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Abstract: Conflict transformation is currently one of the cutting-edge disciplines in relation to peacemaking, and one in which Mennonites are fully engaged. Therefore, it seems reasonable to ask how the writings of John Howard Yoder-the most prolific Mennonite theologian on the subject of peace-might be brought to bear on this subject. This essay attempts to address that question. It does so by offering reflections on six specific theological topics, providing in the process notes for future conversations that I hope will include theologians as well as those involved in conflict transformation studies and practice.
The field of conflict transformation studies has come into its own within the last few decades, becoming one of the most important academic (and professional) specializations connected to peacemaking.[1] This relatively new discipline draws on insights from other disciplines, especially in the social sciences, to understand unhealthy and destructive conflicts and conflictual relationships. Theoreticians and practitioners in the field of conflict transformation seek to create strategies to transform unhealthy conflicts through redemptive structures, processes and relationships.[2]
Since this is currently one of the cutting-edge disciplines in relation to peacemaking, and one that Mennonites are fully engaged in, it seems reasonable to ask how the writings of John Howard Yoder-the most prolific Mennonite theologian on the subject of peace-might be brought to bear on this subject. Clearly, the field of conflict transformation and the themes addressed here are quite complicated. Thus, these reflections are really only notes toward future conversations, indicating something of the relevance of Yoder's theology for conflict transformation studies,[3] drawing on several lectures and writings that Yoder devoted to the subject, as well as the writings of others who have said things consonant with Yoder's, but who have stated them in ways that are more illuminating for the present topic. [4]
Yoder began his first lecture on theology and conflict transformation-a presentation to a Mennonite Central Committee Peace Theology Consultation in 1978-with an important caution.[5] It is often the case at Christian conferences, said Yoder, that someone is placed on the program to provide either biblical or theological input. And yet, far too often, perhaps especially in practical matters such as conflict transformation, the theological input ends up being peripheral. There is no organic connection between what theologians say and what the sociologists, political philosophers, psychologists and others in practice-related fields advocate-even if everyone involved would claim to be operating from within the same basic theological framework (say, they are all Mennonite). One of the ways this is reflected even in the theological writings is to create what Yoder refers to as "genitive theologies."[6] That is to say, theologians write "theologies of" this or that. When this is done, too often the subject following the genitive becomes determinative of the content-the theological content is determinatively shaped by the subject in question. Yoder intentionally avoids this error. He does not begin with the "givens" of some science called "conflict transformation" that exist prior to his theological reflections. Rather, having read relevant literature in the field, Yoder offers "a theological point of reference." This signals that for Yoder solid biblical or theological reflections should have a determinative place in deliberations about issues like conflict transformation. The wider corpus of Yoder's writings suggest various theological reference points regarding a Christian approach to the art of conflict transformation that point toward a "theology for" rather than "of" conflict transformation.
Before turning to the heart of Yoder's theological ethics-namely, his focus on the centrality of Jesus and the vital importance of the church in thinking about a Christian approach to peacemaking[7] -a second set of preliminary issues must be addressed. In a recent, incisive essay, Marc Gopin, a Jewish scholar specializing in conflict studies, reflects on Mennonite peacebuilders with whom he has worked. These Mennonite peacemakers, he notes, have had their souls, their habits, their lives shaped by Mennonite churches; that background has had a profound impact on the nature of their witness. He observes:
This method of engagement of radical humility, more than an ethical act or a strategy of intervention for Mennonites, appears to be a part of their being, a cultural characteristic that is at the heart of their religious experience of divine closeness and emulation. Every feeling of pain before the suffering of others is a living embrace of the life and person of Jesus. The community prayers, songs, and sermons often revolve around this theme.[8]
These gracious comments testify not only to the character of the Mennonites that Gopin has known, but also acknowledge the role of the life and person of Jesus and worshipping communities in shaping these particular peacemakers. And yet-given the centrality of Jesus and the importance of the church in their lives-Gopin also notes that these same Mennonites "rarely used words to describe what they loved about their faith, at least not in public."[9] In fact, he says that he sees them sometimes "caught in a bind that is rarely articulated"-a bind that is connected to the fact that they are "deeply committed to tolerance and pluralism."[10]
The bind Gopin describes-of holding together the tensions between the fundamental significance of the particular commitments of one's own faith tradition and an awareness of the plurality of cultures and religions within which we live-is a bind many of us would recognize. The Mennonite peacebuilders Gopin describes are truly working at the cutting edge of our contemporary global culture; the challenges are bound to be difficult and confounding. Mennonites are often working for peace alongside others who do not share their commitment to nonviolence and yet embrace the broader goal of working toward peace and justice. At times, they are working with people from around the world whose lives are informed and shaped by very different faith commitments, and they are led to acknowledge, out of honesty, that these Muslims, Hindus or Jews are often working in profound and sacrificial ways for the sake of peace and justice-sometimes in ways that their Mennonite brothers and sisters (as well as other Christians) are not. Theologically, these realities provoke important questions that suggest the need for conversations going far beyond the limits of this essay.
