The Catholic Peace Tradition

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will examine the rich tradition of peacemaking in the Catholic Tradition. Beginning with the New Testament, it will examine classic texts, figures, and movements. It will look more closely at late twentieth-century developments, the Catholic Left, the Mennonite-Catholic Dialogue; contemporary movements, such as the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, and peacemaking through interreligious dialogue. It will look at exemplars like Franz Jagerstatter, Dorothy Day, the Berrigans, Charles de Foucauld, and the monks of Tibherine. Emphasis will be placed on peacemaking as a way of life linking ethics, virtues, spirituality, and social praxis. Among the special issues to be debated will be: Response to Religious Militants, Holy War, Selective Conscientious Objection, and the Morality of Protest. Course Objectives include: (1) knowledge of the historical development of peacemaking in the Catholic Tradition; (2) appreciation of the different approaches to peacemaking (e.g., nonresistance, nonviolence, civil disobedience, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and religious witness), and (3) the acquisition of communication skills to advance peacemaking within the church, ecumenical and interfaith situations, and in public discussion.