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CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION AND RELIGION
Essays on Faith, Power, and Relationship
Edited by
Ellen Ott Marshall
Conflict Transformation and Religion
Ellen Ott Marshall Editor
Confl ict Transformation and Religion
Essays on Faith, Power, and Relationship
Ellen Ott Marshall
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Conflict Transformation and Religion
ISBN 978-1-137-56839-7 ISBN 978-1-137-56840-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-56840-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016943666
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Cover image © Adam Burton / Alamy Stock Photo
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York
To our students
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the fall of 2012, the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding initiative of Emory University funded a gathering of 14 individuals to share their work on conflict transformation. Everyone present that weekend contributed to this volume whether they ended up writing a chapter or not. So, I begin by recognizing the contributions offered by Tom Crick, Itonde Kakoma, David Anderson Hooker, Tom Porter, and Kathryn Poethig. Kyle Cristofalo, an M.Div. student at Candler School of Theology at the time, helped with all dimensions of that gathering, from logistical organization to note-taking to substantive participation in the conversations themselves. Joe Wiinikka-Lydon was a doctoral student at Emory pursuing a concentration in Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding then; and he too lent his considerable gifts for organization and hospitality, as well as subject area expertise, to the endeavor. As that gathering developed into this book, I have been so grateful for the thoughtfulness, dedication, and goodwill of all of the contributors. In the “hurry up and wait” process that typifies edited volumes, they have been an absolute joy to work with. In the later stages of editing and formatting, I have relied heavily on Isaac Horwedel, my research assistant at Candler, who has offered excellent editorial input on several of the essays, chased down footnotes, compiled the bibliography, and graciously fielded an assortment of requests. I am also grateful to Janelle Adams, another wonderful Candler student, who contributed her gifts for research, writing, and enthusiasm to this project. It is educational to interact with thoughtful people; it is inspiring to interact with good people; and it is fun to interact with interesting people. This book project afforded me the opportunity to do all of the above. For the interactions that have happened and the interaction that continues, I am so very grateful.
C ONTENTS
1 Introduction: Learning Through Conflict, Working for Transformation
Ellen Ott Marshall
2 Transformative Solidarity: International Accompaniment as Conflict Transformation
Sarah MacDonald 3 “Word Made Flesh”: Toward a Pedagogy of a New We
Chris Rice
Joshua M. Noblitt
Elizabeth Corrie
C ONTRIBUTORS
Elizabeth M. Bounds is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at the Candler School of Theology and the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University where she teaches classes on justice, development ethics, reconciliation, and conflict transformation. She volunteered at Metro State Prison for Women from 1998 until 2011, including teaching a weekly course in creative writing. She helped to establish the Certificate of Theological Studies at Arrendale State Prison. Her books include Coming Together/Coming Apart: Religion, Modernity, and Community (1997) and the edited volume, Welfare Policy: Feminist Critiques (1999). Bounds has a BA from Harvard University, an MA in English from Cambridge University, and an MDiv and PhD in Christian Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary, New York.
Elizabeth Corrie is Associate Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding at Candler School of Theology and director of the Youth Theological Initiative. She draws on commitments both to peace with justice and to the education of young people as a foundation for her work in the development of pedagogical and youth ministry practices that empower young people for global citizenship. Corrie was elected as a lay delegate for the North Georgia Conference to the 2012 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church. She received her MDiv from Candler School of Theology in 1996 and PhD from Emory University in 2002.
Sarah MacDonald is pursuing a PhD in Ethics and Society at Emory University. Prior to beginning this study, she worked as a full-time activist with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a ministry that offers international accompaniment and supports nonviolent resistance in conflict zones. With CPT, Sarah served on teams in Colombia and the West Bank of Palestine, helped facilitate nonviolence trainings, and led educational delegations. Her current research questions, exploring how to think ethically about privilege and power in movements for social change, arise from these experiences. She has an MDiv from McCormick Theological Seminary and is working on her dissertation on the ethics of international accompaniment.
Ellen Ott Marshall is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Conflict Transformation at Candler School of Theology. She serves as co-convener for the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Program of Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion. With a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a PhD in Ethics and Society from Vanderbilt University, she has taught peace and conflict studies courses at the undergraduate level and conflict transformation courses in theological education for 15 years. Her books include Choosing Peace Through Daily Practices (2005), Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom (2006, 2015), and Christians in the Public Square (2008, 2015).
Gary Mason a Methodist minister, is the director of Rethinking Conflict, based in Belfast. He is a research fellow at the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at Maynooth University in Ireland and a visiting faculty member at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Mason spent 27 years in parish ministry in Belfast where he helped to establish the Skainos project, a world-class urban center developed as a model of coexistence and shared space. During the Northern Irish peace process, he was instrumental in facilitating negotiations with paramilitaries and government officials, and his contribution was formally recognized by the Queen in 2007. Mason holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Ulster and completed his theological studies at Queens University.
Joshua M. Noblitt is the Minister of Social Justice at Saint Mark United Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Registered Neutral, and Mitigation Specialist, having worked for eight years with the public defender office on cases involving
clients who are facing the death penalty. Noblitt completed his Master of Divinity at Emory University in 2004 and was ordained at the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2009. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Reconciling Ministry Network, which seeks full inclusion for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in the United Methodist Church and is a member of the volunteer Chaplain Corps for the Atlanta Police Department.
Edward L. Queen is Director of the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership and Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies at Emory University’s Center for Ethics. At Emory, he also serves as Director of Research for the Institute of Human Rights. Queen received his BA from Birmingham-Southern College, his MA and PhD degrees from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and his JD from the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis. Queen has written, coauthored, and edited numerous books, including Serving Those In Need: A Handbook for Managing Faith-Based Human Services Organizations (2000), Philanthropy in the World's Traditions (1998), and The Encyclopedia of American Religious History (1992, rev. ed. 2002, 3rd rev. ed. 2009).
Shelly Rambo is Associate Professor of Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Her book, Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining (2010), forges a theology of the spirit through engagements with postmodern biblical hermeneutics, a theology of Holy Saturday, and contemporary trauma theory. Through a series of faculty grants funded by the Center for Practical Theology and the Lilly Endowment, she has developed and presented workshops that offer religious leaders critical tools for thinking theologically about trauma. She received her PhD in Theological Studies from Emory University and holds master’s degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Yale University.
