Conflict, Ethics, and Spirituality - Böcker

From Violence to Peace introduces us to three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – and the distorted image of a God who is praised when committing violence. Instead peace should be the soul and lungs of all religions. Religion is not the source of violence; violence is constellated through human manipulation. There is an urgent need for self-awareness, the sine qua non for all transformation so that western countries can move away from this distorted image or dominant religion or “new opium.” Several concrete observations are proposed with the book ending with a call to a wider vision of transcendence, an openness to a larger frame of reference, that is, of meaning and an enlarged vision of the role of religion’s passion to bring spirit and forgiveness to public life and provide a vision of moral order.

This book is a collection of essays presented at the conference on “Sustaining Ethical Leadership: An Interdisciplinary Conversation”, Ottawa, Canada, 2009. The driving idea behind the conference was to encourage an interdisciplinary enquiry regarding the nature of ethical leadership in contemporary times and to work out its implications in various domains of human life and action. Contributors examine the concept of ethical leadership from different intellectual and philosophical standpoints, and provide with an insightful analysis. They touch upon social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of ethical decision making, emphasizing the importance of intellectual clarity and moral integrity in the process. The book is divided into three parts, each focusing on a specific aspect of ethical leadership. In the first section the theoretical and philosophical issues pertaining to the foundations of ethical leadership are explored, whereas the second and third sections bring out the practical and contemporary challenges regarding the manifestation of ethical leadership.

Walking practices are experiencing a revival in the post-millennial world. Chief among these is the discipline of pilgrimage. The purpose of this research was to explore the pilgrimage trope as a pathway to spiritual renewal for Ottawa’s Shepherds of Good Hope (SGH) volunteers. A form of substitute pilgrimage identified as ‘virtual pilgrimage’ was adapted to simulate the last 100 km of the Camino de Santiago trail. A purposive random sample of twelve SGH volunteers (six men and six women) walked the distance virtually, over a period of six weeks. Each week, the participants were given a reflection question to focus their walks and their journal accounts. The research methodology was configured around Richard Osmer’s four-task cycle for practical theological research. The data was collected by way of a questionnaire, a focus group, and the participants’ journal accounts. NVIVO software was used to analyze the data, and Stephen Bevans’ “Praxis Model” was used to interpret the results. Virtual pilgrimage encompasses many of the themes associated with the traditional distance pilgrimage, including suspension of regular routines, intentionality, experiences of blessedness and beauty, and encounters with sacred mystery that inspired social action. The results showed that virtual pilgrimage contains the same facility for spiritual renewal as the traditional, distance pilgrimage, with potential wide-ranging applications in the health, human, and social services fields.