Speak Truth To Power
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Peace and Nonviolence
[ Browse Items ]
Publication Year
1955
Publisher
AFSC, United States
Pages
71
Subject
Nonviolence
Tags
AFSC, Alternatives to Violence Project, America American Friends Service Committee, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Transformation, hope, Integrity, international conflict, International Relations, nonviolence, Peace and Nonviolence, Peace Testimony, power, Quaker, Quaker practice, Quaker testimonies, Quakers Social Concerns, Testimonies, truth, violence
Abstract
From Introduction:
Our title, Speak Truth to Power, taken from a charge given to Eighteenth Century Friends, suggests the effort that is made to speak from the deepest insight of the Quaker faith, as this faith is understood by those who prepared this study. We speak to power in three senses:
To those who hold high places in our national life and bear the terrible responsibility of making decisions for war or peace.
To the American people who are the final reservoir of power in this country and whose values and expectations set the limits for those who exercise authority.
To the idea of Power itself, and its impact on Twentieth Century life.
Our truth is an ancient one: that love endures and overcomes; that hatred destroys; that what is obtained by love is retained, but what is obtained by hatred proves a burden. This truth, fundamental to the position which rejects reliance on the method of war, is ultimately a religious perception, a belief that stands outside of history. Because of this we could not end this study without discussing the relationship between the politics of time with which men are daily concerned and the politics of eternity which they too easily ignore.
But our main purpose is not to restate the many prophetic expositions of the pacifist position. Beginning with The Sermon on the Mount, the Christian tradition alone has produced a library of enduring religious statements, and the same can be said for the literature of other great faiths. The urgent need is not to preach religious truth, but to show how it is possible and why it is reasonable to give practical expression to it in the great conflict that now divides the world.
Our title, Speak Truth to Power, taken from a charge given to Eighteenth Century Friends, suggests the effort that is made to speak from the deepest insight of the Quaker faith, as this faith is understood by those who prepared this study. We speak to power in three senses:
To those who hold high places in our national life and bear the terrible responsibility of making decisions for war or peace.
To the American people who are the final reservoir of power in this country and whose values and expectations set the limits for those who exercise authority.
To the idea of Power itself, and its impact on Twentieth Century life.
Our truth is an ancient one: that love endures and overcomes; that hatred destroys; that what is obtained by love is retained, but what is obtained by hatred proves a burden. This truth, fundamental to the position which rejects reliance on the method of war, is ultimately a religious perception, a belief that stands outside of history. Because of this we could not end this study without discussing the relationship between the politics of time with which men are daily concerned and the politics of eternity which they too easily ignore.
But our main purpose is not to restate the many prophetic expositions of the pacifist position. Beginning with The Sermon on the Mount, the Christian tradition alone has produced a library of enduring religious statements, and the same can be said for the literature of other great faiths. The urgent need is not to preach religious truth, but to show how it is possible and why it is reasonable to give practical expression to it in the great conflict that now divides the world.
Description
Pamphlet. Fair condition.
261.873
Religion > Christian organization, social work, worship > Church > Church and Social Issues > War, Peace, and International Relations > Christianity: war and pacifism
BX7613 .F82
Philosophy. Psychology. Religion: Christian Denominations: Friends. Society of Friends. Quakers
261.873
Religion > Christian organization, social work, worship > Church > Church and Social Issues > War, Peace, and International Relations > Christianity: war and pacifism
BX7613 .F82
Philosophy. Psychology. Religion: Christian Denominations: Friends. Society of Friends. Quakers
Number of Copies
1