Chris Rice is senior fellow for Northeast Asia at Duke Divinity School and Northeast Asia Director for the Mennonite Central Committee (responsible for engagements in China, North Korea, and South Korea). From 2005 to 2014, he served as co-founder and director of the Duke Divinity School Center for Reconciliation. His books, Reconciling All Things and More Than Equals, each won book awards from Christianity Today magazine, and his book, Grace Matters, was named a Best Adult Religion Book
by Publishers Weekly. Chris holds an MDiv and DMin from Duke Divinity School, and is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church, USA.
Marcia Riggs is the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary. Riggs is interested in the relationship between social oppression and socio-religious ethical praxis, ethical discourse that bridges the gap between womanist religious scholarship and the church’s practice of ministry, the moral foundations for public policy, and the church’s role in social justice ministry. Her recent books include Ethics That Matters: African, Caribbean, and African American Sources (2011) and Can I Get a Witness? Prophetic Religious Voices of African American Women, An Anthology (1997). She holds an M.Div from Yale Divinity School and a PhD from Vanderbilt University.
Debbie Roberts is Assistant Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary and part-time Pastor in the Church of the Brethren. She has served as Chaplain and Director of the Peace Studies Program and Mediation Center at the University of La Verne, as a Patient Advocate and translator for a rural Washington Community Health Center, and is a Community Conflict Consultant. She holds a BA from Berea College, an MA(Th) from Bethany Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.
L IST OF F IGURES
Fig. 3.1 The Word Made Flesh Pedagogy of Reconciliation 37
Fig. 8.1 Religious Ethical Mediation graphic 118
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: Learning Through Conflict, Working for Transformation
Ellen Ott Marshall
Conflict can be a site for constructive change. This assertion sits at the heart of the theory and practice of conflict transformation. It is also the starting place for this volume in which teachers and Christian ministers describe the ways that conflict and their efforts to engage it constructively shape their work. Each chapter begins in a different place: the South Hebron hills of Palestine, the streets of Belfast, a Catholic seminary in Uganda, an urban park and a dormitory in the southern USA, and US classrooms at a seminary, a college, and a prison. Each chapter begins with a different experience of conflict: a physical confrontation among Jewish settlers, a Palestinian family, and the international volunteers accompanying them; shooting and killing during the Troubles in Belfast; ethnic violence in Eastern Africa; a hate crime against a gay couple; overt and covert racism; the structural violence of the prison system; interpersonal conflict related to religious practices within a family; and the ongoing marginalization and surveillance of youth. Each chapter draws on different theoretical resources to analyze and respond to conflict: strategic peacebuilding, feminist theory, relational theology, engaged pedagogy, narrative theory, theology of grace, adolescent studies, transformative mediation, and womanist thought. In their diversity, these authors reflect myriad theoretical and practical responses to conflict. As such, they expand the repertoire for transformation.
E. Ott Marshall
Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
E. Ott Marshall (ed.), Conflict Transformation and Religion, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-56840-3_1
1
Moreover, in a striking way, the contributors to this volume utilize their experiences of conflict to transform their pedagogy and ministry. As these teachers and Christian ministers engage conflict constructively, they transform their approach to teaching, training, care, solidarity, and advocacy. Faith and theological vocation inform the context and substance of each essay, although some authors are explicit about this and others are not. They teach in Protestant theological schools, serve in parish ministry, and work with faith-related organizations. In the variety of scripture passages, convictions, and schools of thought they reference, relationality emerges as a central theme. The contributors describe practices rooted in a relational anthropology and a relational faith. They perceive connectedness among people and share a commitment to justice and mutuality within relationship. They complicate and deepen their writing on relationship by attending honestly and astutely to power. They write about the ways in which teachers, ministers, and advocates sometimes reinforce hierarchical structures or ignore the unjust power structures in which they work and from which they benefit. In racially and economically diverse classrooms, international accompaniment, journeys through trauma, circles of truthtelling and reconciliation, the prison system, and ministries with youth, these writers demonstrate the challenge and potential of power in the work of transformation. Like conflict itself, power is something that one must unveil, analyze, and engage constructively.
The reality of power, the centrality of relationship, the influence of faith, and the potential of conflict constitute inter-related themes running through the chapters. Their presence is neither coincidental nor inconsequential since they play a significant role in transformation. For each contributor, transformation requires constructive engagement with conflict, just and creative use of power, attentiveness to relationship, and commitment to a vision of mutual well-being in community. By exploring this process in the contexts of teaching and ministry, these essays draw from and contribute to the existing literature on conflict transformation.
1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
Like most new concepts and approaches, conflict transformation emerged as a response to changing circumstances and as a supplement to existing practices. In the 1980s, many scholars and practitioners found the conflict resolution framework increasingly problematic. They challenged the use of mediation in the context of asymmetrical conflicts and argued that gross power imbalances must be addressed first. They questioned a focus on
negotiating immediate needs without addressing underlying, structural issues. In the face of protracted and multi-faceted conflicts, they recommended process-oriented and relationship-focused strategies in addition to problem-solving strategies. They also criticized conflict resolution procedures that included only government actors and outside experts and called for increased involvement from non-governmental actors and local wisdom.
The 1990s witnessed the publication of several important articles and texts intended to articulate this shift in response to conflict.1 Peace and conflict studies programs began to integrate conflict transformation material and courses into the curriculum; and some graduate programs in peace studies and in theological education have since developed degree programs related to conflict transformation.2 Moreover, several organizations not only practice conflict transformation, but also regularly offer training institutes and workshops on conflict transformation.3 In practice and in scholarship, conflict transformation has assumed its place as the latest development in the lineage of approaches to conflict: conflict prevention, management, and resolution. While conflict transformation scholars and practitioners generally agree that conflict cannot be prevented and should be more than managed, they disagree about the relationship between conflict transformation and its immediate predecessor, resolution. Some issue a strong critique of resolution and emphasize a conceptual and practical departure; others perceive resolution as necessary but not sufficient to the goal of peace with justice. Taking a moderate position, Hugh Miall, Professor of International Relations at the University of Kent, describes conflict transformation as distinct, but not wholly separate from these other approaches. It “is best viewed … as a reconceptualisation of the field in order to make it more relevant to [the asymmetric, protracted, and multi-faceted nature of] contemporary conflicts.”4
Miall is well known for his contributions to the Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation, an online resource maintained by the Berghof Foundation. In his essay, “Conflict Transformation: A Multi-Dimensional Task,” Miall offers this comprehensive description of the ways in which conflict transformation reconceptualizes the work:
Conflict transformation theorists argue that contemporary conflicts require more than the reframing of positions and the identification of win-win outcomes. The very structure of parties and relationships may be embedded in a pattern of conflictual relationships that extend beyond the particular site of conflict. Conflict transformation is therefore a process of engaging with
and transforming the relationships, interests, discourses and, if necessary, the very constitution of society that supports the continuation of violent conflict. Constructive conflict is seen as a vital agent or catalyst for change.5
To unpack this statement, let us consider these conceptual shifts more fully. First, conflict transformation theory understands conflict as a natural and necessary part of life. Diana Francis, former President of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and Chair of the Committee for Conflict Transformation Support, defines conflict “as the friction caused by difference, proximity, and movement.”6 Like the ecosystem of which we are a part, human beings are changing and interrelated; therefore conflict is both natural and unavoidable. More than this, conflict is a dialectic and catalytic phenomenon as Professor of International Peacebuilding, John Paul Lederach, explains in his 1995 book, Preparing for Peace. 7
Social conflict is a phenomenon of human creation, lodged naturally in relationships. It is a phenomenon that transforms events, the relationships in which conflict occurs, and indeed its very creators. It is a necessary element in transformative human construction and reconstruction of social organization and realities.8
Thus, one of the central features of conflict transformation is “understanding that conflict is dynamic and can be an agent of positive conversion.”9 Rather than beginning with the assumption that conflict can be prevented, this approach understands conflict to be a normal and unavoidable part of life. Rather than perceiving conflict as something to be managed and contained, conflict transformation intends to work constructively with conflict as a catalyst for change.
