When Religion Makes Peace, Not War
Featuring
David Smock
Vice President, Director of the Religion and Peacemaking Program, and
Director of the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, United
States Institute of Peace
Click here to watch the video from this lecture.
Religion is often seen as a divisive force and a serious source of conflict worldwide. But the negative impact of religion is often exaggerated, and most people are unaware of the positive contributions that religion makes to international peacemaking. Drawing on extensive field experience in many parts of the world, David Smock will explore the strengths and shortcomings of religion in international peacemaking.
Smock received a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Cornell University and a Master’s of Divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ. Prior to joining the United States Institute of Peace, he held several positions with the Ford Foundation over a 16 year period, including 12 years in Africa and the Middle East. He is the author and editor of nine books and many monographs and articles. Among his recent works are “Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding,” “Religious Contributions to Peacemaking,” “Religious Perspectives on War,” and “Perspectives on Pacifism.”
About the Yoder Dialogues
John Howard Yoder, a founding fellow of the Kroc Institute and a professor of theology at Notre Dame, was a seminal figure in the development of Christian nonviolence. In addition to initiating courses on war, law, and ethics and non-violence, he also began a dialogue with faculty in military science that continues to this day. A generous gift from Anne Marie Yoder, his widow, established an endowment to fund the John Howard Yoder Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace.
Previous Yoder lecturers
- Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief, Sojourners
- Walter Wink, Lecturer, workshop leader & author of When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations
- Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Divinity School, Duke University
- Judith M. Brown, Beit Professor of Commonwealth History, University of Oxford & Professorial Fellow, Balliol College
- Miroslav Volf, Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, Yale Divinity School
