .C o m )

- by Sanchita Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
- •
- Religion, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Area Studies

This paper is about the position the American Revolution established for the Quakers. They were a known peaceful religious order which prided itself in their noninvolvement of the American Revolution. They refused to take an oath, join the ranks of the military service, and rescinded their financial support of any group which backed the effort of the revolutionary war. The American Revolution forced the Quakers to fully stand with their convictions of nonviolence and their pacifistic nature. They supported their stance through biblical teachings and a foundation set forth by their orders founder. The American Revolution required the Quakers to establish a new identity and society after they were exiled because of their nonviolent stance. Through banding together in a common belief and position they fortified their society under the teaching of peaceful resistance, a notion which stayed with the Friends throughout history.

The major contribution of Syan is in three interconnected areas. One, he questions a view widely prevalent in Sikh historiography that there was a major rupture in Sikh
thought and practice on the question of violence/non-violence after the death of fifth Sikh guru Arjan Dev. Two, he argues that there was no unanimity and homogeneity in the Sikh community during the seventeenth century, after the death of Guru Arjan, on the path the Sikh community should follow regarding the use of violence and non-violence, and that there were competing claims on this issue. Third, he argues that the Sikh engagement with the Moghul Rule was not always one of confrontation or, to put the same point in a
different way, the Moghul rulers were not always hostile to the Sikh faith.

Un articolo su Danilo Dolci, con particolare attenzione alla concezione della comunicazione.

- by Antonio Vigilante
- •
- Education, Social Work, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Sciences

Political and social movements in South Africa, the United States of America, Germany, Myanmar, India, and elsewhere, have drawn inspiration from the non-violent political techniques advocated by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during his leadership of the anti-colonial struggle for Indian freedom from British colonial rule. This course charts a global history of Gandhi's thought about non-violence and its expression in civil disobedience and resistance movements both in India and the world. Organized in three modules, the first situates Gandhi through consideration of the diverse sources of his own historical and ideological formation; the second examines the historical contexts and practices through which non-violence acquired meaning for him and considers important critiques; the third explores the various afterlives of Gandhian politics in movements throughout the world. We will examine autobiography and biography, Gandhi's collected works, various types of primary source, political, social, and intellectual history, and audiovisual materials. In addition to widely disseminated narratives of Gandhi as a symbol of non-violence, the course will closely attend to the deep contradictions concerning race, caste, gender, and class that characterized his thought and action. By unsettling conventional accounts of his significance, we will grapple with the problem of how to make sense of his troubled legacy.

In the early 1960s, thousands of Black activists used nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation at lunch counters, movie theaters, skating rinks, public pools, and churches across the United States, battling for, and winning, social change. Organizers against segregation had used litigation and protests for decades but not until the advent of nonviolence did they succeed in transforming ingrained patterns of white supremacy on a massive scale. In this book, Anthony C. Siracusa unearths the deeper lineage of anti-war pacifist activists and thinkers from the early twentieth century who developed nonviolence into a revolutionary force for Black liberation.
Telling the story of how this powerful political philosophy came to occupy a central place in the Black freedom movement by 1960, Siracusa challenges the idea that nonviolent freedom practices faded with the rise of the Black Power movement. He asserts nonviolence's staying power, insisting that the indwelling commitment to struggle for freedom collectively in a spirit of nonviolence became, for many, a lifelong commitment. In the end, what was revolutionary about the nonviolent method was its ability to assert the basic humanity of Black Americans, to undermine racism's dehumanization, and to insist on the right to be.

Il Pellicano - Fonti e testi della storia del cristianesimo ----- Nel febbraio del 1965 i cappellani militari della Toscana emanano un comunicato stampa accusando i giovani italiani obiettori di coscienza di essere dei vili. In loro difesa interviene don Milani con una lettera aperta agli stessi cappellani, una lettera di altissimo valore morale e civile nella quale chiede rispetto per chi accetta il carcere per l’ideale della nonviolenza. Per questa sua lettera Milani viene denunciato da un gruppo di ex combattenti e messo sotto processo. Impossibilitato a parteciparvi per l’aggravamento del tumore che lo porterà, di lì a poco, alla morte, Milani scriverà una memoria difensiva sotto forma di lettera ai giudici. In essa la storia civile dell’Italia unita viene riletta senza retorica celebrativa come storia feroce di guerre, di spietato colonialismo, di sopraffazione di poveri. La lettera, vero manifesto contro l’obbedienza cieca, metterà anche sotto accusa la illusoria deresponsabilizzazione dell’esecuzione di ordini, anche omicidi, impartiti da una autorità. Per la prima volta le due lettere di Milani sono accompagnate da note che ne chiariscono il senso e le relazioni con la sua opera.

