Are human beings naturally violent? Is war the fate of the human race? Despite the depressing record of the past, the world's future depends upon avoiding war and drastically reducing violence. Living Nonviolently: Language for Resisting Violence examines carefully the language of violence and war. One of the first casualties of violence is language, which in turn makes resistance to violence difficult to articulate. In the first four chapters, Gabriel Moran proposes distinctions for the interconnected ideas of force, power, aggressiveness, violence, and war not to invent a new and logical language but to ground the meaning of these terms in our human experience. That revitalization of ordinary language depends upon an inclusive language of men and women, adults and children, human and nonhuman animals. The fifth chapter locates the potential for both encouraging violence and resisting violence in the peculiar logic of religion. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is commonly invoked by people who say that nonviolence may be an admirable ideal for a few people but it is irrelevant for most people and for all nations; in this chapter, Moran examines the widely misunderstood sermon in detail to illustrate its potential for resisting violence. For a conclusion, he discusses practical means of education that are helpful to reaching some understanding of violence and resistance to violence. Living Nonviolently is written for scholars in peace studies, political philosophy, or religious studies and for anyone who wishes to understand the roots of violence and war."

Everyone knows that the death rate on earth is 100 percent. If one were to concentrate obsessively on that fact, it could become an obstacle to living. But fleeing from all talk about death can also be unhealthy. Death is omnipresent in today's media. But the portrayal of death in the movies, television and video games can be a way of distancing oneself from the reality of one's own death. This book provides language for personally grappling with issues that eventually concern every individual. The author brings an historical perspective to practices that have undergone a change in public perception. Euthanasia and suicide were until recently judged to be sickness or sin. These practices are now sometimes thought to be acceptable but language is needed for a better discussion of them. The book is particularly concerned with education, not just courses in school but the teachable moments in the lives of both children and adults. A child's encounter with the death of a family member or even the death of a pet are important moments for integrating into one's life a healthy attitude to death. The idea that there are stages of dying was made popular by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. This book critically examines what truth there may be to the idea and its practical relevance. In a sense, everyone is dying from the moment of birth. A diagosis that one has a few weeks or months to live simply makes one aware of the process. Dr. Johnson's famous comment that "getting hanged in a fortnight wonderfully concerntrates the mind" applies more broadly to every reminder of one's mortality. Every adult eventually has the experience of mourning a loved one. In most societies there is a careful ritual for mourning. This book discusses the absence of support for mourning in many people's lives. In recent years public tragedies bring forth makeshift memorials. That can be a help but it is not a substitute for expressions of personal grief which are best helped by the support of a few friends and family members. The last two chapters of this book concern the place of religion in relation to dying. Death functions as a helpful point of reference for an ecumenical conversation among the major religions. The beliefs of Christianity are examined to help Christians find support in their religion when they are dying. The many philosophical issues discussed in this book are dramatized in the two memoirs that begin the book. Memoir is a strange literary genre which assumes a reader's interest in the private details of an individual's life. The popular appeal of memoirs confirms the meaning of "human uniqueness" that the author has frequently written about. A person's uniqueness is not based on having nothing in common with others; instead, human uniqueness is based on openness to all others. Sherwin Nuland begins his great book, "How We Die," by saying that "the uniqueness of each of us extends even to the way we die." Yet he can write a helpful book on his experiences with the dying because a person's unique death can teach every other unique person about how to die. The first memoir in "Talking About Dying" describes in detail the author's caring for his wife as she suffered from dementia during the last four years of her life. There are millions of people confronted with this problem; they often feel alone. The reader might learn from the author's attempt to cope with dementia, including mistakes that he made. The second memoir is a reflection by the author on his own experience of dealing with colon cancer. Dying takes on a vivid reality when one comes up against a disease that can soon end one's life. Whatever one had previously thought about dying is suddenly challenged when the death is one's own. In both memoirs the author recounts the kindnesses of friends and the skill and dedication of medical professionals. Ultimately we die alone but the support of others is invaluable in every moment up to the very la

Well-known religious educators Maria Harris and Gabriel Moran challenge the religious education community to risk change. Focusing on themes of foundations, development, spirituality, and a wider world, Harris and Moran discuss issues such as gender, death and dying, and both interreligious and international dialogue.

This book is thoroughly original work on the meaning of teaching by one who has been widely credited with reshaping the field of religious education in the United States, and to have had a significant effect also in many other countries. Despite a steady flow of books that have "teaching" in the title, nearly all of them leave out most of the story. In Showing How, Gabriel Moran presents the full story of the act of teaching. Part 1 establishes a fundamental meaning for "to teach," examining why there exists a deep-seated fear that teaching is an immoral act. Professor Moran then grounds the meaning of "to teach in its most basic forms, moving from examples in the nonhuman world (what the mountain teaches the mountain climber) to communal and nonverbal forms of teaching among humans. Part 2 explores the languages of teaching and the diverse forms of speech appropriate to teaching; rhetorical forms, including storytelling and preaching; therapeutic languages; and religion'' preservation of these languages in ritualized settings, including confessing and mourning. Part 3 draws out the implications for education, the school, and the teaching of morality. Showing How addresses not only schoolteachers but parents, counselors, ministers, administrators, and everyone who can recognize teaching as a fundamental human act. By exposing the root meaning of teaching, the book represents a challenge to any proposals for educational reform. Gabriel Moran is Professor and Director of Religious Education in the Department of Culture and Communication, New York University. He is the author of sixteen books, including Uniqueness: Problem or Paradox in Jewish and Christian Traditions and A Grammar of Responsibility.

Speaking of Teaching: Lessons from History focuses on teaching as a fundamental act of all human beings, viewing the question of teaching through the lens of five famous thinkers and two contemporary problems. Moran argues that teaching is not given the attention that it deserves and proposes to situate school teaching in the context of many forms of teaching. Tracing the history of the idea of teaching from Socrates to Wittgenstein in the first several chapters, this book also examines the intricacies of teaching morality and religion, showcasing society's ambivalence about teaching.