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Shapes of PeaceBCC Center For Community Education, 778-5012Peace seems an elusive word. As fragile as it is resilient. Elusive in that it often takes very different forms in differing contexts. At times it is an absence of conflict. Other times, it is the presence of toleration, of acceptance, even harmony. Is it ever an accurate use of this enigmatic term to describe the silence that follows conquest?In this two session course, it is my goal to examine two specific moments in which peace took specific forms. The first is the time of the Protestant Reformation. In particular we will look at the thought of Martin Luther In the second week, we will be looking at the American civil war. For decades prior to the war a peace movement had been growing in the United States. The American Peace Society represented a moderate and popular form of this concept of peace. The gospels portray a Jesus that refused all forms of violence and, according to some, even of self defense. However, the growth of the abolitionist movement and the declaration of war changed everything. We will be looking at this Society, and at a "nonresistant" faction. Almost without exception, the peace movement sided with the use of force to eliminate slavery. What is it that makes peace so easily shaped into different concepts? Though fragile, why is this concept constantly returning? If there are specific aspects of these two moments in the history of peace that you would like me to include, please e mail me. I encourage you to do so, it will enrich the course and aid me in knowing your interests. |
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and a lesser known figure of the time,
Caspar Schwenckfeld. It is telling to read the different interpretations Luther gives to the "parable of the tares" in the Gospels as his reform movement turns from a marginal group to an established church. Schwenckfeld's refusal to go along with those changes may teach us something about the dynamics that shape definitions of peace.