REL 438 - Nonviolence: can it work?

This seminar will examine the religious roots of non-violence, both in the Christian tradition (Jesus and “turn the other cheek”; the Quakers) and in the religion of Gandhi, whose beliefs and practices directly influenced the use of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement by Martin Luther King Jr. and groups like SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and CORE (Congress on Racial Equality). We will examine the successes and failures of the practice along with the criticisms and affirmations of writers like Ta Nehisi Coates (“Non-violence as Compliance”) and Erica Chenowith, Why Civil Resistance Works.