Spring Institute for Lived Theology 2008

Lived Theology and the Language of Peace

May 28-30, 2008
Charlottesville, Virginia

The 2008 Spring Institute for Lived Theology, Lived Theology and the Language of Peace, convened 40 theologians, pastors, students and community organizers from around the United States for three days of concentrated exchange on theology and peace. The speakers, many of whom have participated in Lived Theology workgroups and institutes in the past, consider the language of peace in relation to world violence, economics, public witness, conflict resolution, the politics of encounter, the American organizing tradition and ecclesial practices. The phrase “the language of peace” has special significance for us at the Project on Lived Theology. It was the response of our friend, Victoria Gray Adams, former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary, when asked by an undergraduate student what the mission of the civil rights movement is today. Without hesitation, she said, “It is learning to speak the language of peace.” Victoria Gray Adams passed away the winter before this conference; this year’s SILT is inspired by and dedicated to her witness of peace.

Spring Institute 2008 Proceedings

Session I – Are We Still of Any Use? Lived Theology and the Language of Peace – Charles Marsh

• Listen to the session

Session II – The Practices of Peace – Craig Wong and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

• Listen to the session

Session III – Theology, Peace and Economic Life – Eugene McCarraher

• Listen to the session

Session IV – Theology, Public Life and the Pursuit of Peace – Chuck Mathewes

Session V – Theology and Conflict Resolution – Victoria Barnett

• Listen to the session

Session VI – The Practices of Peace – Rhonda Miska, Tim Clayton and Josh Kaufman-Horner

• Listen to the session

Session VII – The Peace of Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King Jr. – Johnny Hill

• Listen to the session

Session VIII – Religion and the Politics of Encounter – Manuel Vásquez

• Listen to the session

Session IX – Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence – Gerald Schlabach

• Listen to the session

Session X – The Chicago Declaration and the Problem of “Evangelical” Identity – Christian Collins Winn

• Read a copy of the paper

Session XI – Moving Beyond Divisions: Evangelicals and Racial Reconciliation in the 21st Century – Valerie Cooper

• Listen to the session

Session XII – The American Organizing Tradition – Susan Glisson, with respondent Rydell Payne

• Listen to the session

Final Thoughts, in Memory of Victoria Gray Adams, and Eucharist

• Victoria Gray Adams’s speech: “Learning the Language of Peace: The Spiritual Vision of the Civil Rights Movement and its Promise for the Present Age,” delivered October 13, 2005.