The second conceptual shift prompted by the transformative approach emphasizes the relational, historical, and systemic aspects of conflict. Because conflicts occur in a relational system and over time, they are not discrete, encapsulated events. Rather, conflicts are time-full and “nested” phenomena. Each conflict is embedded in a history of relationships, patterns of behavior, family systems, and social structures. Thus, a second conceptual shift in transformation approaches is to perceive the presenting issues in a conflict in connection to relational and systemic aspects. Maire Dugan introduced this form of analysis in her 1996 essay, “A Nested Theory of Conflict,” which used concentric circles to capture the relationship between an issue and its surrounding systems.10 Lederach uses a
distinction between episodes and epicenters of conflict to emphasize the same form of analysis and attention to sub-structure.11 When one approaches conflict as a nested phenomenon, then transformation becomes a deep and wide endeavor. Resolution of particular issues may indeed be part of the process, but transformation pushes for “deep-rooted, enduring, positive change in individuals, relationships, and the structures of the human community.”12
This emphasis on the potential for deep-rooted, constructive change to occur through conflict reflects the attention that transformation scholarpractitioners pay to structural injustice. As mentioned above, the mismatch between asymmetrical conflicts and traditional conflict resolution approaches generated much of the criticism that lead to the emergence of conflict transformation. In her work, Diana Francis has been very critical of conflict resolution practices that fail to address structural injustice. In doing so, conflict resolution “ignores the demands of justice and the realities of power.” Francis focuses her critique on the role of the impartial outsider brought in to mediate a dispute. If the procedure does not attend to unjust structures and the mediator is committed to impartiality, then there is “no room for moral judgements,” argues Francis. She then describes the cost of this approach as “an underemphasis on the potentially constructive roles of those directly involved in the conflict (the ‘primary parties’), and the place for advocacy and solidarity roles for third parties (Francis and Ropers, 1997).”13 Francis recommends linking conflict resolution to nonviolent resistance, arguing that these are truly “blood relatives” rather than antithetical practices and that they comprise the “twin halves of conflict transformation.”14 Thus, Francis situates her work among critics of conflict resolution who employ the language of transformation in order to emphasize “the need to address underlying structural and cultural violence and … the inevitability of conflict in the process of change.”15
In Francis’s work, we see clearly the influence that nonviolent action theory has had on the emergence of conflict transformation. In his effort to track the development of this approach, Stephen Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ulster, describes nonviolent action as one of the intellectual streams that informs the meaning of the term transformation.16 He also notes political usage of the term “transformation” in Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Israel/Palestine in the 1980s, as actors tried to articulate their visions for social change through violent and nonviolent conflict.17 Ryan’s observation is consistent with
Lederach’s experiences in Latin America in the 1980s. Lederach found that people struggling for justice and liberation were suspicious of the language of conflict management and resolution. They interpreted efforts to manage or resolve conflict as foreclosing advocacy and maintaining the status quo, attempts to “cover up the changes that are really needed.”18 Lederach, who was sympathetic to their concerns, needed language that would convey his sense of a process that actively seeks constructive change.19 Lederach found that conflict transformation more accurately describes “constructive change efforts that include, and go beyond, resolution of specific problems.”20
Some resolution of problems may indeed be part of the process, but conflict transformation envisions a longer arc and a more distant goal. It emphasizes “deep and wide-ranging change,” “an awareness that this is a long term process where quick fixes are not going to work, and an emphasis on working at all levels of society.”21 The task, then, is to engage conflict constructively so that the change contributes to a long-range vision of peace with justice. In the words of Ron Kraybill, “the goal is not only to end or prevent something bad but also to begin something new and good.”22
1.2 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS VOLUME
These conceptual shifts are reflected in and extended by the chapters in this volume. The authors explore the structural realities and relational implications of conflicts and processes of transformation. They draw on this literature of conflict transformation and transformative mediation to analyze conflicts and explain tools and methods for transformation. But they also bring in material from theology, adolescent studies, feminist theory, and womanist thought to enrich their analysis and engagement. And, in a particularly striking way, these authors bring their observations home: they describe transformation in the context of their vocations of teaching and ministry. They demonstrate the ways in which conflict prompts constructive change in their pedagogy, solidarity, activism, and care.
For example, Marcia Riggs and Liz Bounds utilize engaged pedagogy to work constructively with conflict as a catalyst for teaching and learning in the classroom. As Riggs explains, her classroom is “a space where frequently conflictual energies of particularities and differences can generate creative teaching and learning.” Similarly, Debbie Roberts draws on relational theology and feminist theory to ground pedagogical practice that disrupts hierarchical patterns in the classroom and forges genuine
community. And Beth Corrie integrates recent developments in adolescent studies into her analysis of the ongoing marginalization and surveillance of youth and her description of ministries with youth that intentionally empower and affirm them. Like Roberts, Corrie engages and transforms conflicts in order to build communities of mutual care. These chapters attend to relationships and power in large part because they are grounded in two key theological convictions: that all persons are created in the image of God and made for relationship. As Corrie writes, these teachers and ministers engage conflict constructively in the company of “a loving God that continually seeks us out … to bring us into healing and wholeness.”
