From Violence To Blessing

"One of Canada's foremost leaders in conflict resolution writes about his personal experiences of infamous, long-standing conflicts in South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and elsewhere. He argues that we must understand human violence if we are to keep human civilization alive. From such understanding, he is able to show how deep-rooted conflict can slowly be transformed into peace and reconciliation. Anyone who cares about violence in this world should feel that this book is for them."

This detailed description and analysis of Madagascar's Merina tribe and its ancient circumcision ritual is significant as a basis for the analysis of anthropological theories of ritual in general.

The "magical power of the spoken word" is a topic that often comes up in a discussion of biblical blessings and curses. What is the source of social and linguistic power behind these blessings and curses? Many theologians would agree that God can and does bless, but does God also curse? If so, what does that mean to the biblical theology of the Old Testament and the Christian church? Anderson's The Blessing and the Curse applies speech act theory as one way to understand the performative function of blessings and curses. The concept of speech acts provides a method of recognizing the potent social power of language to accomplish certain ends, without drawing a hard line of distinction between word-magic and religion. Even though the chief concepts and practices of blessings and curses are deeply rooted in the broad cultural environment of the ancient Near East, tracing specific trajectories of Old Testament blessings and curses as theological themes conveys broad, inescapable implications for the biblical narrative and the Christian church.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. What is refreshing about Beyond Control is the vision for the kind of society in which protestors and police recognize their mutual humanity as well as how both are needed for a democratic society to function well. ' From the Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu How can large protest crowds be better and more respectfully managed by police? This topical book applies the principles of community-based conflict resolution to the policing of large crowds, suggesting a completely new approach that moves away from the discourse of rabble-rousing mobs towards negotiated management, and a paradigm of mutual respect for protesters as principled dissenters and for police as non-repressive agents of public order. Both are needed, the authors argue, in order for democracy to flourish.

She Had Told Him She Was Headed for Blessing. Why Would He Not Take Her There? The Bjorklund family has received word that Augusta Bjorklund is on her way from Norway to join them in North Dakota. When the train arrives in the town of Blessing with no Augusta aboard, the worried family hopes she will be on the train in the morning. But only her trunk arrives, so Bridget Bjorklund insists that Hjelmer, Augusta's brother, go find her. Augusta, after discovering her intended bridegroom had married someone else, decided to leave her broken heart in Norway and start a new life in America helping her mother run her boardinghouse. But knowing no English, Augusta misunderstands a ticket agent's directions in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the harried confusion, she boards the wrong train. When she arrives at the end of the line, she is met by a handsome young rancher, Kane Moyer, waiting for his Norwegian mail-order bride....

Trillium Book Award-winning poet Adam Sol's newest collection is made up of poems that are loosely linked to the traditional Jewish morning prayers, the Birchot haShachar, which try to find moments of blessing in the midst of personal and public pain, shame, and worry How do we respond to others' pain, both the pain of those we love and the larger global pain of those we don't know? In a religious context, a witness can offer blessing when those in the midst of suffering cannot. Taking on the responsibility of blessing, then, is a way to shoulder that burden for the sufferer. This presupposes the idea that blessing is a necessity -- which may be a point up for debate. In the context of his wife's recovery from surgery, and with civic violence prevalent in his city, the speaker of these poems leans on the structure of the Birchot haShachar (dawn blessings) to carve out space for empathy, complaint, and occasional flashes of wonder. These poems showcase Sol's trademark blend of humor and lyric virtuosity, and display his familiarity with Jewish texts and traditions, but add a new intimacy and urgency that break new ground for one of Canada's most respected poets. It is his most risky and most accomplished collection to date.

A young individual named Dylan was robbed of his youth losing everything every average young man should obtain. He was brought up having nothing having to earn everything on his own. At sixteen he was forced to live on his own holding no work experience. His only talent was music. He was introduced to the drug dealing lifestyle becoming successful. As he grew so did his money, clientele, and eventually enemies. He outsmarts the police and accumulates every young mans dream, money, women, and respect. He ends up in the worst situation of his life receiving a lengthy prison sentence. Now knowing only the criminal lifestyle, how will he evolve? This action packed story involves deep struggles, violence, sex, and illegal distribution resulting in remedy. Suitable for teens and adults.

A journey into the often misunderstood world of blessings, exploring Jesus' timeless words in the beatitudes and offering a framework for blessing others--and being blessed.