Religion and violence--the two concepts seem incompatible given the emphasis in religion on virtue, love, forgiveness and compassion. Yet many scriptures contain martial images and stories of god-inspired military conquest. The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence confronts this theological contradiction, arguing that martial images and symbols found in religious texts are often meant to be interpreted as metaphors for an inner spiritual struggle and should never be used as a justification for war. The analysis is undertaken from an interfaith perspective that explains many of the paradoxical concepts found in theories of nonviolence. Professor Wolfe also presents a compelling case for the sustainability paradigm and for offering peace education and interreligious dialogue on a global scale. He probes the scriptures of the world proving that nonviolence is a shared virtue and that the real enemy we must battle against and ultimately defeat is actually within us. ?An excellent introduction to spiritually-based principled nonviolence. Professor Wolfe?s blend of different wisdom traditions is especially useful?--Dr. Michael Nagler, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley. ?George Wolfe has put the blame for proliferating violence in the world where it belongs, on the crass interpretation of religion. A thought-provoking book??Arun Gandhi, President, Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. ?Truly an enlightening book??Judy O?Bannon, Former First Lady of Indiana.

This definitive edition of the 1959 classic text includes a major new introduction by a leading political theorist, James Tully.

Life is filled with opportunities to practice nonviolence. If we kept track, we'd be surprised at how often we get to choose a violent or nonviolent response to a given situation. Seizing these moments is a spiritual practice that shapes a nonviolent heart. Many people doing this together shapes the heart of a nonviolent world. This book is a humble and accessible approach to nonviolence based on the belief that no one is perfectly nonviolent. We are all works in progress. Each chapter presents an imaginative interpretation of a scripture story about seizing a nonviolent moment that sheds new light on nonviolence and its spirituality. Stories of contemporary peacemakers woven throughout offer lessons for living a spirituality of nonviolence for our times. Prophetic words from the US Catholic bishops emphasize the essential role of peacemaking in renewing the earth. Questions following each chapter inspire personal reflection and make the book a welcome resource for classrooms, parishes, and small groups. The more we seize the nonviolent moments in our lives, the more we are transformed by them. And the more we experience the power of nonviolence within ourselves, the more we believe in its potential to transform our troubled world.

The twenty-first century has seen violence thunder back onto the stage of history. Religious, political, social, cultural, and economic constituents and interests thus contribute to the local and global manifestations of violence in our interconnected and contracting global world. Firmly embedded within the field of religion, the authors of this volume concede that religious motifs and impulses are alive and well in this unfolding of bloodshed. It is no wonder then that in our volatile historical age, religious fundamentalism and illiberal nationalism have emerged as dominant contemporary movements. Against this backdrop, the contributors to this edited book look back in order to move forward by reflecting upon the truth-force (Satyagraha) that grounded and guided Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948). On the heels of several commemorations in 2019 of the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth, we reexamine the truths of his philosophy and nonviolent strategy to resist religious and political fundamentalisms. Embracing truth was, for Gandhi, the only way to achieve complete freedom (poorna Swaraj). The goal of freedom, which Gandhi conceptualized as profoundly personal, expansively communitarian, and organically ecological, emanates from a firm grasp of truth.

For two decades the Nevada Desert Experience has organized nonviolent action at the Nevada Test Site as part of the global movement to end nuclear testing. Pilgrimage through a Burning World illuminates how the Franciscan-based group has crafted a contemporary desert spirituality that integrates religious ritual and political action to grapple with the challenges of an institutionalized and internalized nuclear world. Ken Butigan shows how the annual pilgrimage to the test site has contributed to the personal transformation of people "on both sides of the fence" at the test site and to the worldwide emergence of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Jesus died, not peacefully in bed, but on the cross, the instrument of execution used by the Romans to keep potential disturbers of the established political order in their place. Until the pioneering work of Jurgen Moltmann, the cross has been the "elephant in the room" in Christian political theology. This book explores the difference Jesus's crucifixion makes (or should make) to Christian political theology, by examining the crucifixion in the theologies of the Mennonite John Howard Yoder and the liberation theologians Leonardo Boff and Jon Sobrino. In the light of the cross and of the kenotic God revealed by the cross, questions of political power are explored, and a kenotic political ethic outlined. In conclusion, suggestions are made as to how the contemporary church can live out a cruciform, or cross-shaped, political spirituality and ecclesiology.