The chapters by Sarah MacDonald, Gary Mason, Chris Rice, and Josh Noblitt begin with stories of physical violence, but their descriptions of transformative processes include a similar emphasis on power and relationship. All four of these writers are ministers, though their stories take place in different contexts of ministry. MacDonald writes about her work in international accompaniment with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine. Mason is a minister in East Belfast who does restorative justice and narrative therapy with former paramilitaries. Former director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School, Rice writes about reconciliation work among Christians in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa. And Noblitt, a pastor, therapist, and restorative justice practitioner in Atlanta, shares his painful efforts to implement restorative and transformative practices after suffering a violent hate crime.
MacDonald moves from the violent engagement with Israeli settlers to reflect on the more subtle power dynamics in play in the relationship of accompaniment. Mason describes the exchanges among former paramilitaries in circles of truth-telling and healing, but he also examines his role and relationship as a “critical friend” to these hard men of violence. Rice introduces the pedagogical framework used by the Great Lakes Initiative in its reconciliation work with Christians involved in and affected by ethnic violence; but he also describes the dynamics of being involved in a process of transformation through which a “plurality of strangers become companions in a ‘new we.’” Noblitt describes the feeling of isolation and the attempts to re-connect, as he engages in community building, gay rights advocacy, and restorative justice practices after being attacked. Again, these writers are grounded theologically in convictions about human dignity and interrelatedness as well as God’s presence and activity in the process of transformation. They share Chris Rice’s sense that transformation involves “participation with something God is already doing.”
Many people involved in conflict transformation understand their work to be religious in nature or to be part of a theological vocation. However, this aspect of the work has received little attention in the literature. John Paul Lederach’s Moral Imagination: The Art and Ethos of Building Peace (2005) and Tom Porter’s The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation (2010) do describe the spirituality that informs their practice and offer theological reflection. But most conflict transformation texts include little to nothing about religion. Stephen Ryan’s 2007 text names “religious traditions” as an influence on the development of conflict transformation, but Ryan admits that his treatment is brief and general.
This volume includes a variety of Christian convictions. Gary Mason makes explicit use of Jesus’ ministry to outsiders as the model for his engagement with former paramilitaries. Chris Rice draws on theologies of grace as he describes God’s presence and activity in circles of truthtelling and bridge-building. Josh Noblitt writes honestly about trying to maintain his commitment to the vision of the beloved community and to a faith that reaches out to the marginalized. Beth Corrie writes about the transformative power of religious language, illustrating her point with the affirmation that youth, too, are “fearfully and wonder fully made” in the image of God. Marcia Riggs introduces religious ethical mediation as a pedagogical practice that affi rms the createdness of embodied differences, recognizes the role of religion in meaningmaking and value, and constructively engages confl ict in the classroom. Debbie Roberts draws on the relational theology of Sallie McFague, Desmond Tutu, and Beverly Harrison to craft the pedagogy for transformative peacemaking. Liz Bounds and Sarah MacDonald are not as explicit about the religious convictions that inform them; but they share the conviction that confl ict transformation itself is a theological vocation. Engaging conflict constructively for the transformation of persons, relationships, systems, and structures is a response to de-humanization, oppression, injustice, and violence. But, for these contributors, it is also a response to God’s call to work, in faith, for justice, reconciliation, and healing. This work has many facets. There are many tools for and approaches to conflict transformation, as Diana Francis explains:
[Conflict transformation] is used to denote a whole collection of processes and their results: processes through which conflict may be addressed without violence and either resolved (conflict resolution in the more specific sense) or at least managed (that is, kept within manageable boundaries
and with its destructive effects minimised); processes through which hurt and hatred may be mitigated and even overcome, and coexistence made possible; processes for developing a “constructive conflict culture” (Francis and Ropers, 1997), so that new and ongoing conflicts do not become destructive, but are able to contribute to the well-being of a society.23
Clearly, this work is multi-faceted and highly contextual. Practitioners identify, construct, and implement “constructive change processes” that work for a particular place and people.24 In this sense, conflict transformation functions as an umbrella term for a wide range of methods and processes.
The contributors to this volume utilize some established conflict transformation practices and introduce others. In an autobiographical way, Josh Noblitt demonstrates the integration of methods for nonviolent resistance and restorative justice. By symbolically re-claiming the park, writing an open letter, and joining the NoH8 campaign, Noblitt resisted violence and its power over him. By engaging the judicial process and reaching out to the young men who attacked him, he continues to shape his life as a ministry of reconciliation. Sarah MacDonald also integrates nonviolent resistance strategies into her understanding of and approach to conflict transformation. In her work in Palestine, she found that conflict transformation requires both de-escalating violence and engaging conflict constructively. International accompaniment intends to reduce violence by preventing, interrupting, or diverting attacks that harm community leaders and other civilians. It also engages the conflict to raise awareness and increase public outcry. Thus, MacDonald argues that international accompaniment can and should be understood as a form of conflict transformation.
The contributors to this volume also ground techniques so that they become true practices rather than tools in a kit. Moreover, because they bring conflict transformation home, they allow the practices to shape their teaching and ministry. For example, several essays describe storytelling and deep listening as practices that form genuine community. In the Word Made Flesh curriculum described by Chris Rice, storytelling and deep listening are integrated with liturgy and scripture to form a “spiritual journey for the long haul.” Beth Corrie shares a form of storytelling that transforms relationships with youth from surveillance to respect and affirmation. And Debbie Roberts illustrates the vocation of deep listening that helps teachers and students alike to be “truly present for each other.” Gary Mason depicts storytelling and deep listening among former paramilitaries and as practices of ministry to these men on their journey.
Liz Bounds and Marcia Riggs begin by describing their use of conflict skills and transformative mediation in the classroom. But their essays also reflect on the role of pedagogy in transformation. As teachers who are as concerned about social injustice and religious violence as they are teaching and learning, Bounds and Riggs intentionally prepare theology and ministry students to be agents of transformation in the world. Teaching and ministry should facilitate transformation. In order for this to happen, teachers and ministers must be willing and equipped to engage conflict constructively. With its stories, analysis, proposals, and reflection, this volume offers encouragement and equipment. Moreover, with faith that God is always and everywhere doing a new thing, this volume affirms the conviction that possibilities for transformation of and through conflict abound.
