Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement

Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement PDF Author: Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521717671
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Nepstad documents the trajectories of various Plowshares movement groups, revealing how activist decisions affect longevity.

Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement

Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement PDF Author: Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521717671
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Nepstad documents the trajectories of various Plowshares movement groups, revealing how activist decisions affect longevity.

Plowshares

Plowshares PDF Author: Kristen Tobey
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271078286
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
In September 1980, eight Catholic activists made their way into a Pennsylvania General Electric plant housing parts for nuclear missiles. Evading security guards, these activists pounded on missile nose cones with hammers and then covered the cones in their own blood. This act of nonviolent resistance was their answer to calls for prophetic witness in the Old Testament: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.” Plowshares explores the closely interwoven religious and social significance of the group’s use of performance to achieve its goals. It looks at the group’s acts of civil disobedience, such as that undertaken at the GE plant in 1980, and the Plowshares’ behavior at the legal trials that result from these protests. Interpreting the Bible as a mandate to enact God’s kingdom through political resistance, the Plowshares work toward “symbolic disarmament,” with the aim of eradicating nuclear weapons. Plowshares activists continue to carry out such “divine obediences” against facilities where equipment used in the production or deployment of nuclear weapons is manufactured or stored. Whether one agrees or disagrees with their actions, this volume helps us better understand their motivations, logic, identity, and ultimate goal.

Both Swords and Ploughshares

Both Swords and Ploughshares PDF Author: Ineke Bockting
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443884782
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
This collection of essays examines interactions of war, peace and religion in the United States, a country where religious faith was, and still is, often deeply felt and widely held, where faith has provided a set of values to uphold with fervor or to transgress in protest, and where religion has been used to legitimize both armed violence and passive resistance. These essays analyze the mythos of America as a place of religious freedom, yet one imbued with a socially-imposed civil religion and underpinned by a heavy presumption of Protestant dominance. With subjects ranging from the War of Independence to the early 21st century, the contributions to this volume focus on a variety of historical and chronological circumstances in order to consider what concrete, tangible outcomes, what artifacts, were produced by the interface of war, peace and religion – the swords and ploughshares of the title. This volume thus presents a variety of often multifaceted responses that reflect its interdisciplinary scope. Some contributions refer to fine art pieces, including statues, paintings, and murals, and others to works of literature, theology, or public speaking. Some of these interfaces were performed on stage or in film, while yet others were heard on the radio or read in newspapers or journals. Some of the essays gathered here concern individuals working through the meaning of armed conflict in terms of their own, personal faith, while others examine the impact of such conflicts on a larger scale, as with whole faith communities or in the shaping of national or foreign policy. The first part, Communities, looks at interfaces that served to structure a whole community. The second, Margins, examines instances where the relationship between religion and war and peace has occupied a more marginal space within a faith community. The final section turns this interface Outward, situating it away from American soil or noting how foreign war shaped the spirituality of those returning.

Catholic Social Activism

Catholic Social Activism PDF Author: Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479885487
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
A history of Catholic social thought Many Americans assume that the Catholic Church is inherently conservative, based on its stances on abortion, contraception, and divorce. Yet there is a longstanding tradition of progressive Catholic movements in the United States that have addressed a variety of issues from labor, war, immigration, and environmental protection, to human rights, women’s rights, exploitive development practices, and bellicose foreign policies. These Catholic social movements have helped to shift the Church from an institution that had historically supported incumbent governments and political elites to a Church that has increasingly sided with the vulnerable and oppressed. This book provides a concise history of progressively oriented Catholic Social Thought, which conveys the Catholic Church’s position on a variety of social justice concerns. Sharon Erickson Nepstad introduces key papal encyclicals and other church documents, showing how lay Catholics in the United States have put these ideas into practice through a creative and sometimes provocative political engagement. Nepstad also explores how these progressive movements have pressured the religious hierarchy to respond to pressing social issues, such as women’s ordination, conscription, and the morality of nuclear deterrence policies. Catholic Social Activism vividly depicts how these progressive movements have helped to shape the religious landscape of the United States, and how they have provoked controversy and debate among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Transform Now Plowshares

Transform Now Plowshares PDF Author: Carole Sargent
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814637469
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In July 2012, a Holy Child sister and two Catholic Workers committed the largest breach in US nuclear security history. They entered an enriched uranium facility armed with candles, bread, Bibles, and roses, to pray and paint peace slogans. As Transform Now Plowshares, they hoped to put nuclear weapons—which target civilians in violation of the Geneva Conventions and UN treaties—on trial, making international news. This book shares their discernments of conscience and the civil resistance legacy of Plowshares with its background of Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker, while also engaging the work of the Berrigan brothers, the Catonsville nine, and the recent Kings Bay Plowshares seven. Learn their stories and see the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in action.

