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Nonviolence in Theory and Practice

Second Edition

Robert L. Holmes and Barry L. Gan

This much-anticipated Second Edition adds twenty-three new readings to an already impressive collection of writings by some of the leading theorists and practitioners of nonviolence. Holmes and Gan provide a diversity of articles on both secular and religious origins of nonviolence; articles by or about Gandhi, King, Tolstoy, and Chavez; feminist approaches to nonviolence by con-temporary writers; new articles addressing the theory and practice of nonviolence with respect to nature and animal rights; and fresh examples of the application of nonviolence to conflicts in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Tibet. The collection includes the perspectives of those committed to nonviolence as a principle, those committed to nonviolence primarily as a tactic, and those for whom nonviolence is a personal practice. The readings have been arranged to engage readers who are new to the philosophy of nonviolence. After an opening section on its origins, the next section focuses on three principal philosophers of nonviolence, followed by an examination of women and nonviolence and a discussion of pacifism. The final sections take a closer look at how nonviolence is implemented, including specific examples drawn from different regions of the world. The breadth and depth of articles promote critical thinking about the nature and efficacy of both violence and nonviolence and allow readers to discover the many ways in which nonviolence can be employed to achieve meaningful objectives.
 

$32.95 list, 383 pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-349-7

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-349-2

© 2005

“This is by far the best collection of writings on nonviolence I have yet encountered. It includes a good variety of approaches and traditions, many essential classics, and a good number of studies of active nonviolence in the contemporary world.”  — Kenneth Basom, University of Northern Iowa

“I’ve often used the first edition and this is even better: updated, expanded, and a more holistic, detailed exegesis of the power and philosophy of nonviolence.”  — Tom H. Hastings, Portland State University

“Students like having the most significant readings in one text. The Second Edition is a splendid improvement; the new articles bring it up to date (including new readings on Islam and more current conflicts). This is the best single text I have seen on this subject.”  — John D. Copenhaver, Shenandoah University

“The text does a great job of bringing together classical and contemporary readings from a variety of religious and cultural sources. I am particularly pleased that it also gives case studies of religiously inspired and organized movements for nonviolent social transformation.”  — Peter Gathje, Christian Brothers University

“Nonviolence in Theory and Practice is the perfect book for providing clear and grounded answers to the student who asks, in the face of the violences that flood the globe,  ‘Where do we go from here?’ It raises their hopes that another kind of world is possible, free from the brutalities and wars they witness today.”  — Wendy Hamblet, Adelphi University

Table of Contents

Part I. ORIGINS

NONVIOLENCE IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

The Ethics of Jainism (I. C. Sharma)

From The Way of Lao Tzu

From The Dhammapada

On the Bhagavad-Gita (Doris Hunter)

JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM

Nonviolence in the Talmud (Reuven Kimelman)

How Transforming Power Has Been Used in the Past by Early Christians (Lawrence S. Apsey)

Nonviolence in Islam (Wasim Siddiqui)

SECULAR ORIGINS: CHALLENGES TO INJUSTICE AND GOVERNMENT POWER

From Apology and Crito (Plato)

Civil Disobedience (Henry David Thoreau)

Part II. THREE MODERN PHILOSOPHERS OF NONVIOLENCE: Tolstoy, Gandhi, and King

NONRESISTANCE TO EVIL

Letter to Ernest Howard Crosby (Leo Tolstoy)

FROM PASSIVE RESISTANCE TO DIRECT ACTION

On Satyagraha (Mohandas K. Gandhi)

Satyagraha in Action (Joan Bondurant)

ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE

How Transforming Power Was Used in Modern Times—Against Race Prejudice in America (Lawrence S. Apsey)

Letter from Birmingham Jail (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Part III. WOMEN AND NONVIOLENCE

THE PIONEERS

The Women of the Bible and Greece (David Daube)

Nonviolence and Women (Margaret Hope Bacon)

WOMEN AND MILITANT NONVIOLENCE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE

On Revolution and Equilibrium (Barbara Deming)

Molly Rush and the Plowshares Eight (Liane Ellison Norman)

CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM AND NONVIOLENCE

Maternal Nonviolence: A Truth in the Making (Sara Ruddick)

Part IV. PACIFISM

The Moral Equivalent of War (William James)

The Pacifist Spirit (A. A. Milne)

Impossible Pacifism: Jews, the Holocaust, and Nonviolence (Evelyn Wilcock)

From The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle (J. Glenn Gray)

Peace through Strength (Liane Ellison Norman)

Pacifism and Invasion (Jessie Wallace Hughan)

Part V. THE PRACTICE OF NONVIOLENCE

PERSONAL PERFECTION

Feelings and Perceptions (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Learning True Love (Sister Chân Không)

Pacifism as a Way of Life (Richard Taylor)

NONVIOLENCE AS A POLITICAL TOOL

Nonviolent Action: An Active Technique of Struggle (Gene Sharp)

Liberation without War: Is There a Nonviolent Way to Overthrow Dictators and Achieve Democracy? (Jack DuVall)

PRINCIPLES POLITICAL AND LABOR NONVIOLENCE

Cesar Chavez and Principled Nonviolent Strategy (José-Antonio Orosco)

Satyagraha (Samdhong Losang Tenzin)

NONVIOLENCE, NATURE, AND ANIMAL RIGHTS

Reverence for Life (Albert Schweitzer)

Jaina Cosmology and Gaia Theory (Christopher Key Chapple)

Judaism, Animals Rights, and Vegetarianism (Richard H. Schwartz)

Ahisma (Arundhati Roy)

The Indian Way (Richard Deats)

Nonviolence and Animal Rights (Gary L. Francione)

Part VI. EXAMPLES OF NONVIOLENCE

NONVIOLENCE IN ASIA

Nonviolent Soldiers of Islam (Timothy Flinders and Eknath Easwaran)

The Philippines: The Nonviolent Revolution That Surprised the World (Richard Deats)

Jungle Nonviolence (Stephen Braun)

NONVIOLENCE IN AFRICA

Nonviolence Plays a Role in Ending Apartheid in South Africa (The Center for the Study of Conflict)

NONVIOLENCE IN THE WEST

Nonviolent Resistance against the Nazis in Norway and Holland during World War II (Ernst Schwarcz)

Lithuania’s Nonviolent Struggle (Richard L. Deats)

Transforming Power in the Labor Movement—Cesar Chavez (Karen Eppler)

NONVIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Nonviolent Resistance (R. Scott Kennedy)

Living Truth: A Jewish Perspective (Allan Solomonow)

Nonviolent Resistance: A Strategy for the Occupied Territories (Mubarak E. Awad)

Nonviolence in the Israeli Women’s Peace Movement (Gila Svirsky)

Nonviolence: Ordinary Palestinians Fight for Their Freedom (Lucy Nusseibeh)