For the last several weeks, Elisabeth and I have been attending a discussion group entitled “the Irrelevant Church.” While the title may seem irreverant at first glance, this series of discussions attempted to examine the role of the church as it has engaged, and continues to engage nonviolence through various time periods. Each week we were given a reading from prominent leaders and activists as a basis for discussion, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Ron Sider, Stanley Hauerwas and Desmond Tutu.

If you are interested in reading more, the various readings are below. Many of them are lengthy, but a quick skim could give you a good insight into the depth and magnitude of the implications of what these individuals had to say. I will be adding more to this later…

** Resources **
Opening exercise: http://eucharism.org/earlysamaritan.pdf
Jacques Ellul’s political worldview – reality or fantasy?
http://eucharism.org/Ellul.pdf
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: http://eucharism.org/Bonhoeffer.pdf
Martin Luther King, Jr.: http://eucharism.org/KingCrucifixion.pdf
Ron Sider: http://www.eucharism.org/Sider1984.pdf
Stanley Hauerwas: http://eucharism.org/Hauerwas.pdf
Josh and Archbishop Tutu: http://eucharism.org/KaufmanHorner.pdf