1.3 CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
Learning through conflict and working for transformation require ongoing reflection about operating assumptions and creative exploration of new directions for our research and practice. This volume, therefore, closes with two essays that invite further conversation about what lies beneath and what lies ahead. Edward Queen interrogates assumptions about conflict, human beings, transformation, and time, all of which impact the places we work, the conflicts we study, the goals we articulate, and the methods we employ. Queen’s essay calls us to the tasks of practical wisdom, “ongoing reflection and interrogation of what we do and why.”
Shelly Rambo’s essay reminds us how thoroughly interdisciplinary and multi-faceted the work of conflict transformation must be. She points us to the field of trauma studies as an essential resource for conflict transformation, and she identifies the ways in which conflict transformation can resource trauma studies as well. Both of these fields “are asking questions about how to break cycles of violence and how human communities can be mobilized to heal instead of to harm,” writes Rambo.
This is, obviously, no easy task. It requires all of the intellectual, practical, and religious resources we can muster. Moreover, it requires a truly collaborative spirit, one that perceives the shared work beneath our varied approaches, the common good beyond our particular goals, and the profound depth of our connection to one another. In that spirit, we offer this collection of essays on experiences of conflict and the work of transformation.
NOTES
1. Notably, New Directions in Conflict Theory edited by Raimo Väyrynen (Sage, 1991), The Promise of Mediation by Robert A. Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger (Jossey-Bass, 1994), Conflict Transformation edited by Kumar Rupesinghe (St. Martin’s Press, 1995), Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures by John Paul Lederach (Syracuse, 1995), and Peace by Peaceful Means by Johann Galtung (Sage Publication, 1996). Hugh Miall (2004) and Stephen Ryan (2007) provide a helpful overview of this literature.
2. For example: Eastern Mennonite University Center for Justice and Peacebuilding http://www.emu.edu/cjp/; Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame http://kroc.nd.edu/aboutus; Religion and Conflict Transformation Program of Boston University School of Theology http://www.bu.edu/rct/; Justice, Peacebuilding, and Conflict Transformation at Candler School of Theology, Emory University http://www.candler.emory.edu/academics/degree-programs/ marl.cfm.
3. For example: Lombard Mennonite Peace Center http://www.lmpeacecenter.org/; Plowshares Institute http://plowsharesinstitute.org/11/ what/cct.html; Responding to Conflict http://www.respond.org/; JustPeace Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation http://justpeaceumc.org/
4. Hugh Miall, “Conflict Transformation: A Multi-Dimensional Task,” Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation (Berghof Foundation, 2004), website accessed March 2014, http://www.berghof-handbook. net/articles/section-i-concepts-and-cross-cutting-challenges/, 3.
5. Miall, 4.
6. Diana Francis, People, Peace, and Power: Conflict Transformation in Action (London: Pluto Press, 2002), 3.
7. John Paul Lederach, Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (Syracuse University Press, 1995). Lederach is one of the foundational figures in conflict transformation, a leading scholar in sociology and conflict studies, former director of the International Conciliation Service of the Mennonite Central Committee, and currently a Professor of International Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. http://kroc.nd.edu/facultystaff/faculty/john-paul-lederach
8. Lederach 1995, 17.
9. Stephen Ryan, The Transformation of Violent Intercommunal Conflict (Hampshire: Ashgate, 2007), 22.
10. Maire Dugan, “A Nested Theory of Conflict,” A Leadership Journal: Women in Leadership—Sharing the Vision 1 (July 1996): 9–20. Dugan holds a PhD in Sociology from Syracuse University and has served as the director for several organizations and institutes related to peace and conflict studies. She currently directs the conflict resolution program at Columbia College and Race Relations 2020, a Beyond Tractability project based in Columbia, SC.
11. John Paul Lederach, Little Book of Conflict Transformation (Intercourse: Good Books, 2003), 35–36.
12. Ronald S. Kraybill, Robert A. Evans, Alice Frazer Evans. Peace Skills: Manual for Community Mediators (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001), 5.
13. Francis, Peace, People, and Power, 37–38.
14. Ibid., 41.
15. Ibid., 7. Clearly, Francis represents one end of the spectrum, of conflict transformation practitioners who articulate a strong critique of resolution. It is important to note that one recurring criticism of conflict transformation theory is that it has exaggerated the differences with conflict resolution and misconstrued conflict resolution as “no more than pragmatic settlements of disputes” (Ryan, The Transformation of Violent Intercommunal Conflict, 29).
16. Ryan, The Transformation of Violent Intercommunal Conflict, 13.
17. Ibid., 8.
18. Lederach, Little Book of` Conflict Transformation, 3.
19. Ibid., 3–4.
20. Ibid., 4.
21. Ryan, The Transformation of Violent Intercommunal Conflict, 22.
22. Kraybill, Peace Skills, 5.
23. Francis, Peace, People, and Power, 7.
24. Lederach, Little Book of` Conflict Transformation, 14.
CHAPTER 2
Transformative Solidarity: International Accompaniment as Confl ict Transformation
Sarah MacDonald
2.1 INTRODUCTION: A STORY OF CONFLICT IN THE WEST BANK OF PALESTINE
When the four Israeli settlers appeared on the ridge above us, they were not really unexpected. While my partner Laura and I had been accompanying Palestinian shepherds earlier that morning in the South Hebron hills, we had caught glimpses of the settlers from a distance. We had kept an eye on the settler outpost of Havat Ma’on, nestled inside the pine forest on the top of a prominent hill, and we had not seen anyone emerge from or disappear back into the trees. So we assumed that the settlers we had sighted before were still out somewhere in the fields below the outpost. This is why, when Laura and I encountered the young Palestinian family walking home to the village of Tuba along footpaths that would take them through the area where the settlers likely were, we warned the family and then decided to walk a ways with them ourselves. What struck me about this Palestinian family was how tired they seemed. Jamal and Niefah1 each carried a baby in arms, while the oldest child, about three years old, trotted behind. His mother kept calling, “Hamoudi, Hamoudi,” urging him to keep up. But the route they needed to walk—up and down stony hillsides, on the narrow trails herds of sheep and goats had worn into the earth—is challenging enough for adults, much more for a small boy.
S. MacDonald ()
Emory University, New York, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 E. Ott Marshall (ed.), Conflict Transformation and Religion, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-56840-3_2
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
(An Ode.)
The die is cast, Whether for good or ill, Let no regrets our anxious bosom fill; The Rubicon is passed, Nailed are our colors to the mast, A truce to doubting or unmanly fear; For home for country now Are pledged the solemn vow, Our fortunes, honor, life, and all that we hold dear!
Thus to his loved one did each hero say, When home returned at eve of this immortal day.
