Resources for young people

Hi, I just wondered if you could help me, I'm trying to find some resources to inspire young people with ideas about Shalom and non-violence, and I'm struggling a bit! Would anybody here know of any they could recommend?

Thanks,

Martin

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Cornelius on April 2, 2009 at 7:47am: http://www.awip.us/dvdseries.htm

Books by John Howard Yoder.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nate Myers on April 2, 2009 at 11:46am: Ron Sider's speech "Jesus' Call To Be Peacemakers" delivered at Mennonite World Conference in 1984. It reduced me to tears at its prophetic beauty the first time I read it and continues to inspire me. Christian Peacemaker Teams was founded from the power of the sermon. Here's the full text of it; http://www.cpt.org/publications/sider.php

I agree with Andrew that John Howard Yoder is a powerful witness, but his writings would be nearly completely inaccesible to a young person. As a good (though still formidable) introduction to Yoder, Mark Thiessen Nation's book John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions is excellent. Chapter 4 in the book is focused directly on your question. It's entitled "The Politics of Jesus, the Politics of John Howard Yoder: an Evangelical and Catholic Peace Theology." You could read that chapter and provide some readable pamphlets that capture some of the beauty and wisdom of Yoder from that chapter. And Nation says "Catholic" not to say "Catholic Church" aka the Pope's church, but "Catholic" to mean the church universal...all Jesus' disciples worldwide.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mark Van Steenwyk on April 2, 2009 at 11:59am: Mark Kurlansky's "Nonviolence: A History" is a fairly accesible read. Plus there are great documentaries and films like:

Romero
A Force More Powerful which even has a spinoff nonviolent computer game

There are probably many many more things out there...books by folks like Shane Claiborne do well with youngsters.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Martin on April 3, 2009 at 4:02am: Thanks for all your suggestions - they are very helpful

Any more would still be welcome though!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kari Risher on April 15, 2009 at 7:00pm: Not sure what you mean exactly by "young people", but a book that comes immediately to mind is "Seeking Peace" by Johann Christof-Arnold. He is part of the Bruderhof community. I found the book randomly and read it about 3 yrs ago and at the time it was invaluable to me. The author isn't so young, but I was 25 at the time and its message really spoke to me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alan Stucky on April 29, 2009 at 10:05am: If you're talking about more like lessons and teaching sessions (maybe you're not but these are worth engaging with at any age) the Mennonites have put out some interesting stuff. One I really like is from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) called "Thermostat" It's a study series that seven different areas that it talks about related to Peace and Justice: Peacemaking, Imagination, Allegiance, Security, Terrorism, Camouflage, and Nonviolence. Within each of these areas there are at least 5-7 individual topics and lessons. If you're trying to present this in a church setting or a setting that is more traditional, it can work pretty well. The lessons would hit people different stages as well. Some are good for the hard core peacenik (like me) and others are good to help people even begin to recognize that these are areas of concern.

The website to order it is:
http://mcc.org/thermostat/

Another big whopper of a resource is the second mile curriculum. I haven't used it but I've heard great things about it.
http://gosecondmile.org/; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joe Troyer on May 11, 2009 at 5:18pm: i would agree with the Thermostat. Probably your best bet. I will keep my ears open though.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jordan Peacock on May 27, 2009 at 8:35pm: A very good, and very easy, primer is Chris Haw's and Shane Claiborne's 'Jesus For President'. I can't keep it in stock (ha!) in my private library...as soon as I buy a new copy it goes out to someone else.

The Myth Of The Christian Religion, by Greg Boyd, is shaping up to be another great inspiration to the imagination, and is easier reading.

If you're not intimidated by heavier texts, I cannot recommend Jacques Ellul's The Subversion Of Christianity heavily enough.

There is also a documentary called the Ordinary Radicals that covers a snapshot of the Jesus for President tour, but I would choose the book over the DVD.; ▶ Reply to This