Faculty Task Force on Overcoming Violence

2006-2008

The Faculty Task Force on Overcoming Violence led to the following developments:

1)     A course offered at Harvard Divinity School, HDS 2829: “Overcoming Violence: Practical Theology and Conflict Resolution.”
2)     A response to the draft “Just Peace Declaration” (2008) of the Decade to Overcome Violence.
3)     Student contributions through classes offered in BTI schools were made to a Just Peace Declaration (2006-2008) by classes of students from Boston University School of Theology, Harvard Divinity School, and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

An example of a student statement:
OVERCOMING VIOLENCE:
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
HDS 2829, Spring 2007
Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00-11:30 (plus film series & hour to be arranged)
Harvard Divinity School, Andover Hall, Room 102

Professors: M. Christian Green (Harvard Divinity School), Rodney Petersen (Boston Theological Institute), Thomas Massaro (Weston Jesuit School of Theology), Ed Rodman (Episcopal Divinity School), Samuel Johnson (Boston University School of Theology), and Ann Riggs (National Council of Churches of Christ, USA; Faith and Order)
JustPeace Declaration – May 2007

By a group of class participants: Erin Albright, Christopher Byrnes, Brian Cooley,
Jessica Fish, Lynda Jordan, Raz Mason, Si Jin Oh, James Park, Matthew Sudnik

Dear World Council of Churches:
           We recognize that peace as a term and practice must be greatly revisioned in order to achieve peace on earth. We advocate the imagining and subsequent creation of a deep peace, a peace wherein the mind, body, and spirit are recognized as inextricably linked in terms of the individual, community, and nation. The transformative catalyst towards this imagined pacific landscape is located within the space between the victim and victimizer.[1]   The space offers a third arena capable of fostering reconciliation and deep peace. The space in between is both ecumenical and multireligious, addressed by terms such as reconciliation, non-violence, hope, bardo, tirtha, taqwa, and love. But perhaps the most tangible and multicultural notion of peace across the world is community itself. It is on this level, while incorporating the aforementioned elements, that we envision the nature of WCC participation.
            Central to our conceptualization of transformative space is an awareness of the way in which we envision and define our community in relation to our own past, present, and future. Deep peace requires constant, truthful, transparent, and public reflection upon the victim/victimizer cycle and the ways in which our community has both failed and succeeded in breaking this pattern. Our 'past' may be characterized by the act of engaging in this transparent and often painfully honest reflection. Upon a responsible examination of our past, deep peace calls us to act in the present to address the failings of our past and to celebrate the methods of our success. It is in this process -- the process of standing truthfully with our past and actively accountable in our present -- that we humanize our community. To become fully human is to live in the present with a truthful knowledge of the past, to be aware of the ways in which the present is itself a process, and to understand that in every process there is opportunity for justice, redemption, and progress. In this capacity, we recognize that our 'future' is defined by our courage to become fully human in the present and our willingness to act with courage and humility. Deep peace is the summation of these principles and we understand its implementation to give cause to a hope of renewal; renewal of community and a renewal of what it means to be human.
            We will examine three examples of the 'space between' conflict and community and will offer solutions for WCC participation in a sustainable and just peace. In order to disrupt current cycles of violence across the world we must relocate our gaze to our communities where peace processes can fully and pragmatically be realized and sustained; communities where identity transformation is commonplace, where a rehumanzing of the other can occur, where those disenfranchised may find kindling of hope from within their community. It is community that links individual to other, society to nation and nation to world. A healthy community, like a healthy individual, depends on a healthy mind, body, and spirit. The bonds of these connections depend upon a vivacious space in between.