And she replied: Well, since it must be so, With you we sympathize in weal or woe, Assert your country’s cause with noble pride; Arm, arm, advance and boldly meet the foe! Your country calls! you must obey her voice! A recreant he who shrinks from such a call; Since she enshrines our homes, our loves, our all; Next after God, our country is our choice; And Heaven forbid, it ever should be said, That we, Columbia’s matrons, felt dismayed!
And let not love
Of wife or children you from duty keep; What, though your absence lonely here we weep; Th’ all-seeing eye will guard us from above; And while the battle rages o’er the plain, Our prayers for you shall not ascend in vain; Or, should you fall untimely in the strife,
Heaven will befriend your orphans and your wife!
Beloved, one dear embrace, And then a long, perhaps a last, farewell, Should Heaven so will, my heart shall not rebel, But still, this day with pride I shall retrace; My country born to freedom and to joy; Oh! bliss supreme, This were a theme, The harps of mighty seraphs to employ! The world shall hail this truth proclaimed by thee: Man is by nature, and he shall be, free.
Wake, wake the lyre, Sound drum and trumpet, let the cannons roar Proclaim the jubilee from shore to shore; Go, join yon phalanx like a wall of fire Impervious around young Freedom thrown, And let each hero mark her for his own! Thus spake each noble matron as she gazed, Undaunted, where no mimic war-fires blazed.
The aim of government and laws Is to defend true freedom’s cause; The strong man’s injustice detect And punish, and the weak protect; The innocent to vindicate By every power within the State; Of evil to arrest the flood, And use their influence for good; If in these noble aims they fail, And by majorities assail The life or liberty of man ’Tis time to spurn the odious plan; And any system to befriend,
Which may secure the wished-for end.
On every hand this cry we hear “We purchase justice far too dear,” To all its sons th’ indulgent State Should grant this arbiter of fate, Free as the air that we inhale; Fresh as from ocean springs the gale; Prompt as the light of summer’s dawn, Sweet as the hay-swath on the lawn; Not tainted with corruption’s breath, Breathed from the charnel house of death; And, as the people wield the power, Why not reform this very hour?
So long as magistrates can fleece, Crime and its causes must increase; So long as jurors hands shall itch, And gold stick to them fast as pitch; So long as officers are paid Just as they ply their venal trade; So long as vile contractors fill Their coffers from the public till, And go unhanged, while soldiers starve Or sink exhausted to the grave; So long as venal lawyers plead Not led by right, but urged by need, And be, like cattle, bought and sold, And barter Heaven itself for gold; So long as judges shall be found Who on the strength of party ground Their judgments, and the cause decide To suit self-interest or pride;— So long, by mind’s unerring laws, Effects will flow as bids the cause; And when the bantling is adult, A monstrous evil must result
Which soon will swallow freedom down; Vice brooks no rival near its throne, But proudly wields its scepter dread, And rules supreme, a copperhead!
What use is freedom’s written scroll, Unless ’tis graven on the soul? Why vainly celebrate its birth, If it has fled to Heaven from earth, To aggravate our pain and cross, By pointing out its grievous loss? Astræa nought to me avails, If but her phantom hold the scales; Who, with her finger in my fob, Like saint bedeckt, like strumpet rob, And smiling say: “Peace, friend, be still, This is the law—the people’s will.”
If slavery’s shadow in the North Hath such results as these brought forth; Then what must be the moral state, Of those who feel its full grown weight? Or of a land whose priests profane God’s word and his most holy fane; By preaching slavery until The mass believe it is no ill; And four of every six incline To hail the monster half divine?
Ask each of these, and he replies: “In slavery true freedom lies:”
Ask where is freedom’s proper sphere? He points to Dixie; “Lo, tis there!”
Thus have they masked hypocrisy, And dubbed her “young Democracy!”
Democracy’s vile sham and stain, You don fair Freedom’s mask in vain!
You cannot pass in that disguise, Nor thus elude our Argus-eyes. Your boasted Christian brotherhood Is one of violence and blood; Your star of freedom pales its rays, Becomes a farthing rush-light’s blaze, And shows your “chivalry” as shams Peddling their bogus nuts and hams; And the vile rag you have unfurled, The jest and scorn of all the world!
Nor is your mission one to bless The weak and humble, but oppress; Uphold the robber, thief, and knave, And make the innocent your slave. Nor do you foster hope and light, But shroud your evil deeds in night; Proscribe all learning, genius, taste, And make your realm a howling waste: And on this rock your church is built, A corner-stone of vice and guilt; And this you purpose to defend Against all comers, foe or friend: Entrenched behind this monstrous wrong, You swear to rule, since you are strong, You boast your dupes God’s chosen host To scourge a world in “darkness lost,” “Fanatics” who refuse to see The glory of your “liberty!”
Thus you the God of hosts blaspheme, As aider of your monstrous scheme; Implore him to blot out his sun, By victories through treason won; This land with anarchy to flood, And drown all kindred ties in blood; Nay this great Union to destroy, That you your bauble may enjoy!
Like some poor maniac raging wild, Or some indulged and petted child, Who for a rattle or a straw, Some gilded trifle or gewgaw, Screams madly with his ebbing breath, You grasp your idols,—strong in death! Enough! your purpose we perceive, And spurn your doctrines! while we grieve For our dear land’s supreme disgrace, Defiled and tortured by your race; Though brief and turbid be your day, Your odious name will bring dismay, Forever, to each generous heart That with humanity takes part: Henceforth, vile monster, live or dead! We dub you viper, . The copperhead! Has he a soul? And does it seek yon starry pole, When death relieves it from the clay, And wing on high its airy way? I question if a thing so vile Can live beyond the present style, Or if it should, where could it go, To find its full repast of woe? What think you, then, of transmigration, Or interchange of place and station? Perhaps the nigger-whippers pass To shades still darker than of brass, And copperheads, as seemeth proper, Put on more sombre hues than copper; And find new quarters made to fit, In negro tenements, to-wit; And thus become, in very fact, The things that they so much have cracked; And hear their master, late their slave, With furious tone and gesture rave; And feel the lash he plies so well,
And howl in this congenial hell!
Transcendant life! immortal part! I long to know what thing thou art; Whether a phantom light as air, Or form symmetrical and fair; An essence which can never die; Or something passing as a sigh, Which, when this frame dissolves in dust, Returns to nothing, as at first; Or whether thou hast always been The same, through every changing scene, And why to some thou art so sweet; To others with such woes replete?