- by Istituto di Storia del Cristianesimo "Cataldo Naro" and +1
- •
- Christianity, Catholic Studies, Nonviolence, Italy (History)

Статья посвящена анализу ряда сюжетов в современном российском православии с точки зрения проблематики религии и насилия. После краткого обзора теоретического инструментария автор обращается к образу «космической
войны» в дискурсе официальных представителей Московской патриархии и православных националистов; к проблемам, связанным с ролью этого образа в вопросах морали и нравственности, семьи и воспитания детей; к событиям 2012 г., связанным с акцией Pussy Riot и реакцией на нее; к примерам символического и актуального насилия. Завершается анализ эсхатологическими образами «космического завоевания» и тем, что можно обозначить как «жертвенный кризис» прихрамовой среды. Проведенный анализ позволяет объяснить насильственные феномены в современных православных субкультурах и сделать теоретические выводы о связи между религией и насилием.

Patron: Dr. Peter van den Dungen, Peace Historian, International Network of Museums for Peace

- by Dominique Miething and +1
- •
- Peace and Conflict Studies, Erasmus, Nonviolence, Peace Movements
- by Darrin Snyder Belousek
- •
- New Testament, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence

Frontispiz: © Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Das Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Die dadurch begründeten Rechte, insbesondere die der Übersetzung, des Nachdrucks, der Entnahme von Abbildungen, der Funksendung, der Wiedergabe auf fotomechanischem oder ähnlichem Wege und der Speicherung in Datenverarbeitungsanlagen bleiben, auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwertung, vorbehalten. Die Vergütungsansprüche des § 54 Abs. 2 UrhG werden durch die Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort wahrgenommen.

- by Alberto Cadili
- •
- Religion, History, European History, Eastern European Studies

Artykuł omawia sposoby wprowadzania w błąd swoich adeptów przez Towarzystwo Strażnica. W pierwszej części, nawiązuje do licznych wypowiedzi Ciała Kierowniczego, które zachęca Świadków Jehowy do prawdomówności i uczciwości oraz przedstawia krótki opis historyczny Towarzystwa Strażnica.
W kolejnej części, autor artykułu przechodzi do przedstawienia konkretnych przykładów, kiedy to Towarzystwo Strażnica, w sposób świadomy manipuluje informacją podawaną na łamach czasopisma „Strażnica” i „Przebudźcie się”, wśród których znajdujemy: fałszowanie dat, manipulacja cytatami z czasopism i książek, tendencyjne przedstawianie faktów i wiele innych.
Artykuł kończą wnioski praktyczne, służące pomocą w rozpoznawaniu manipulacji z jaką spotykamy się w Towarzystwie Strażnica. Sformułowane zostają konkretne wskazania mogące ustrzec czytelników publikacji Towarzystwa Strażnica, przed byciem zmanipulowanym.

- by Mariusz Gajewski
- •
- Family Therapy, Social Work, Educational Psychology, Psychology of Religion

Most of Pacific Island societies today enjoy a relatively peaceful religious climate. Nevertheless, the history of Christianization in this region was not simply a step from "darkness" into "light" but rather an ambivalent process: the relationships between mission, colonization and local power struggles generated both violent conflicts, a relative pacification of social life under the authority of new Christian chiefs and an eradication of ritual violence. Even today, some tension and uncertainty remain around the role of religion in contemporary sources of conflicts and violence.
This chapter focuses on:
- the challenges raised by the management of religious and ethnic pluralism in the Pacific Island societies;
- the capacity of religious actors to intervene as mediators in the resolution of conflicts, or to become themselves involved in struggles between communities;
- the effectiveness of Pacific Island Christian churches in the reduction of "ordinary" violence, especially familial and gender violence.

