The precedents and models exist to make the case for nonviolent statecraft in the United States, but we need to make this case so self-evident that the war options become plainly absurd.
2015
Spiritual Evolution and the Law
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One way to view the inexorable march of biological evolution is as the development of the neurological capacity necessary to recognize this universal inner presence more and more fully. And not just in humans.
2015
The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice: Responses to Peter Gabel
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Tikkun received a number of letters and essays in response to Peter Gabel’s Summer 2015 print article, The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice: Transforming the Legal Arena. We publish them here in full. To join the conversation, write letters@tikkun.org. Essays
A Response from the River Jordan
by John Henry Schlegel
A Reply to Peter Gabel and John Schlegel
by John Farago
Spiritual Evolution and the Law
by Bruce Peterson
The Problem is that Life is Imperfect
by James P. Gray
History and Transcendence
by Gary Peller
Letters from Mika Dashman and Glen T. Martin. If you appreciate these free web-only articles, please help us continue publishing important work by becoming a print subscriber or offering a donation.
2015
A Response from the River Jordan
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The myth of Sisyphus may imply that the best that we humans can expect is that, when tired from endlessly rolling the rock back up the hill, we may gather together at the River Jordan and weep. I wish Peter were right, but I still doubt that it is possible to overcome the otherness of the Other, except briefly, randomly, undependably.
2015
Pastoral Prose Poetry
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Urban Pastorals
Clive Wilmer
Worple Press, 2014
In this short, rich book of prose poems, Clive Wilmer renews the pastoral tradition by eschewing romantic idealizations and coming into contact with the living image of an Eden corrupted by natural processes. Those processes, which connect us to the mystery of life and spirit, include both the workings of memory and the mechanisms of civilization. Wilmer’s memories are of a midcentury South London childhood “injured by enemy bombs”; of wooded commons where trees were “the very image of freedom in community”; of discoveries of Shakespeare’s power and Louis Armstrong’s musical “good place, where the leopard lies down with the kid”; and of art as “the expression of man’s pleasure in labour.” These memories form a groundwork for his warmly drawn and enigmatic human portraits, which enliven a religious vision that is convincing for its glowing clarity and sense of scale. Also recommended: Wilmer’s New and Collected Poems (Carcanet, 2012).
To view Tikkun Recommends as a PDF, click here.
2015
Christianity for the Postmodern Mind
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Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age
James Carroll
Viking, 2014
The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World
Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu
HarperOne, 2014
James Carroll’s Constantine’s Sword unveiled to many Christians the sordid way that Christian institutions transformed Jesus’s message of liberation into a doctrine to support imperial domination and the persecution of Jews. In this newer book, Carroll attempts to reclaim the prophetic voice of Jesus that is rooted in Jewish messianism: “Recovering that sense of Christian Jewishness, like recovering the Jewishness of Jesus, defines the essential work that Christians must do in a post-Auschwitz world.” Throughout this powerful and insightful presentation of the ways a Christian can be “faithful to the classical tradition of Christian faith while simultaneously limiting assertion about (Jesus) to a modern—or postmodern—mind,” Carroll reads Christian texts from a contemporary perspective, in light of the distortions that led to the destructive misuse of these texts in the past. Contemporary Christians can take special pride in the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the outspoken Christian activist whose challenge to apartheid won him the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu became the chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which sought to lead his country beyond the pain and anger that had festered under racist oppression. This beautiful and insightful book should be part of the school curriculum in every country of the world.
2015
What Does Sustainability Feel Like?
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The phenomena we embrace are embraced precisely because of their exuberance—justice, prosperity, and sustainability. Our failing is that we reach for them with tools that will never capture their essence, be they words, statistics, or dollars.
Home Page Featured
Hope in the Age of Climate Consequences
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We can be hopeful without expecting victory. We can ask what the Earth requires of us in this very moment and just take the next step.
2015
Diversity is the Lifeline for the Future of the Climate Movement
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While climate change will negatively impact all of us, people of color and low-income communities will be hit the hardest and have the fewest resources to adapt to the challenges, such as extreme weather and poor air quality, that climate change will bring. Yet, these communities are often underrepresented, if not left out completely.
2015
Unprecedented Moral Challenge
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Will the political world finally rally, acting fast and decisively enough to save a tolerable planet for our descendants? This is an unprecedented moral challenge.
2015
Let’s Establish the New Moon and Full Moon as Holidays of Earth Preservation
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Today the Gregorian calendar, including the seven-day week, is so intrinsic and essential to the global economy that few ever reflect on how it is a human created contrivance that imposes these cycles on the natural world (note, for instance, weekly patterns of human work and associated pollution).
2015
Hinduism and Honoring Creation
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To create a present and a future which is Earth-honoring and just to all marginalized and outcast beings, those of us who identify as Hindus must act as wise and determined servants in re-discovering the ecologically-sound wisdom embedded in our collective human history and experience.
2015
Social Justice, the Environment, and Sikhs
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As Sikhs, we are called upon to treat all of humankind as brothers and sisters … and to take action against the gross injustices suffered by our brethren. This means that we must ensure that they do not bear the burden of climate change alone.
2015
Online Exclusives: The Place of Hope in an Age of Climate Disaster
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The online exclusives below are freely accessible articles that are part of an ongoing special series associated with Tikkun’s Spring 2015 print issue, The Place of Hope in an Age of Climate Disaster. Many of our most provocative articles on this topic appeared in that print issue, which is only accessible to subscribers. Subscribe now to read the subscriber-only print articles on the web (explore the table of contents to see what you’re missing!). If you appreciate the free web-only articles below, please do enable us to keep up this important work by becoming a print subscriber or offering a donation. Diversity is the Lifeline for the Future of the Climate Movement
by Mijin Cha
Hinduism and Honoring Creation
by Chris Fici
Social Justice, the Environment, and Sikhs
by Sumeet Kaur
Let’s Establish the New Moon and Full Moon as Holidays of Earth Preservation
by Ron Feldman
Hope in the Age of Climate Consequences
by Kate Davies
What Does Sustainability Feel Like?