Reconciliation Basic Seminar: the Abrahamic Edition: The Abrahamic Edition

By Brian Cox

Written by an experienced practitioner in the field
of faith-based diplomacy who has worked in some
of the worlds roughest neighborhoods, this book
provides the presentation outlines for the eight
core values of a faith-based reconciliation seminar
which is a religious framework for peacemaking and
conflict resolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 11, 2009
• ISBN: 9781465315168

Brian Cox

Brian Cox, Ph.D., is Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester. Dr. Cox is also a Royal Society research fellow and a researcher on the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He is perhaps best known as a science broadcaster and host of the BBC’s hugely popular Wonders series. He is the coauthor of three companion books to these series, which have become #1 Sunday Times bestsellers, as well as two narrative works of popular science, The Quantum Universe and Why Does E = mc2? In the 1990s he played keyboards for the UK pop band D:Ream.

Book preview

Reconciliation Basic Seminar

THE ABRAHAMIC EDITION

An experience of imparting a vision

of faith-based reconciliation

that transforms people and societies

Brian Cox

Copyright © 2009 by Brian Cox.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

MORAL VISION

RECONCILIATION AS A MORAL VISION

BUILDING BRIDGES THE PRINCIPLE OF PLURALISM

DEMOLISHING WALLS OF HOSTILITY THE PRINCIPLE OF INCLUSION

CONFLICT RESOLUTION THE PRINCIPLE OF PEACEMAKING

SEEKING THE COMMON GOOD THE PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

HEALING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES THE PRINCIPLE OF FORGIVENESS

FACING THE TRUTH ABOUT HISTORY THE PRINCIPLE OF HEALING COLLECTIVE WOUNDS

SUBMISSION TO GOD THE PRINCIPLE OF SOVEREIGNTY

FINDING PEACE WITH GOD THE PRINCIPLE OF ATONEMENT

BECOMING AN INSTRUMENT OF RECONCILIATION

INTRODUCTION

THE JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION

Theme

This Reconciliation Basic Seminar begins with an invitation to people of faith to embark on a journey of reconciliation. Secondly, it speaks about five moral visions that have shaped human history. Thirdly, it introduces the concept of the Abrahamic moral vision which embodies the sacred mission of tikkun olam or faith-based reconciliation. Finally, it explains the characteristics and components of the seminar.

I.   Introduction

A.   Opening remarks

1.   John Paul Lederach wrote in his book The Journey Toward Reconciliation in 1999:

The journey through conflict toward reconciliation always involves turning to face oneself. Jacob has to face his fear. To turn toward his brother, his enemy, he first has to deal with himself, his own fears, and his past actions.

2.   Scott Appleby wrote in his book Ambivalence of the Sacred in 2000:

   Just as insights drawn from the field of social psychology have strengthened the field of conflict mediation, the psychology of religion bears on conflicts in which appeals to religion and spirituality have a place. Faith can form a powerful connection between adversaries or between mediators and one or more parties they seek to reconcile.

3.   Thomas Merton, a Roman Catholic monastic and mystic wrote in his book The Nonviolent Alternative in 1972:

For Gandhi, strange as it may seem to us, political action had to be by its very nature ‘religious’ in the sense that it had to be formed by principles of religious and philosophical wisdom. To separate religion and politics was in Gandhi’s eyes ‘madness’ because his politics rested on a thoroughly religious interpretation of reality, of life and of man’s place in the world.

B.   Subject: Introduction: The Journey of Reconciliation

C.   Presentation Objectives

   Through this presentation you will learn

   the following principles and skills:

1.   Identify five moral visions that have defined a way of life or worldview over the past four millennia.

2.   Explain the Abrahamic moral vision which embodies the sacred mission of tikkun olam or faith-based reconciliation.

3.   Understand the characteristics, components, objectives and logistics of the Reconciliation Basic Seminar.

D.   Background

1.   Reconciliation is not a strategy to be learned and mastered, but a spirituality that must become a part of the core or essence of our personhood.

2.   Reconciliation is a dynamic process that must occur both in us and through us.

E.   Key Points

1.   Five Moral Visions

2.   The Abrahamic Moral Vision

3.   Characteristics and Components of the Reconciliation Basic Seminar

4.   Seminar Objectives

5.   Seminar Logistics

II.   Introduction: The Journey of Reconciliation

A.   Five Moral Visions

   The French author Victor Hugo wrote that there is nothing quite so powerful as an idea whose time has come. Faith-based reconciliation is an idea whose time has come.

1.   The Power of Ideas

a.   The world is not only shaped by people, events and interests, but also by ideas; soaring ideas that are not simply a reaction to the tectonic shifts of the geopolitical landscape, but in themselves create new realities, new paradigms by providing the spiritual, social and political foundation for new societies and a new international order.

b.   These soaring ideas are known as moral vision.

c.   The world or significant parts of it have been shaped by five profound moral visions.

2.   Athenian Democracy

a.   In the sixth century BC the social and political ferment of Athens and other Greek city-states gave birth to the concept of the polis as a community of free citizens and the novel concept of governance which became known as democracy or rule by the consent of the governed.

b.   At the core of ancient democracy was the notion of citizenship; of belonging to a political society which entailed both rights and responsibilities.

c.   Few of our modern understandings of liberal democracy can be traced back to these ancient roots.

d.   However, Athenian Democracy represented a radical break from rule by monarchy or oligarchy, the normative expression of the time.

e.   This concept embodied a worldview that eventually spread to the west and became embedded in Europe and, later, the United States.