Following the decision to partition the Punjab, the region was swept by the most horrific communal carnage that India had ever seen. For many it was the sheer scope and magnitude of the events that has left such a haunting memory. The crimes were gruesome and, while they had elements of spontaneity, there were clear signs of organisation too. In addition to ‘outsider’ violence, some male family members killed their wives and daughters to save them from the ‘dishonour’ of rape. Others committed suicide to save themselves from either being slaughtered or being converted to the other’s faith. This was violence against humanity of unspeakable magnitude; it was barbaric and sadistic and it was being perpetrated against former friends and neighbours

Von einem Tag auf den anderen wurde die von Eberhard und Emmy Arnold gegründete Rhönbruderhofgemeinschaft zu einer christlichen Gemeinde in einem immer diktatorischer und menschenverachtender sich entwickelnden sog. Dritten Reich. Von einem Tag auf den anderen hatte diese Gemeinschaft sich zu entscheiden, ob ein Mitmachen möglich und legitim ist, oder ob ein Mitmachen christlich nicht mehr verantwortbar ist und sie also Widerstand zu leisten hatten. Es ist erstaunlich, wie klar ihre Entscheidungen ausfielen.
Auch heute leben wir nicht in friedlichen Zeiten, sondern, wie Walter Wink immer wieder betont hat, in Zeiten eines vielgestaltigen Herrschaftssystems, gegründet auf den Mythos erlösender Gewalt. Trautel Dreher, ein Mitglied der damaligen Bruderhofgemeinschaft hat recht: Ein „Glaube, der das Böse gut liebt, ist uns dringlicher denn je nötig.“ Die Verwandlung der Mächte steht noch immer aus. Dafür braucht es nicht zuletzt betende und widerstehende Gemeinschaften, gilt es noch immer zu lernen, christliche Gemeinde zu werden und für christliche Gemeinden gilt es, zu lernen, wirklich christliche Gemeinde zu sein. Dann, dann vielleicht wird im Hören auf die Bergrede, im Sich-Öffnen für den Geist dieser Rede, das nötige Tun, der nötige Widerstand folgen. Gottes Taten müssen weitergehen.

The article considers theological foundations and assumptions of the militarist discourse in contemporary Russian Orthodoxy, and their refraction in the current Church-political thought. Attention is focused on those theological categories and ideas of Church culture that ideological attitudes to describe the life of society through images of war, bringing spiritual ideas about spiritual warfare in the social plane. Approaches to the justification of war as a pragmatic position, which treats the war as a necessary evil in the "sinful world", and from the standpoint of "spiritual benefit": the war as a phenomenon with "ascetic" value as a factor in the confrontation to eudemonistic culture, hedonism and consumerism.

- by Boris Knorre
- •
- Sociology of Violence, War Studies, Militarism, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence

Since the Second Vatican Council, Muslim–Catholic relations have taken monumental and historical steps in areas of inter-religious dialogue, in social and religious cooperation, and in collaborating in protecting human freedom. The 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council celebrated last year highlighted this courageous move towards recognizing each other's unique religious traditions. This paper examines Muslim–Catholic relations in recent history under the leadership of John Paul II, and especially within the context of the controversial Vatican document Dominus Iesus issued in 2000. It explores critical areas of concern in Dominus Iesus for Muslim–Catholic relations, as well as analyzing its merits in terms of inter-religious dialogue.

“I have no quarrel with Gandhi the man but I have problem with the Mahatma of his,” he said and as if to remonstrate his apathy for the Gandhian values, he had an extended sip of that Laphroaic.
“I’m no Gandhian and I don’t intend to be one,” he continued from where he had left. “But as is being done, I see it’s a disservice to his legacy to deify him; it’s when I approach him as man that I value him as a human being, but in his picture of mahatma, I see many a wart in his atma.

- by BS Murthy
- •
- Nonviolence, Islamic Studies, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Islam
- by Jonatan Meir
- •
- Religion, New Religious Movements, Comparative Religion, History

Brief notes on The Gospel of Non Violence by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

This article presents the textual basis for unconditional vegetarianism in Pātañjala or Classical Yoga. Since the early twentieth century, the Yogasūtra of Patañjali has remained a prominent work of Indian Philosophy inside the Western academy and among modern practice communities. For this reason, the text's stance on harming, the treatment of animals, and diet are all highly relevant for living yoga scholars and practitioners. This article is a textual study, examining the Pātañjala Yogaśāstra (sūtras and bhāṣya) with only minimal inclusion of additional commentaries and scholarly interpretations. It ultimately concludes that non-harming (ahiṃsā) in Pātañjala Yoga is exemplified by the unshakable resolve to refrain from any and all acts of animal slaughter and consumption.