It cannot be this conscious being Is all absorbed in feeling, seeing; That those desires we cannot sate Are doomed to end in this low state, Unsatisfied; and that the powers We feel within us and as ours, Should, at our death, be swept away Like shadows by the morning’s ray; Nor can it be, that sin and crime Can go unwhipt, if not in time. No, we shall bask for evermore In light, and light’s great source adore, With those who love the right shall shine, In union, peace and love divine; Whilst copperheads and all their host In hell’s tempestuous surge are tossed, And wail forever “Lost, lost, lost!”
Oh! for a moment on hell’s brink, To view the tortured reptiles sink, Ten million fathoms in th’ abyss, And thence rebound with bubbling hiss;
Their throats with sulph’rous vapor choked, Their slimy length begrimed and smoked; Each hideous skin as if ’twould burst, By belching out the draught accurst; All tortured and convulsed with rage, To whom each moment seems an age— Who vainly call “emancipation,” To free them from that deep damnation, Or else for swift annihilation! Then might we realize the sting That wrongs to men on spirits bring; Then would we fully comprehend, That God is justice and its friend!
Oh miracle! scarce had my prayer Been breathed upon the vacant air, When lo! a vision, or a dream, As clear as pebbles in a stream, Appeared before my wondering eyes And filled my soul with deep surprise; I’ll paint the scene the best I can, ’Twas thus the strange illusion ran:
A DREAM OF EREBUS.
Night’s shadows closed round me, I lay on my bed,
And visions of beauty encompassed my head; The sweetest of melodies floated around, The Muses and Graces kept time to the sound: The scene was enchanting; but brief was its stay, In mists and in clouds it soon melted away: Then darkness succeeded, the horrors of death! I struggled as one who was fighting for breath! Till, in fancy, I passed through the last mortal throe, And my spirit sought rest in the regions below.
My passport delayed me a while, but, at last, Through the wide-yawning portals of Pluto I passed;
Then, warned by a goblin I met on the way, My respects to the grim king of Hades I pay: I advance to his throne, and, without falling prostrate,
I pay my devoirs to the great arch-apostate. He rose up and told me to follow his wake, And a walk through his kingdom, for pleasure, we’d take.
“I’ll show you,” said he, “how my quarters are crammed,
In their various regions, with ghosts of the damned.”
“I præ, sequar,” said I, “go ahead and I’ll follow;” So he led me along, through a mighty big hollow;
On my right hand I saw what appeared to my sight
An iron-walled palace of towering height: I scanned it with wonder, but as I drew nigher I perceived that it was a huge furnace of fire: Its apartments above, and its basement below Were crowded with beings the image of woe; “What is this?” was my query; the Devil replied, “’Tis the place where my slave-holding children are fried;
As they said when on earth, that a white man must be
Above the vile nigger, it is so as you see: The whites are above, and the niggers below, The brimstone to stir and the bellows to blow; But let us go on—you will see as you pass,
The punishment dire of a much meaner class; That pit on the left is the dismal abode
Of a tribe who by thousands descend the broad road;
These are base hireling watchmen, who strove to increase
The size of the flock for the sake of the fleece, No care had above for the souls of their charge, But slept like dumb dogs while the wolf prowled at large.
There are priests of all classes, all creeds and all names
Condemned to be scorched in the sulphurous flames.
But the meanest by far of these groveling creatures
Are those factors of hell, the pro-slavery preachers,
Who insist that the Lord made the nigger’s skin black,
That the white man to Heaven might ride on his back;
They quote still from Scripture, and make it so plain,
To deny it were taking the Lord’s name in vain; Disputing the fact were mere breath thrown away,
For is it not written, “Ye servants, obey?”
They drawl a long prayer, and a sermon comes next,
And “Cursed be Canaan,” they take for their text;
But here a new light on their vision has burst, And they feel that themselves, not poor Canaan, are cursed.
Just a few steps ahead I will show you their station, Close packed with those wretches who’d ruin your Nation.”
And soon, as we stood o’er a precipice dire, I saw far beneath me the great Lake of Fire; Like the sea in a tempest its surface was tossed, While it swarmed with the pale, burning ghosts of the lost.
Rock-bounded on all sides, the deep, hollow roar
Of its surges resounded while lashing the shore, The blackness of darkness—a sulphurous cloud,
Hung over the scene like a funeral shroud.
Yet plain by the glare of the red waves at play, As they lashed the grim crags that flung back the hot spray,
Each wave in succession displayed on its crest
Some thousand pale ghosts who were riding abreast;
Till striking the crag they sank down from my sight,
And others rushed in, like to men in a fight; Oh! wild were the shrieks and the wails that arose
From those as they sank, and from these as they rose;
So piercing and heart-rending was the sad strain,
That it thrilled me with horror—transfixed me with pain!
These words they ground out midst their dire suffocation:
“Oh God! from this hell grant us—emancipation, Or else, in thy mercy, give annihilation!”
But hell bellowed back, “everlasting damnation!”
But, most frightful of all!—tiger-like and inhuman,
I hear the fierce howls of three men and one woman, Whose necks, hung in halters right over the flood,
Are stretched by a wretch all bedabbled with blood!
All five call on “Lincoln” for mercy; when lo! They are plunged, in a twinkling, to regions below;
Where long in the torrent they struggling remain, Till the wave spews them up to its surface again; There howling and writhing, unable to die,
Each visage distorted and bloodshot each eye, For mercy in vain the assassins still cry!
Ah, Mercy they’ve slain!—Hope for them has no room, Hell’s no longer a myth,—’tis the parricide’s doom!
The Devil here chuckled with joy and delight, And seemed to be charmed with this horrible sight:
“This,” said he, “is the place where I demagogues throw
When they come here and ask for their lodgings below,
Since they never loved aught but loud brawling and strife,
And were true to no party or friend during life; Ever turning and twisting, and dodging around, No place more befitting for them could be found; For here they’ll be tossing and dodging forever Like drift-wood afloat on a rock-tortured river.
Here, too, let me point to you those wretched men
Who devote all their powers, both of tongue and of pen,
To prop the slave-holders, their code propagate, Turn earth into hell through disunion and hate, And to fan the fierce flames of your war have combined,
And, therefore, most justly have they been consigned
With the meanest of devils who dared to rebel, To be scorched in the flames of the nethermost hell.
Here are lying reporters and editors, speakers, And the old Union-savers and compromise shriekers, With blood-sucking leeches and shoddy contractors, Beneath loyal masks, much the worst malefactors,
Who smile, while your soldiers they starve and they rob,
More guilty, by far, than Buchanan or Cobb.
