Berkley Center

This course studied the personal and social character of the religious commitment to nonviolence in relation to concrete struggles for social justice. The class followed a trajectory of reflection and practice that extends from M.K. Gandhi through Martin Luther King, Jr., and then, with important modifications, onto to Roman Catholic prophetic witness in the works and life of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Daniel Berrigan. Buddhist and Muslim approaches to nonviolence and political life followed—with and without overlap. The course concluded with a considered look at Gene Sharp's "secular" vision of nonviolent resistance to tyranny and its reputed influence for the Arab Spring. This course (THEO-213) was taught by William Werpehowski, Department of Theology, as a Doyle Seminar (small upper-level classes that foster deepened student learning about diversity and difference through research and dialogue).

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