Those conversations could begin with some important insights from the work of John Howard Yoder. Especially in the last two decades of his life Yoder consciously addressed himself to a world shaped by a plurality of cultures, religions and convictional communities. At the same time, he cautioned that our responses in the light of these legitimate sensitivities could easily replicate the logic of the past, albeit in a new mode. Christianity, Yoder suggested, can respond in two ways:
We can take as a norm the sense of consensus, the unchallenged confidence of that bygone age. In the search for a new consensus we can then jettison the particular, the local, the Jewish, the specific biblical content. Jesus then matters less and agreement more. Universality will be sought at the price of specificity. Dialogue will mean the uncovering of commonality. One will speak of common denominators, of anthropological constants, of several paths up the same mountain.
But there is another way. It would be possible to say that the error in the age of triumphalism was not that it was tied to Jesus but that it denied him, precisely in its power and its disrespect for the neighbor. Then the corrective would be not to search for a new consensus but to critique the old. Its error was not that it propagated Christianity around the world but that what it propagated was not Christian enough. Then the adjustment to Christendom's loss of 'lan and credibility is not to talk less about Jesus and more about religion but the contrary.[11]
One of the substantial binds, inferred from Gopin's comments, is the potential tension between mission and peacemaking. Mennonite peacemakers he has encountered seem to have questions about straightforward witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "They would see Jesus' principal endeavors as involving direct service, aid to and healing of those in need, and the teaching of non-resistance, not the construction of an empire of followers."[12] Gopin conjectures that the reason some of these Mennonite peacemakers have "rarely used words to describe what they loved about their faith, at least not in public," and their reluctance to endorse proselytizing, is related to their awareness of religious pluralism and their embarrassment concerning mission work in the past.[13] In other words, missionaries in the past were often arrogant, insensitive, aggressive or even brutal; and people in other cultures also have their religions; they also know the truth. So, who are we to proselytize?
Certainly the history of missions is full of examples in which missionaries have acted in a poor, or even in an un-Christian, manner. Many of us today cannot help but recognize these painful realities.[14] Indeed, it is precisely this awareness, joined to a heightened consciousness of the plurality of cultures, religions and truth claims, that raises questions about the legitimacy of evangelization or proselytizing.[15] Such questions are only strengthened by our commitment to following Jesus, to embodying nonviolence.
However, as Yoder argues, "to jettison the particular" in the face of our awareness of the plurality of convictions, convictional communities and religions is not a helpful response to this apparent bind. To acknowledge the reality of plurality does not inevitably lead to an affirmation of "pluralism." In fact, as the theologian Gavin D'Costa has said, "There is no such thing as pluralism because all pluralists are committed to holding some form of truth criteria and by virtue of this, anything that falls foul of such criteria is excluded from counting as truth (in doctrine and in practice)." D'Costa continues: "By noticing this logical shape, our attention is drawn to the more interesting question as to what precisely are these criteria, how are they justified, and in what fashion do they work?"[16] The Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf makes a similar point: "Though sensitivity to plurality is essential, the affirmation of plurality is spurious. The only way to decide which among many options, all with their different visions of 'the just,' ought to be affirmed, is by appealing to our own conception of justice. Instead of simply affirming plurality we must nurture an awareness of our own fallibility."[17] So Christians should nurture "an awareness of our own fallibility," a humility, that always informs how we live and relate to others. But just as this humility does not cause us to loosen our commitment to peace and justice, so likewise it should not prevent us from acknowledging that the center of our very existence is the God revealed through Jesus Christ.
Ironically, many would say that it is precisely what they have learned from Jesus that leads them to minimize the centrality of Jesus and the community, the church, that gathers around him. After all, what it means to follow Jesus is to be humble, just, compassionate and hospitable.
Those who are struggling to know what it means to be faithful to Jesus when teaching and working among people of multiple faith commitments are to be applauded. They are modeling a kind of integrity that must be appreciated; Marc Gopin's affirming words indicate as much. However, it is also important to consider the reminder from Miroslav Volf:
[Jesus] was no prophet of "inclusion" for whom the chief virtue was acceptance and the cardinal vice intolerance. Instead, he was the bringer of "grace," who not only scandalously included "anyone" in the fellowship of "open commensality," but made the "intolerant" demand of repentance and the "condescending" offer of forgiveness.[18]
Of course those who would be followers of Jesus should be compassionate, humble and kind. But a commitment to kindness need not entail a minimizing of specific religious convictions. As Paul Griffiths and Delmas Lewis have argued:
the non-judgmental inclusivist seems to believe that you can only be nice to people if you agree with them. This seems clearly false. It is both logically and practically possible for us, as Christians, to respect and revere worthy representatives of other traditions while still believing-on rational grounds-that some aspects of their world-view are simply mistaken.[19]
Without question an increased consciousness of the plurality of cultures and religions raises a number of complicated issues. There are varying conceptions of peace and justice, just as there are varying religious beliefs. This is because convictions, including convictions about matters like peace and justice, are formed within the context of particular cultures and traditions.[20] It necessarily follows that there is a plurality of beliefs.
