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Adin Ballou, Teacher of Peace

Tulecke, Kari
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1418647041

Abstract Details

1994, Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, Humanities.
The origins of nonviolence currently identified with Tolstoy and Gandhi can be traced to earlier elements in the American tradition of nonviolence, particularly to the writings of Adin Ballou. In 1838, speaking before the New England Non-Resistant Society, Ballou emphasized the high moral priority-- and the ultimate effectiveness-- of harmlessly resisting evil at all costs . As an opponent of war and slavery, Ballou's 50 years of peace and justice ministry raised some of the same questions, and gave similar answers to some of the same problems, as those later faced by Tolstoy and Gandhi. Thus this interdisciplinary study in religion and history shows how ideas of religious pacifism, generated in an atmosphere of democratic liberty and religious freedom, moved from West to East. This paper begins by highlighting the pacifist writjngs of Adin Ballou, whose distinctive interpretation of original Christianity advocated non-retaliation by physical force, non-return of evil for evil, and absolute non-injury of others. As leading theoretician for the radical peace society of his century in America, Ballou departed from the compliant non-resistance of his predecessors. He based his defense of peace on natural , reasonable, and religious grounds, making recourse in his arguments to what he termed "radical religion ." He held it necessary for good men and women to stake their lives, if necessary, to attain a just and lasting peace on earth. In each of these ways and more , Ballou prefigured Tolstoy and Gandhi. Ballou, Tolstoy, and Gandhi each sought to promote an ideal peaceful social condition. Each considered the secular aims of eradicating war and eliminating its attendant evils to be closely allied with essential religious purposes. And each contributed to an evolving ethic of non-violent practice. This study examines the actual correspondence, in letters, between Ballou, Tolstoy, and Gandhi concludes, on the basis of a variety of texts, that their intercultural communication eventuated in the clarification of concepts useful to subsequent world peace actions. This study further concludes that their historic communication exemplified the movement of religious ideas from West to East.
Katharine Dvorak, Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair)
Matthew Melko, Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair)
Lawrence Cross, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
David Matual, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
152 p.
Peace Studies
humanities; Ballou; Tolstoy; Ghandi; peace

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tulecke, K. (1994). Adin Ballou, Teacher of Peace [Master's thesis, Wright State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1418647041

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tulecke, Kari. Adin Ballou, Teacher of Peace. 1994. Wright State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1418647041.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tulecke, Kari. "Adin Ballou, Teacher of Peace." Master's thesis, Wright State University, 1994. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1418647041

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wright1418647041
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© 1994, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.