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Peace Delegation to Iran: February – March, 2008

by Ellen Francis

The purpose of this delegation, sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, is to seek alternatives to the current political standoff between the United States and Iranian governments and to affirm friendship and solidarity between the people of the United States and the people of Iran. This will be the sixth Iran Peace Delegation to be sponsored by FOR.

When the Violin Can Forgive the Past

by Terry Rogers

“I don’t want to see war ever again,” said the middle-aged Iranian man in the wheelchair. We met him in a convalescent home in Tehran, where he lived with 25 men, disabled in a war that ended 19 years ago, the Iran/Iraq war (l980-l988).

During my recent trip to Iran, sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, our delegation was told that this war had been the longest conventional war of the 20th century, yet it had barely registered in my awareness at the time. The Iranian government (which had arranged and approved the schedule of all our meetings) clearly wanted us to understand the suffering from this conflict, in which at least a million Iranians had died.

Book Review

Religion, Empire and Torture: The Case of Achaemenian Persia, with a Postscript on Abu Ghraib
by Bruce Lincoln/University of Chicago Press, 2007

Reviewed by Robin Jarrell

“Empire studies” has taken root as a branch of Biblical scholarship, where the focus of “empire” is usually mapped out using ancient Rome as the ultimate reference. In his postscript to his masterful work Religion, Empire, and Torture, Bruce Lincoln admits that in this study on ancient Persian empire, his “anguish and outrage concerning the American imperial adventure in Iraq frequently bubble close to the surface.”

Book Review

God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
by John Dominic Crossan/HarperSanFrancisco, 2007

Reviewed by Robin Jarrell

In sharp contrast to Lincoln’s book (see companion review), John Dominic Crossan’s God and Empire is written from a distinctly Christian perspective. In what may be his finest work to date, Crossan asks “anyone who is both Christian and American today” the question, “how is it possible to be a faithful Christian in an American Empire facilitated by a violent Christian Bible?”
Crossan begins by pointing out “that the Bible proposes the radicality of a nonviolent God struggling with the normalcy of a violent civilization” and that this is the worth of scripture. Thus, Crossan argues, the Kingdom of God is a radical new way to live outside of the normalcy of empire.

Book Review

Becoming Bridges: The Spirit and Practice of Diversity
by Gary Commins/Cowley Publications, 2007

Reviewed by John L. Kater

Books about diversity are no longer a rarity; but Gary Commins’ book is an unusual treasure for a number of reasons. First, unlike many books that address racism or homophobia or sexism or distinctions of class or religious pluralism, Commins considers that an adequate treatment of the subject requires we pay attention simultaneously to all the ways in which human beings are different. The point is not to address one or the other form of difference, but to recognize that our world divides people in many ways, all of which are capable of lending themselves to discrimination.

EPF participates in Diocese of Minnesota MDG Summit

by Rex McKee

The Diocese of Minnesota Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Task Force hosted the first ever training summit on Saturday the 15th of September attended by over 200 adults, children and youth. Participating in this summit were Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), Episcopalians for Global Relief (EGR), Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN), Bonnie Anderson President of the House of Deputies, and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF).

Peace Notes

• New Resource: “Cost of War” from the American Friends Service Committee based on statistics by the Kennedy School of Government – visit www.afsc.org
• Interested in Nonviolence Training? Call EPF at (312-922-8628). We can provide consultation and direct services, like these:
  • Want to become a nonviolence facilitator? See the new training calendar from Kirkridge Retreat & Study Center – Creating a Culture of Peace: www.kirkridge.org or call 610-588-1793.
  • Pace e Bene Nonviolence Center offers nonviolence training to meet your needs. Visit www.paceebene.org.

• EPF collecting Nonviolence Resources: Do you have a wonderful nonviolence resource you would like to share? EPF is pulling together the best of our resources for our up-coming Tool Kits. Send your resource to epfnational@ameritech.net and we’ll include it in our Tool Kits.
• Passed Great Resolutions? Did your Diocese pass Peace and Justice Resolutions this year? Please send a copy of your resolution and let us know the result of the election…we need to share these!

The View from the Monastery

Rebels, War and Cracked Glass
By Joseph Brown

Human beings operate out of basic assumptions. These paradigms are learned and fostered by culture, education and religion. They constitute the lens through which we make our choices, filter information, determine our goals and relationships.

My monastic life of prayer, work, study and obedience is a grinding process that one day (probably my last) will grant me, through grace, a deep sense of knowing God. I go through my life with the presumption that this is so, and that as I come to know God I will be docile to his will and loving to my fellows. I believe this with all of my heart and it is the core “lens” through which I view my life. But I can no longer rest easy in this assumption.

The Wisdom of the Elders

Ruminations of an Introvert
by Midgene Spatz

I believe it is possible to grow older without necessarily growing wiser. In nonviolence training we are reminded that PEACE making begins within each individual. We are called to become increasingly aware – often painfully aware – of anger, hatred, and resentment within ourselves that must be supplanted in order for PEACE to prevail. I share here some of my attempts to nurture INNER PEACE while also participating in PEACE ACTION. If one or more of these simple ideas resonates with your spirit, you may wish to give them a prayerful try, flinging them aside with carefree abandon if they don’t work for you.