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Understanding Peace Holistically

From the Spiritual to the Political

by Scherto Gill (Author) Garrett Thomson (Author)
©2020 Monographs X, 240 Pages

Summary

Understanding Peace Holistically: From the Spiritual to the Political argues that spiritually rooted and morally oriented peacefulness is relevant to the socio-economic–political structures that provide the conditions for a culture of peace. As the authors build up a theory of peace from the spiritual to the relational and communal towards the socio-political, this book also identifies key principles that characterise international and institutional processes that nurture peace. The holistic conception of peace developed in this book may guide and inspire individuals, institutions, and international organisations with regards to how to make peace.

Table Of Contents


Scherto Gill & Garrett Thomson

Understanding
Peace Holistically

From the Spiritual to the Political

image
PETER LANG

New York • Bern • Berlin

Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw

Names: Gill, Scherto, author. | Thomson, Garrett, author.

Title: Understanding peace holistically: from the spiritual to the political /
Scherto Gill and Garrett Thomson.

Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017054195 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4598-8 (hardback: alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4331-5056-2 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-5057-9 (epub)

ISBN 978-1-4331-5058-6 (mobi)

Subjects: Peace (Philosophy) | Peace.

Classification: LCC B105.P4 G55 2019 | DDC 172/.42—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054195

DOI 10.3726/b12145

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

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www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

About the authors

Scherto Gill (PhD) is Senior Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace and Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex. Her publications cover a range of topics, including education, dialogue, and peace.

Garrett Thomson (PhD) is CEO and Research Director of the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace. He is also Compton Professor of Philosophy at the College of Wooster. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of 21 books.

About the book

Understanding Peace Holistically: From the Spiritual to the Political argues that spiritually rooted and morally oriented peacefulness is relevant to the socio-economic–political structures that provide the conditions for a culture of peace. As the authors build up a theory of peace from the spiritual to the relational and communal towards the socio-political, this book also identifies key principles that characterise international and institutional processes that nurture peace. The holistic conception of peace developed in this book may guide and inspire individuals, institutions, and international organisations with regards to how to make peace.

Advance Praise for

Understanding Peace Holistically

“At a time when peoples’ concerns with global peacelessness are as great as ever, it is salutary to have a new volume with a positive, broad approach to peace. This book critiques the illusions of some traditional paths, yet echoes the idea that peace is as much a means as an end—and that ethics and politics, inner and structural peace, all need fine-tuning at such a critical moment.”

—Nigel Young, Editor in Chief of The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace

“This unusual book takes as its starting point what ought to be a platitude—though writers in peace studies often proceed as though it were not true—namely, that peace studies are concerned with peace. With this as their focus, the authors develop a conception of peace as something that is of value in its own right, not merely as a means to other ends. This is a refreshing and invigorating study of a topic of utmost political significance.”

—Adrian Moore, Professor of Philosophy at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford

“This unique book provides an important and necessary discussion of peacefulness for its own sake. It should be a must-read for all students and researchers of peace studies.”

—David Cadman, Harmony Professor at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David

“The breadth of this book is truly staggering as the authors present a highly original and richly conceptualised tapestry of peacefulness, weaving the inner spiritual dimensions of peace into economic and political structural transformation. A must read for all who are interested in the subject of peace.”

—Steve Killelea, Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace and Founder of the Global Peace Index

“This book is most timely as it examines in-depth a holistic and positive notion of peace, applicable to relations between individuals, communities, nations, as well as in international politics, global economics, and in our relations with nature. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to live in a peaceful world.”

—Vamik D. Volkan, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia and Founder of the International Dialogue Initiative

“What is peace? Traditional answers to the question are shallow, limited to the absence of disturbance. In this original and thought-provoking volume, the authors lay the groundwork for a fully enriched conception of peace. It is definitely an essential reading for peace studies and also an invitation for us all to reflect on our ways of life together.”

—Kenneth Gergen, Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College and Founder and President of the Taos Institute

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Preface

The aim of this book is to rethink peacefulness from individual inner experience to global political systems. For this reason, it covers a wide range of different kinds of peacefulness: the spiritual, the relational and the structural. It focuses on the idea that these myriad themes can be explained in a unified manner that sheds new light on some old questions.

In many ways, this book has been long in the making. As part of a think-tank working for peace, we have for some time been perplexed by the field’s lack of a common understanding of what constitutes peacefulness. It has become a perennial topic amongst our colleagues at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace (GHFP). With our trustees, including Patrice Brodeur, Astuti Horthy, Sharif Horthy and Mohammad Ridwan, we have discussed holistic positive conceptions of peace. From conversations with Alexandra Asseily, another trustee of the GHFP, who generously shares her insights from many years’ experiences working for peace in the Middle East, we have begun to see how some of these themes might be integrated in specific contexts of building peace.

To broaden our understanding of peacefulness, in the last few years, we have brought together thinkers, researchers and practitioners for in-depth dialogues and sustained conversations around these relevant questions. Hence←vii | viii→ this book owes a tremendous amount to many friends and colleagues. Here we shall mention just some of them.

We have learned a huge amount from our conversations with Bob Boisture, Eilleen Boris, David Cadman, Scilla Elsworthy, Deborah Higgins, Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Kurian Thomas, William Vendley, whose work has provided rich ideas about the importance of articulating spiritual peacefulness.

We have gained invaluable insights from talking to Lord John Alderdice, Jean-Baptiste Habyalimana, Francisco Galan, Katherine Marshall, Leonel Narváez, Jean-Paul Samputu, Vamik Volkan and Nigel Young whose writings and experiences in diverse peacebuilding situations affirmed the critical need to examine the relational dynamics between antagonistic groups fueled by historical violence.

Details

Pages
X, 240
Publication Year
2020
ISBN (PDF)
9781433150562
ISBN (ePUB)
9781433150579
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433180217
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433145988
DOI
10.3726/b12145
Language
English
Publication date
2019 (May)
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2020. X, 240 pp.

Biographical notes

Scherto Gill (Author) Garrett Thomson (Author)

Scherto Gill (PhD) is Senior Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace and Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex. Her publications cover a range of topics, including education, dialogue, and peace. Garrett Thomson (PhD) is CEO and Research Director of the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace. He is also Compton Professor of Philosophy at the College of Wooster. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of 21 books.

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