New Book: Nonkilling Spiritual Traditions

The Center for Global Nonkilling has just released its latest book Nonkilling Spiritual Traditions, which includes a selection of 13 chapters prepared mostly by members of its Nonkilling Spiritual Traditions Research Committee. The volume is co-edited by CGNK Director Joám Evans Pim and Pradeep Dhakal of the Chetanalaya, Institute for Humanity, Peace and Spirituality (Nepal). A PDF version can be downloaded for free from CGNK’s website and paperback copies can be ordered at $15 from Create Space.com or Amazon.com.

The Center’s Nonkilling Spiritual Traditions Research Committee, with over 30 members, envisioned a collaborative academic initiative to further understand and analyze: 1) the impact of the “Thou Shall Not Kill” / “Do not take any human being’s life” imperative across world spiritual traditions and non-religious humanist ethics, but also its internal intrareligious contradictions and controversies; 2) faith-inspired nonviolent/nonkilling leaders and movements throughout history; 3) spiritual practices related to nonkilling behavior and way of life, including meditation, prayers, art and spiritual guidance, with special interest in behavioral change—individual or social practices (e.g., meditation in prisons has shown to reduce violence and killings). The collection of essays compiled in this first volume represents a preliminary example of the possibilities offered by this line of inquiry, that it is hoped can be expanded.

The 266 page volume includes the following texts:

– Introduction, by Joám Evans Pim
– The Role of Spiritual Ecology in Nonkilling, by Leslie E. Sponsel
– The Spirit That Kills Not, by Predrag Cicovacki
– A Phenomenological Approach to Spirituality and its Relation to Nonkilling, by Douglas Allen
– Spirituality and Nonkilling Theoretical Basis and Practical Evidence, by Piero P. Giorgi
– Kaore Whakaheke Toto (Do Not Shed Blood), by Kelli Te Maihoroa
– Buddhism and Nonkilling, Juichiro Tanabe
– Dawn of Awareness: Buddhist Antidotes to Killing, by Karma Lekshe Tsomo
– Hindu Vision of Nonkilling, by Pradeep Dhakal
– Peace Movements in Light of Pan-Indic Spiritual Traditions, by Shivani Bothra
– Nonkilling and Necessity in the Christian Tradition, by Robert Emmet Meagher
– Mennonite Peacebuilding, by Julianne Funk Deckard
– An Alternative to Anzac: White poppies at the Peace Pole, by Katerina Standish
– The Nonviolent Crescent, by Chaiwat Satha-Anand
– Appendix: Protecting Sacred Spaces