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Peacemakers and Peacemaking

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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Project:

Leader

William Werpehowski headshot

William Werpehowski

Senior Research Fellow
Department of Theology and Religious Studies

Publications

Report December 11, 2014

Doyle Seminars 2013-2014 Annual Report

The Doyle Seminars engage students and faculty in a conversation about national, social, cultural, religious, moral, and other forms of diversity and difference across a range of academic disciplines and global contexts. The seminars aim to develop the students’ research, analysis, and writing skills through the completion of a sustained and in-depth research project. The Doyle Seminar faculty…
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