Class: Engaging the Powers
We sense that something is deeply awry in our world. Violence, war, oppression and consumerism seem inevitable in our culture. Terrorism threatens the heart of our nation and peoples throughout the world.
We see families damaged by addiction and abuse. We witness the profound suffering of genocides and civil wars. Lives are lost to hatred based on race, religion, gender and sexuality. People are homeless and starving while others consume beyond imaginable need. Our very planet is in danger from the lifestyle, technology and miltary policy of rich nations. Religious institutions continue to use language and practices that foster injustice. At the same time, we see signs of hope, and we long to take action for a world of justice and peace.
Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, by Walter Wink, has been a seminal influence for St. Hildegard’s Community, and continues to be a source of nourishment, support and hope, leading us to a deeper understanding that prepares us to work nonviolently for transformation in our world.
Wink examines the profound spiritual realities—what Scripture calls the ‘powers and principalities’—offering insight into the functioning of the domination system in society and in ourselves, as well as an alternative vision, a “Third Way” based on the nonviolent principles Jesus lived and taught, a new hope for the future.
Together we will study Engaging the Powers, discerning how the roots of violence function in our own lives, and how we can learn to live into Jesus’ Third Way.
Francesca Wigle will be teaching the Class.
