In the November issue of Sojourners, Rose Marie Berger reviews several books on nonviolence and how it has played out in the lives of its practitioners. Here are some more books she recommends, these about incorporating nonviolence into different forms of human community.
Faith Beyond Borders: Doing Justice in a Dangerous World by Don Mosley with Joyce Hollyday (Abingdon). Mosley, a founding member of Habitat for Humanity, tells the story of Jubilee Partners, a Christian community in Comer, Georgia, where Mosley and others have welcomed more than 3,000 war refugees, teaching Christian peacemaking and reconciliation among former enemies.
Forgiving as We've Been Forgiven: Community Practices for Making Peace, by L. Gregory Jones and Célestin Musekura (InterVarsity). Pastoral leader Musekura's father was murdered in the Rwandan genocide. Theologian Greg Jones interacts with Musekura's story to illustrate forgiveness practices in extreme situations and everyday life.
Walk With Us and Listen: Political Reconciliation in Africa by Charles Villa-Vicencio (Georgetown University). An excellent, detailed review of rebuilding the social fabric through "truth and reconciliation" experiments in the African context by a leader of those commissions.
From the Sanctuary to the Streets: How the Dreams of One City's Homeless Sparked a Faith Revolution and Transformed a Community by Wendy R. McCaig (Cascade Books). A refugee from the Enron collapse moves to Richmond, Virginia, and gets drawn into a homeless women's ministry that dreams of being so much more.
Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility by Rob Corcoran (University of Virginia). Also from the capital of the old South comes this inspiring historical narrative and handbook for community change built around the "Hope in the Cities" project, which models interracial dialogue and urban peacemaking.
Rose Marie Berger, an associate editor at Sojourners, blogs at www.rosemarieberger.com. She's the author of Who Killed Donte Manning? The Story of an American Neighborhood available at store.sojo.net.
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