But a new class of sinners came not long ago, And what to do with them I swear I don’t know; I saw them, quite recently, stemming the Styx, Sent here, I suppose, for their dastardly tricks: (For of all who arrive here by night or by day, There are none but the meanest who come by that way,)
Each floated down stream, at his ease, toward the lake,
A species of monster, half man and half snake; Their heads crowned with copper, their bodies with scales,
Like scorpions they carried their stings in their tails;
And scarce had their feet touched the marl of our soil, When hell, by their tricks, was thrown into a broil:
And now I am puzzled to know what to do With this low-lived, this white-livered, crew. It is true I would see the whole world come to hell,
I am fond of mean men, but these please me too well:
In their zeal for my cause and the good of this place,
They have brought my whole kingdom and cause to disgrace. Though loyal to me and vile slaves to my throne, While accepting their service, the tools I disown. Since they serve without pay or a hope of reward,
I am bound by no bargain to show them regard: I think I’ll just take them outside of the town, Where the drainage, the filth and the offal are thrown,
And toss the whole pack of them into the ditch, Then cover them over with sulphur and pitch; Set fire to the mixture and leave them to cook, To writhe in the flames, or to strangle with smoke;
And then I will drive them to earth back again, To shiver in ice, howl in wind, hail and rain.
When Jefferson Davis and his rebel host
Shall arrive, by and by, at the gates of the lost, I’ll meet, and assign them a place near my throne, And Davis and Floyd shall be stars in my crown; But this wretched crew to the ditch I’ll consign,
For, though true to my cause, I cannot call them mine.”
Just then came a messenger hastily down, And called out, “Your Majesty’s wanted up town; For another large batch of the peace-shrieking crew
Have come sneaking down here and are asking for you.”
His Majesty then grew quite black in the face; “I’ll go and, by hell, kick them out of the place: Their stench I detest, I cannot bear them near, And I’ll soon let them know that they mustn’t stay here; ’Tis too much e’en for us, with our devilish natures,
To bear with such fallen, such cowardly, creatures.”
So saying, and wearing a terrible frown, He seized a huge trident and hurried up town; Then quickly I heard mingled whining and shrieking,
And, in thunder and wrath, old Beelzebub speaking:
“Get out of my court, you vile, dastardly crew, You’re too mean to stay here where the common damned do.”
And then, like a man of his reason bereft, He wielded his club and pitched in right and left.
They yelled, and shrieked “Peace, oh, pray, Satan, hold on, We are loyal to you!”—cried Satan, “Begone!”
While the blows he dealt out made the peacesneaks to scream;—
With their yells in my ears, I awoke from my dream!
My task is done, my work is ended; Behold the Copperhead suspended ’Twixt Heaven and earth, in open air, His whole anatomy laid bare; Normal and morbid all made known, In soul and body, nerve and bone! Since Satan would not let him stay In realms which shun the light of day; (Where he in torture would abide, If he his deep disgrace could hide,) Here pilloried in sight of men, Impaled on my steel-pointed pen, Like Tantalus tormented ever, Let vultures prey upon his liver, Which, by some retributive power, Still grows as fast as they devour, Till passers-by shall point with scorn, And cry, “’Twere better not be born, Than thus to writhe in infamy, As long as sun and stars shall be!”
And when, in some far future age, The student of creation’s page Shall dig his fossils from the ground, And stand amazed, in doubt profound, As to what species and what race The monstrous reptile he can trace, And wonder, with suspended breath, His use or purpose on the earth; These records all his doubts shall clear, When he beholds him pictured here, So fully, that who runs will read, Then shudder, and increase his speed!
Thus much for science having won, I take my leave, my task is done.
THE
END.
Transcriber’s Note: It is not known what these letters/numbers were intended to represent. There are no footnotes in this or multiple other copies of the book.
“SIR COPP:”
A Book for the Times, in Six Cantos. By T C , Author of “A Day in May,” “Donna Rosa,” “The Silent Village,” “Life in the West,” &c., &c.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
From the Chicago Tribune
In this work we welcome another home production. It is written in Hudibrastic verse; but the genius of the author is by no means confined to this form of composition. The object of the author is praise-worthy, and he exhibits much talent for versification. We must, injustice, commend the work for many striking and some admirable passages. “Sir Copp,” is of course, Sir Copperhead; and the venomous creature is dissected by an artist who has a true scientific enthusiasm for so fine a specimen of morbid anatomy. The invocation to the muse is especially striking, (here it is quoted in full.) Mr. Clarke is not an untried poet. He has, in fact, produced a number of poems, for which the best English critics have accorded to him a high rank amongst the first poets of our day.
From the Chicago Evening Journal
Under the title of “S C ,” is depicted the character of a copperhead, whose career closes at the gates of hell. The story is a contrast of patriotism with disloyalty; the theme growing out of the late rebellion. The poetry is lively in measure. The author’s former
works drew down the encomiums of several good authorities in literary matters. The volume is highly creditable to the publishers.
From the Chicago Republican.
Mr. Clarke is favorably known to the reading public as the author of several poems published in England, which have received warm praise from the leading English reviews. The purpose of this effort of his muse is to contrast a dark phase of human depravity, as exhibited by the copperhead rebels of the northern states, with the beauty and power of loyalty to God and country. Incidentally, he satirises Tennyson, mourns over the grave of Lincoln, and celebrates the heroes of Murfreesboro, and many another bloody field. He writes with a sharp pen, and shows no mercy to the traitors. “Sir Copp,” having undergone a severe moral and physical dissection, is introduced by the author into hell, whence Satan, unwilling to entertain him, sends him back to earth to be punished according to his deserts.
From the Staats Zeitung (German.)
Mr. Thomas Clarke, a celebrated British Poet, who lives here in the West, has produced a poem under the title of “Sir Copp,” in which he shows forth the copperheads and their actions during the war. He is amongst the warmest friends of America, extols liberty and patriotism, and does ample justice to our German American citizens.
New Work, by the Author of “Sir Copp,”
(WILL BE READY IN THE SPRING, ’67,) ENTITLED
THE TWO ANGELS
Or, LOVE-LED.
A POEM, IN SIX CANTOS.
The story is of Heaven and earth, and is one of the deepest interest. It is a book of great merit, and no doubt will be extensively
read.
The volume will contain upwards of two hundred pages small octavo, printed with clear, readable type, on fine paper, and will be neatly bound.
GEO. W. CLARKE, Publisher, 215 ILLINOIS ST., CHICAGO.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR COPP: A POEM FOR THE TIMES, IN
SIX CANTOS
***
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