In this four volume series, Hijacked!: How Dr. King's Dream Became a Nightmare, author Clarence Washington Sr. dissects Dr. Martin Luther King's dream and explores how our failure to adhere to its principles has allowed the dream to be hijacked and turned to a nightmare—and it’s time to wake up. In the first volume of the Hijacked! collection, The Dream, the author clarifies the principles for social justice and freedom for all Americans that Dr. King delineated in his monumental speech. God gave Dr. Martin Luther King a road map for America to follow in his "I Have a Dream" speech and his numerous other orations and writings. In order to apply the principles of the dream effectively and make it a reality, one must understand: the goals and methods of the dream; the methods employed in the hijack of the dream; the devastating nightmarish consequences produced by the hijack; and the revival, government reformation strategy, and reformation of other institutions that must be executed to accomplish the recovery from the nightmarish times in which we are living. For the full dissection of Dr. King's dream and how our failure to adhere to its principles has led to a nightmare, explore the other volumes in Hijacked!: How Dr. King's Dream Became a Nightmare. Other volumes in this series focus on the hijack itself, the nightmare, and how we can recover.

The progeny of a Muslim tribe steeped in a tradition of blood revenge, Badshah Khan raised history's first nonviolent army and joined Mahatma Gandhi in civil disobedience to British rule in India. His story of hard-won victory offers inspiration for nonviolent solutions to today's world struggles.

Aldous Huxley and Alternative Spirituality offers an incisive analysis of the full range of Huxley’s spiritual interests, spanning both mysticism (neo-Vedanta, Taoism, Mahayana and Zen Buddhism) and Western esotericism (mesmerism, spiritualism, the paranormal). Jake Poller examines how Huxley’s shifting spiritual convictions influenced his fiction, such as his depiction of the body and sex, and reveals how Huxley’s use of psychedelic substances affected his spiritual convictions, resulting in a Tantric turn in his work. Poller demonstrates how Huxley’s vision of a new alternative spirituality in Island, in which the Palanese select their beliefs from different religious traditions, anticipates the New Age spiritual supermarket and traces the profound influence of Huxley’s ideas on the spiritual seekers of the twentieth century and beyond.

“The issues of South Africa and the nuclear bomb and theologies of liberation have for some time spotlighted the question of violence and non-violence. The strength or weakness of Gandhian non-violence often comes up in discussions on the subject. This manuscript analyzes Gandhian non-violence. The analysis is able, thorough and—this is what I most respond to—marked both by rigorous Western-style scrutiny and a familiarity with Gandhi’s philosophical and religious roots. He provides a strong theoretical basis for the instinctive reactions of many of Gandhi’s non-violence, for the widespread and commonsense belief that in general non-violence is sound and beneficial but that non-violent extremism may not be. His treatment of Gandhian non-violence in the context of Indian philosophy and metaphysics is of high calibre. His approach is both fresh and successful.” — Rajmohan Gandhi “Borman shows in great detail where Gandhi’s thought arises from the Upanisads, The Bhagavad Gita, and a few other ancient documents. He also shows clearly where Gandhi deviates from his sources. As to argument, Borman uses a close-grained approach characteristic of analytic philosophy. Borman claims that Gandhi’s principles are extreme and unsupportable, and eventually lead to contradiction. It is not an intellectual biography, and it does not deal with the development of Gandhi’s thought. Rather it analyzes the logic of his position, and shows how he came to defend it from new angles in different circumstances. The text is well related to historical events, but does not pretend to history.” — Robert C. Neville “The manuscript is not, and does not pretend to be, a historical analysis of Mahatma Gandhi’s experience. Its notable strength lies in its unique and commendable examination of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, and in this particular respect it is the best study of the subject that I have read among the hundreds of books that deal with aspects of Gandhi’s contribution to our understanding of non-violence.” — Dennis Dalton “It is refreshing to read an author who has a basis for understanding Gandhi since so many writers fail to understand or appreciate the spiritual essentials that form the core of Gandhi’s life and message. This book rings with clear, accurate, insightful understandings of Gandhi. It explores fully Gandhi’s philosophy of action and brings in scriptural sources for concepts that Gandhi practiced in his everyday affairs. I think the Western reader will gain a much needed clarification of Gandhian philosophy, methods, and actions, and especially of the source of his inspiration and intentions.” — Jean B. Mann