This course will examine some of the connections between religion and the tradition of principled nonviolence. The course will focus on the two main sources of the nonviolence tradition as it is practiced in the U.S. today: Christian nonviolence in U.S. history and Gandhi’s teaching of nonviolence in India. We will also study a classic critique of nonviolence offered by the Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

This course is listed in the core curriculum as a "Critical Thinking" course. Therefore you will be expected to think critically. That does not mean you should spend the term criticizing. Critical thinking means logical thinking. It means constantly asking questions such as: What are our aims, goals, and assumptions in evaluating this author? What are the author's (or speaker's) aims and goals? What are his/her basic assumptions? Which aims and assumptions are explicitly stated and which are left implicit? Should we accept those aims and assumptions as valid? What is the historical context of this argument? How does it relate to earlier writers' ideas? Why was it offered by this writer at this particular time? How does that historical context compare with our own?

Does the author present logical arguments? How does s/he go from assumptions to facts and data to further ideas to conclusions? How does s/he get facts and data? Are they valid? Might the conclusions be valuable even if the assumptions or data are questionable? What is the ultimate importance of the argument? What does it tell us that we wouldn't know otherwise? Why does it, or does it not, matter in our individual lives? Why does it, or does it not, matter in dealing with societal issues? What other ideas can we connect with this author's to develop new ideas of our own? How might we pursue this author's ideas further?

You need not be able to answer all these questions for every author we read. They are just examples of the kinds of issues a "critical thinking" course should address.

Staughton & Alice Lynd, eds., Nonviolence in America

READINGS for RLST 4800

WEB = Ira Chernus, The Idea of Nonviolence in U.S. History, at http://spot.colorado.edu/~chernus. This syllabus and other materials pertinent to the course are also available on the website.

Jan. 17: WEB: "Quakers"; LYND: xi-xvii, 1, 2 (Assignments in LYND are by Document number; roman numerals refer to the Introduction)

Jan. 22: WEB: "Garrison and the Abolitionists"; LYND: xvii-xxi, 3, 4, READINGS: Whipple, Evils of the Revolutionary War; Ballou, Christian Nonresistance

Jan. 24: WEB: "Thoreau"; LYND: 5

Jan. 29: WEB: "Anarchism"; LYND: xxi-xxiii, 6 - 9, 11

Jan. 31: LYND: 10, 12

Feb. 5: WEB: "World War I"; LYND: xxiv-xxv, 13, 14, 15A

Feb. 7: LYND: xv-xxviii, 16, 37A&B; READINGS: Muste, Pacifism and Class War

Feb. 12: GANDHI: 3 - 22 (There is a glossary in the READINGS to help you with terms.)

Feb. 14: WEB: "Gandhi" chapter through end of "Truth is God" section; GANDHI: 29 - 40

Feb. 19: WEB: "Gandhi": "Truth and Nonviolence" section; GANDHI: 40 - 71

Feb. 21: WEB: "Gandhi": "Satyagraha" section; GANDHI: 71 – 91

Feb. 26: GANDHI: 97 - 126

Feb. 28: GANDHI: 126 - 151

Mar. 5: WEB: "Niebuhr": "Human Nature And The Limits Of Reason";

READINGS: Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society (= MMIS) 1-33, 40-50

(Assignments for MMIS are by Page number)

Mar. 7: WEB: "Niebuhr": "The Limits Of Religion"; READINGS: Summary of MMIS chap. 3 and MMIS 80-98,

Mar. 12: WEB: "Niebuhr": "Coercion And Violence"; READINGS: MMIS 106-112, 169-179, 192-199, 231-256

Mar. 14: READINGS: MMIS 257-277; WEB: "Niebuhr": "Niebuhr’s Later Career"

Mar. 19: WEB: "A. J. Muste"; LYND: 19 - 21

Mar. 21: READINGS: Kitterman, Those Who Said No to the Holocaust; Sharp, Norway and Berlin —— 2^nd EXAM DUE

Apr. 2: LYND: xxviii-xxxi, 22-24, 37C; READINGS: Muste, Of Holy Disobedience

Apr. 4: LYND: xxxi-xxxv, 27-30

Apr. 9: WEB: "Martin Luther King, Jr."; LYND: 25, 26, 32

Apr. 11: LYND: xxxv-xxxviii, 33, 35, 38; READINGS: Merton, Blessed Are the Meek

Apr. 16: LYND: xxxviii-xl, 39, 40; READINGS: Douglass, The Power of Noncooperation

Apr. 18: WEB: "Barbara Deming"; LYND: xl-xlvi, 45; READINGS:

Apr. 23: LYND: 41, 42, 44; READINGS: Wink, Jesus’ Third Way; Dellinger, Not Enough Love

Apr. 25: LYND: 46, 47B, 49

Apr. 30: LYND: 50-52

May 2: LYND: 53-56

Your grade will be based on your demonstrated ability to apply critical thinking skills to the ideas discussed in the course. You will have three ways to demonstrate your skills:

1. Participation in class discussion.
2. Two brief (1 page) reflection papers, to be presented in class. Each paper will discuss one of the daily reading assignments. You are not to summarize the day's reading. You are to identify one question arising from the reading that you think is interesting for class discussion. State the question clearly, then give your answer and your reasons for your answer in a logical argument.

3. Two take-home essay exams (due Feb. 15 and Mar. 21) and a take-home essay final exam (due May 9). There will be no in-class exams in this course.
4. You can get some extra credit by helping me improve my book, which you will be reading on my website. I will appreciate any suggestions, especially about points that are not explained clearly or where the reading seems especially difficult. I want this book to be relatively easy for all students to understand. You can give me suggestions in writing or by sending emails as you read the text.

I will have office hours on Mon. 3 – 4 and Tues. 2 – 3, or by appointment, in Humanities 284. Phone: 492-6169 (office); 449-6191 (home); email: chernus@spot.

If you need any special accommodations to enhance your learning in this course, I would be glad to discuss that with you.