Nonviolence: Origins & Outcomes: Second Edition

In Nonviolence: Origins and Outcomes, Collyer and Zepp provide an engagingly different introduction to nonviolence and its applicability to everyday life. Nonviolence is presented as an approach to life that emphasizes successful problem-solving, which necessarily avoids violence. Human foibles that thwart nonviolence are treated with understanding and gentle humor. Zepp, a religious studies scholar with a warmly down-to-earth bent, writes about ahimsa (Sanskrit for non-injury) and agape (Greek for unconditional good will or love towards others) as two historical origins of nonviolence. Collyer, a psychologist, contributes chapters on nonviolence training and its learning outcomes, which include a more informed set of skills for opposing violence, greater caring about others, more goal-oriented and realistic attitudes, and a sense of personal commitment. Both authors are interested in how nonviolence can be taught more successfully and made more applicable to the problems and situations that people commonly face in their relationships and at work, both short term and long term. Their approach stands in contrast to views of nonviolence as a special, occasional approach associated only with the emergence of special leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King. Collyer and Zepp make extensive use of Gandhi and King, but often they probe beneath the surface to show the role played by nonviolence in promoting the formation of coalitions, in fostering openness of communication, in combating "Enemy thinking", or in motivating forgiveness. The authors emphasize that nonviolence in the way Gandhi and King used it is accessible to anyone, can be learned, and is valuable even if not practiced perfectly.