How can Christians decide when to be involved in conflict, and how can they know when to stop? In the past two years, Christians in Ukraine have faced all of these. How have they responded? From Dec 27 - Jan 1, volunteers with our network of early career Christian academics are liveblogging seminars at the Urbana conference, a mission-focused student gathering of 16,000 Christians from across North America and the world. This post was written by Nathan Matias and Galina Pylypiv … [Read more...] about Why Might Christians Be Involved in Nonviolent or Violent Protests? Lessons from Ukraine’s Euromaidan Protests at Urbana
peacemaking
Devotions: Beatitudes (7) —God’s Peace Corps
You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family. -- Matthew 5:9, The Message Perhaps no other saying from Jesus needs attention as this one in our very dangerous and destructive world. World and area events point to the need for "peacemaking." What is a peacemaker? Can the ordinary believer be a peacemaker? The answer, says Jesus, is a resounding YES! The church group to which I belong actually has … [Read more...] about Devotions: Beatitudes (7) —God’s Peace Corps
Rebirth of Peacemaking in a Much Different Context
As a descendant of Moravian settlers in Lititz, PA, I made sure not to miss the presentation of the 2010 The Dale W. Brown Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies to Katherine Carté Engel (Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M) for Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009). I greatly appreciated her challenging lecture and the opportunity afterward to chat with her on “God in America”, the general inability of radical Christian … [Read more...] about Rebirth of Peacemaking in a Much Different Context
PeaceMaking Falls in the Face of Military Conflict
As you may remember from No football. Campus tradition rooted in peace-making, I've been working on a Theology of the Church paper exploring how Elizabethtown College, founded to keep youth within the Church of the Brethren, fared in teaching denominational doctrine and way of life. In the earlier post, I shared how no football embodied the Church of the Brethren way of life. How well did peacemaking extend beyond no football, particularly in the face of 20th century military engagements? How well has your campus … [Read more...] about PeaceMaking Falls in the Face of Military Conflict