1. Community Spiritual Transformation and a Community-Centered Approach to Just Peace
Peace starts at the individual level. Every community, however defined, is comprised of people who share issues and concerns. However, in addition to the issues pertaining to the community we all have inner conflict that needs to be resolved. Therefore peace can only truly exist externally when peace is obtained internally on an individual level. This is the foundation of Community Spiritual Transformation.
Conflict becomes systemic when the integrity of a community is sidelined in pursuit of material gain and ideology. When conflict is understood as being based upon a struggle for oil, land, and at times even 'peace', communities dehumanize one another as each sees the other as an obstacle to the realization of the penultimate goal. Community must be placed in the center of conflict in order to humanize those with whom there is conflict. Integral to this process is the perennial question of how we define our community and who is left out in this process. In pursuit of a global community characterized by justice and peace, we recommend that the WCC:

Urges the international community to recognize that communities are composites of individuals. Restorative justice must work to transform communities at an individual level.
Urges the international community to understand itself as a holistic community that prioritizes the humanization of all persons above the pursuit of any ideology.
Reflects upon its own culpability and the culpability of its constituents in order to act responsibly towards all those who face systematic oppression. To liberate the oppressed is to liberate oneself from oppression.

2. North Korea
The international community's approach to North Korea, based on the immediate interests and security needs of superpowers, has not been fruitful in addressing the fundamental circumstances from which the North Korean government formulates its policies. The fundamental concepts of restorative justice need to be integrated into the relations between states, especially in those pertaining to the Korean peninsula. Restorative justice points to the need of the community to accept responsibility towards the offender as well as the victim. For the Korean situation, this sense of responsibility will be reinforced by historical inquiries, such as ours, which confirm the fact that other, more powerful states played a substantial role in the making of the context from which the present problems related to North Korea occurred. On the basis of the notion of international responsibility, we recommend that the WCC:

Urges the international community to recognize that present status of North Korea is largely due to an ideology formed out of historical grievance and the subsequent victimization mentality.
Urges the major powers in the international community, especially Japan, the US, (China) and Russia to recognize their historical contribution to the making of the conditions under which the suffering of the North Korean people as well as the aggressive policies of North Korea have arisen.
Urges these states to embrace a sense of responsibility towards North Korea, and on this premise develop and support restorative policies aimed at reintegrating North Korea into the international community.
Calls governments that exert influence on the Korean peninsula, especially the US, to support the Sunshine Policy of the South Korean government.
Calls on the international community to further embrace the notion of restorative justice in regards to historical past injustices.
Urges church communities to foster awareness of the historical contributions particular states, including their own, have made in regard to the North Korean crisis, and support restorative policies in regard to North Korea.

3. Faith Communities Use of Track Two Diplomacy and Just Peacemaking
The church itself must fundamentally change its attitude and understanding of peace and conflict to be an authentic and effective witness of peace in the world. Rather than strict adherence to a just war political theory or pacifist spirituality, the church must seek a space between these two systems that embraces realistic strategies for transforming conflict nonviolently. Realism becomes more dynamic as international networks grows and emerge as global communities. Dynamic realism, in the emergence of international networks, is a space in which human rights, nonviolence, and restorative justice are actually more politically relevant than war. Therefore, the transformative and transcendent character of faithful discipleship that passionately commits itself to the ideal of peace must not be abandoned as politically irrelevant. Faithfulness to peace and justice are made manifest through direct action in communities. It is the moral imagination, as defined by John Paul Lederach, which can engage the specific circumstances of conflict without losing sight of the ideals of peace with justice. The church can still recognize the goodness of the just war and pacifist traditions, but should become universally a church of just peacemaking. Through ecumenical dialogue focused on the common good and real grassroots engagement with conflict, the church can become a true witness of just peace. The church will become a witness that speaks not only from its texts but also from its experiences in conflict. We urge the WCC and all communities of faith:

To seek out the space between just war theory and pacifism by engaging experts in both traditions and seeking authentic common ground.
To recognize the dynamic character of contemporary political realism and promote the emergence of global institutions of peace and justice.
To create and promote institutions to train people of faith for grassroots activism and place them in situations to help mediate conflict.

[1] Olga Botcharova provides a model that exemplifies this relationship. See “Implementation of Track Two Diplomacy.” Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation. Raymond Helmick and Rodney Petersen, eds. Philadelphia, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2001. Pg. 291.