3.   Enlightenment Secularism

a.   Approximately 350 to 400 years ago there were four key historical events that profoundly shaped Europe’s future.

b.   However, the consequences have spilled over to every continent and civilization.

c.   The Protestant Reformation introduced the concept of separation of spiritual and temporal authority and contribed to the emergence of the state as an autonomous secular entity.

d.   The Peace of Westphalia brought an end to the Thirty Years Wars (1618-1648) and formally acknowledged the basic principles upon which the states system has operated for more than 350 years.

e.   It established the principle of sovereignty that underlies relations between states to this day. The principle of sovereignty specified that no external power or deliberative body had the right to exercise legal jurisdiction, political authority or to interfere in the domestic affairs of another state.

f.   The Enlightenment embodied the proclamation of human beings as the rational master and unlimited sovereign of their own fate.

g.   This brought about a shift from transcendent revelation as a source of guidance to secular human reason.

h.   Hence, the Enlightenment led to the concept of self sovereignty of both the self and the state. It removed the veil of accountability to a transcendent God.

i.   The French Revolution in 1789 introduced the concept of popular sovereignty; that the final authority is the will of the people. It saw the first joining of freedom and terror.

4.   The American Experiment

a.   The eighteenth century gave birth to a radically new vision of nationbuilding that grew out of the experience of oppression and intolerance in Europe.

b.   The American Experiment was built on the core values of radical individualism, freedom, justice, human rights, religious tolerance, separation of church and state, the rule of law, checks and balances and economic opportunity.

c.   It was a unique blending of liberal democracy with free market capitalism.

5.   The Marxist Utopia

a.   In the nineteenth century a German philosopher put to pen his moral vision of a world that would be based on social justice and the emergence of governance by the proletariat.

b.   At the heart of that vision was an economic system based on collectivism and state socialism.

c.   Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital whose principles were embraced by a Russian who became known as Lenin.

d.   In the wake of the Russian Revolution Lenin introduced Marxism into what became known as the Soviet Union.

e.   Marxism embodied a specifically atheistic view of the world and sought to create a classless society and the new soviet man.

f.   However, Marxism required a totalitarian police state and the reign of terror for its implementation.

6.   As we enter the twenty first century it is the fullness of time to revisit the fifth moral vision known as the Abrahamic moral vision.

B.   The Abrahamic Moral Vision

1.   Abraham

a.   Abraham emerged four millennia ago as the first person in recorded history to submit his life to the one true living God.

b.   In the sacred texts Abraham is given a threefold promise by God: land, blessing and descendents.

c.   Abraham is also given a unique mission that will bring blessing to all the nations.

2.   The Abrahamic Ideal

a.   The heart of the Abrahamic tradition is submission to the one true living God.

b.   According to the sacred texts the true children of Abraham are people of faith who submit to God’s sovereignty.

c.   Submission to God’s sovereignty changes a person’s worldview to a faith-based perspective of acknowledging God’s authority, living in the shadow of God’s providence and seeking God’s unity.

d.   This is the religion of Abraham.

3.   The Abrahamic Family

a.   The Abrahamic family consists of three great faith traditions that all trace their roots back to Abraham.

b.   As such, all three are children of Abraham and spiritual cousins.

c.   Jews trace their lineage to Abraham through Isaac and Moses.

d.   Christians trace their lineage to Abraham through Isaac, David and Jesus.

e.   Muslims trace their lineage to Abraham through Ishmael and Muhammed.

f.   Each of us has a sense of the Abrahamic family whether we call it Israel or the Body of Christ or the Ummah.

g.   We will consider Abrahamic family dynamics in the presentation on Demolishing Walls of Hostility: The Principle of Inclusion.

4.   The Abrahamic Homeland

a.   Abraham was given a promised land by God.

b.   The Holy Land, which is shared by Israel and Palestine, is considered sacred space by all the members of the Abrahamic family. There are sites considered sacred by each of the three faith traditions.

c.   The city of Jerusalem with its Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary forms an axis mundi for all citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

d.   The psalmist invites all people of faith to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

e.   The Holy Land was a land of promise but it is also a land of sorrows. It was intended by God to be a model of reconciliation to the nations, but instead it has become the archetypal paradigm of hostility, division and enmity.

f.   How do we recover an Abrahamic vision of the Holy Land that does not exclude other members of the Abrahamic family and recognizes God’s purposes in giving the land to Abraham as a gift.

5.   The Abrahamic Mission

a.   Abraham was given a sacred mission by God to carry the Abrahamic blessing to the nations.

b.   In the Jewish community this sacred mission came to be understood in terms of the Hebrew expression tikkun olam; to heal, to repair, to transform the world.

c.   In the Christian community this sacred mission was described by the Apostle Paul as the ministry of reconciliation. The Apostle John described this sacred mission as the healing of the nations.

d.   In the early Islamic community in Yathrib (Medina) this sacred mission came to be understood as calling the nations to embrace the Abrahamic tradition of submission to the one true God, adherence to a moral law revealed in the sacred texts and social justice as the basis for bringing about reconciled societies.

6.   As we enter the twenty first century we have witnessed the collapse of the Marxist moral vision and the emergence of three major forces shaping the world; globalization, fragmentation and religious fundamentalism.

7.   As globalization increases, and with it the hegemony of hedonistic and secular values, we may be seeing the limits and logical consequences of the American experiment.

8.   As fragmentation causes societies to unravel and identity-based conflict to emerge, we may be seeing that Athenian