Transforming

Vern Neufeld Redekop is professor emeritus of conflict studies at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. His book From Violence to Blessing has been translated into French and Arabic and has been widely used internationally to promote reconciliation.Gloria Neufeld Redekop is a researcher and author in spirituality and religious social history. Her publications include Bad Girls and Boys Go to Hell (or Not): Engaging Fundamentalist Evangelicalism and The Work of Their Hands: Mennonite Women’s Societies in Canada.

An extraordinary book that truly transforms you inside and out. . . . Vern Neufeld Redekop and Gloria Neufeld Redekop’s edited book has a fascinating collection of chapters that are intricately related to the three pillars of psychospiritual and transcendental life: spirituality, emergent creativity, and reconciliation. Katherine Peil Kauffman’s presentation of an integrated view of individual emotions; Naresh Singh’s pioneering application of complexity theory to societal development; Karen Hamilton’s and Iman Ibrahim’s positions of religious conflict resolution; and Lauren Levesque’s potential use of music in reconciliation are striking examples of the many pragmatic perspectives. An evocative prescription that emerges out of the book is the use of complexity theory to integrate the interwoven transformations at different scales—intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community—eventually leading to transformation of the entire biosphere.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Transforming: Inside and Out by Gloria Neufeld Redekop and Vern Neufeld RedekopPart 1: Violence, Spirituality, and ReconciliationChapter 1: Reconciliation as Emergent Creativity by Vern Neufeld RedekopChapter 2: The Biology of Emotion: Implications for Self-Development, Spirituality, and Justice by Katherine Peil KauffmanChapter 3: Violence, Reconciliation, and the Significance of the Subtle Mystical Dimension in the Light of René Girard’s Battling to the End by Petra Steinmair- PöselChapter 4: Coming to Terms with Violence and War: The Experience of Mennonite Women and Children in Russia (1917-1925) by Gloria Neufeld RedekopPart 2: Reconciliation as Spiritual PraxisChapter 5: Relational Ecosystem for Peace (REP): From Division to Deep Connection with Compassionate Listening by Brigitte Gagnon Chapter 6: Interworldview Dialogue (IWVD): The Emergence of an Applied Theory for Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding by Patrice C. Brodeur Chapter 7: The Dénouement of Religious Leader Engagement in the Canadian Armed Forces by S. K. MooreChapter 8: RLE from the Balcony: The Domestic Application of Religious Leader Engagement by Karen HamiltonChapter 9: Creative Dialogue between Muslim and Western Worlds towards Reconciliation and Addressing Violent Extremism: A Muslim Perspective by Iman Ibrahim Chapter 10: Arts Literacy and Nonviolent Social Change: Re-envisioning Spirituality through Creative Practice by Lauren Michelle LevesquePart 3: Indigenous Insights and Challenges for ReconciliationChapter 11: Transcending Traditional Justice Claims: Challenges of Indigenous-Settler Reconciliation by Joseph CleynChapter 12: Warring with Windigo/Wihtiko: Cree and Algonquian Insights into Spirituality, Emergent Creativity and Reconciliation by Cecil ChabotChapter 13: Transforming Wihtiko Systems by Catherine Twinn (with thanks to Isaac Twinn)Chapter 14: Transforming “Wicked” Problems in an Integral Manner: The Case of Fly-In Indigenous Communities by Robert LogieChapter 15: Reconciliation in Australia and Lederach’s Moral Imagination by Sue-Anne HessPart 4: Complexity, Community, and Emergent DevelopmentChapter 16: Harnessing Principles of Complex Systems for Understanding and Modulating Social Structures by Neil D. Theise with Catherine Twinn, Gloria Neufeld Redekop, and Lissane YohannesChapter 17: Development as Emergent Creativity by Naresh SinghChapter 18: Sacred Diplomacy as “The Adjacent Possible Praxis”: Transforming Peacebuilding to Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet by Merle LefkoffConclusion by Oscar GasanaIndexAbout the EditorsAbout the Contributors