Plowshares

Plowshares PDF Author: Kristen Tobey
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271078308
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
In September 1980, eight Catholic activists made their way into a Pennsylvania General Electric plant housing parts for nuclear missiles. Evading security guards, these activists pounded on missile nose cones with hammers and then covered the cones in their own blood. This act of nonviolent resistance was their answer to calls for prophetic witness in the Old Testament: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.” Plowshares explores the closely interwoven religious and social significance of the group’s use of performance to achieve its goals. It looks at the group’s acts of civil disobedience, such as that undertaken at the GE plant in 1980, and the Plowshares’ behavior at the legal trials that result from these protests. Interpreting the Bible as a mandate to enact God’s kingdom through political resistance, the Plowshares work toward “symbolic disarmament,” with the aim of eradicating nuclear weapons. Plowshares activists continue to carry out such “divine obediences” against facilities where equipment used in the production or deployment of nuclear weapons is manufactured or stored. Whether one agrees or disagrees with their actions, this volume helps us better understand their motivations, logic, identity, and ultimate goal.

Forbidden

Forbidden PDF Author: Drew Christiansen
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1647122899
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Forbidden moves beyond the conceptualization of a ban on nuclear weapons to the implementation of the Pope's teachings, the first pontiff to condemn possession. This book interweaves the essential witness of survivors of nuclear attacks and test explosions with the voices of leaders who provide needed context for Pope Francis's condemnation.

Structures of Grace

Structures of Grace PDF Author: Kevin Ahern
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608335488
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
In his encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis ("On Social Concerns," 1984) Pope St. John Paul II wrote of "structures of sin" operating in the world and how Christian solidarity held the key to confronting and overcoming them. In Structures of Grace teacher and activist Kevin Ahern profiles successful Catholic organizations from around the globe--some well-known, some less so--that embody Christian solidarity by addressing the urgent human issues of our day: immigration and human rights; healthcare and housing; food, agriculture, and water; war, peace and reconciliation. In telling the stories of organizations such as Jesuit Refugee Service, the Young Christian Workers, Plowshares and Network, Dr. Ahern sheds light on the mission, theology, and outreach of hundreds of such organizations, offering church professionals, students, educators, and volunteers a "directory of grace" at work in the world today. (Publisher)

Plowshares into Swords

Plowshares into Swords PDF Author: Arno J. Mayer
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789604087
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
A critical history of Israel and the Arab–Israeli conflict Eminent historian Arno J. Mayer traces the thinkers, leaders, and shifting geopolitical contexts that shaped the founding and development of the Israeli state. He recovers for posterity internal critics such as the philosopher Martin Buber, who argued for peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian Arabs. “A sense of limits is the better part of valour,” Mayer insists. Plowshares into Swords explores Israel’s indefinite deferral of the “Arab Question,” the strategic thinking behind the building of settlements and border walls, and the endurance of Palestinian resistance.

Doing Time for Peace

Doing Time for Peace PDF Author: Rosalie G. Riegle
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 0826502806
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 625

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Book Description
In this compelling collection of oral histories, more than seventy-five peacemakers describe how they say no to war-making in the strongest way possible--by engaging in civil disobedience and paying the consequences in jail or prison. These courageous resisters leave family and community and life on the outside in their efforts to direct U.S. policy away from its militarism. Many are Catholic Workers, devoting their lives to the works of mercy instead of the works of war. They are homemakers and carpenters and social workers and teachers who are often called "faith-based activists." They speak from the left of the political perspective, providing a counterpoint to the faith-based activism of the fundamentalist Right. In their own words, the narrators describe their motivations and their preparations for acts of resistance, the actions themselves, and their trials and subsequent jail time. We hear from those who do their time by caring for their families and managing communities while their partners are imprisoned. Spouses and children talk frankly of the strains on family ties that a life of working for peace in the world can cause. The voices range from a World War II conscientious objector to those protesting the recent war in Iraq. The book includes sections on resister families, the Berrigans and Jonah House, the Plowshares Communities, the Syracuse Peace Council, and Catholic Worker houses and communities. The introduction by Dan McKanan situates these activists in the long tradition of resistance to war and witness to peace.