- by Qamar-ul Huda
- •
- Religion, Peace and Conflict Studies, Nonviolence, Islamic Studies
- by Lester R Kurtz
- •
- Religion, Comparative Religion, Political Sociology, Social Change

This introductory course presents a survey of theoretical, conceptual and practical approaches to the study of peace and justice. This includes examining theories of violence, peace, war and rights, as well as more focused discussions of social movements, transformative justice, education and engagement. In pursuing these areas, students will have the opportunity to focus on issues both historical and contemporary and through both ‘traditional’ and ‘alternative’ lens. The course seeks to critically address a range of topics—from non-violence to theories of inter-state war—providing students with a variety of perspectives and understandings of an inter-disciplinary field. Students will be challenged to interpret issues of social inequality, oppression and structural violence at numerous levels; from the interpersonal, to the local, and outward to international conflict. We will begin this learned endeavor by co-creating our own equitable and peaceable educative environment. This will involve a collaboration between instructor and student to foster an environment that is horizontal, non-coercive and utilizing a critical pedagogy, modeled by the professor and used by students. An array of readings will make up the course including scholarly articles, philosophical texts, political texts, primary source documents from perpetrators and survivors of violence, and film. Early in the semester, enrolled students will have the option of adding a community-based learning (CBL) component involving their work with marginalized and underserved individuals or groups (or organizations working with and for such individuals or groups), structured to meet community-defined needs.

- by Michael Loadenthal
- •
- Critical Theory, Social Change, Gender Studies, International Relations
- by Brian Robinette
- •
- Asceticism, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Mimetic Theory, René Girard

Our world is full of ideas about the way that humans should live. Some of these ideas create a more beautiful and equal world that we all want to live in, while other ideas create violence, hatred, inequality, and suffering. Some of us care an awful lot about beautiful ideas; we care enough to fight for them and spend our lives working towards them, and we care enough to resist. Resistance takes many forms, however, and there are many ideas about the most effective and correct ways to resist. “Elements of Resistance” attempts to transcend the false binary of nonviolent and violent resistance, and looks at the heart and soul of what it means to resist, why we resist, and what some different methods of effective resistance might look like. Drawing from recent work by social theorists and activists such as Derrick Jensen, Ward Churchill, Shane Claiborne, Johann Galtung, and Peter Gelderloos, as well as the work of Frantz Fanon, Henry Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mohandas Gandhi, this book is an exploration into the history, theory, and necessity of resistance to oppression.

- by Jeriah Bowser
- •
- Violence, Anarchism, Liberation Theology, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism

In an age when peace is fragile and religious violence is rampant, those who turn to the Bible to find a way to peace may be shocked by what they find. It is an inescapable fact that the Bible is replete with violence and has been used to justify the use of violence. Acts of atrocity and barbarity can be located within many of its pages without great difficulty: murder, rape, war, execution, even genocide. Ancient Israel, the “chosen people of God,” were both on the giving and the receiving ends of violence; they were beneficiaries of war as well as its victims. Within Israel’s prophetic literature, God himself is depicted as a vengeful warrior who will fight Israel’s battles; the eschatological judgement of God is described as a “great winepress of wrath,” from which the blood of the slain wicked will gush forth––a horrific and visceral image of violence. How can the Bible, which contains so much violence, be a guide to peace? What are normative, biblical views on violence, non-violence, and peace? Is there a theology of war and peace to be found? The following essay is an attempt to explore these concepts in light of the relevant biblical data to see whether there is biblical support for advocating non-violence as an ethical principle to uphold in the face of contemporary challenges. [Originally published in Chinese]

- by Peter Borschberg
- •
- International Relations, Political Theory, Sovereignty, Just War

This essay was commissioned by the National Council of Churches of Christ Faith and Order Commission, engaged within an ecumenical consultation meeting in Douglaston, New York in 1991 on "The Apostolic Character of the Church's Peace Witness." It was then published in The Church’s Peace Witness, Marlin Miller and Barbara Nelson Gingerich, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 105-30.

- by Paul N Anderson
- •
- Religion, Christianity, Ethics, Applied Ethics