For Yoder, to talk less about "religion" does not mean to talk less about that organized, historical continuity of followers of Jesus called the church.[21] For to talk about Jesus is also to talk about the social reality of the church and a way of life that is grounded in the worship of the God revealed centrally in Jesus the Messiah.[22] If Mennonites who emigrated from Europe had not constructed "an empire of followers," there would not have been Mennonite authors contributing to a book on "Mennonite contributions to international peacebuilding."
If in fact Mennonite peacemakers are shaped to be who they are by their church communities, then to denounce as illegitimate the building of such churches is, in Yoder's words, a "cut-flower operation." Roses are beautiful; they enhance our lives. But, without the planting and nurturing of rose bushes we do not have such beautiful roses for long. Since it is precisely the community formed around Jesus that has nurtured us to be nonviolent, to care about justice and to be humble, why would we not want to witness to this Jesus whom we proclaim Lord?[23]
It would also be a mistake to imagine-as minimizing the importance of witnessing to Jesus would suggest-that one can simply dispose of the "religious" language of the church and get on with the important tasks of peacebuilding. As William Spohn has noted: "Nonviolence understood as participating in the cross of Christ has a meaning different from Gandhian nonviolence. They are not the same moral practice outfitted in disposable rhetorical garments."[24] Neither Gandhian nonviolence nor a set of Harvard Negotiation Project's conflict transformation skills should be equated with the life of the church.[25]
Throughout his life, Yoder worked to make credible the claim that "we know more fully from Jesus Christ and in the context of the confessed faith than we know in any other ways." Or stated differently: "the lordship of Christ is the center which must guide critical value choices, so that we may be called to subordinate or even reject those values which contradict Jesus."[26] This is not to say that other sources of wisdom need be renounced. Rather, the question is "how to keep them subordinate to the centrality of the guidance of Jesus."[27]
For years Yoder made such claims about Jesus primarily against the backdrop of alternative approaches to social ethics within the field of Christian ethics. Thus he began his book The Politics of Jesus (1972), not by engaging the Scriptures themselves but rather by naming a number of ways in which contemporary approaches to Christian social ethics has often set aside the authority of Jesus.[28] He did this to open the way for his claim that the New Testament itself makes the person of Jesus central for its approach to what we call social ethics. Then he explicated the claims of the New Testament in such a way that the guild of Christian ethicists could find it less easy to dismiss those claims.
By the late 1970s, however, Yoder was quite conscious of the need to address different audiences with a different language. He was especially aware of the need to address those who saw the particularities of Christian language as being overly constricting or narrow, or pursued a more generic language of religion or morality. On a formal level Yoder sought to demonstrate that there is no alternative to particularity. "Reality always was pluralistic and relativistic, that is, historical."[29] That is to say, particularity is, finally, what we are all stuck with; it is what humans have always been stuck with. Some worlds may seem larger, better, less restrictive than our own; but, we delude ourselves if we imagine that any of these worlds are other than particular.[30]
On a more substantive level, Yoder spent much of his life arguing that the gospel of Jesus Christ truly is good news. It is good news not only for those who follow this Jesus; it is also good news for the world. Thus, within our various particular worlds Christians seek to proclaim, and live by, the message of Jesus. "The real issue is not," says Yoder, "whether Jesus can make sense in a world far from Galilee, but whether-when he meets us in our world, as he does in fact-we want to follow him. We don't have to, as they didn't then. That we don't have to is the profoundest proof of his condescension, and thereby of his glory."[31]
Yes, we are not compelled to follow Jesus. And Christians who are involved in conflict transformation do not have to make Jesus determinative for their work. But Yoder would argue that they should. Which still begs a question: what would it mean to make Jesus determinative for Christians who are working in the field of conflict transformation? At a minimum, Yoder's response to this complicated question would have included something like the following.[32] Serious Scripture study and theological reflection would be a significant component of this work. This involves much more than simply lifting out what appear to be immediately "relevant" texts for people involved in conflict transformation. And it involves more than simply using writers whose agenda is relatively close to that of those engaged in active peacebuilding.[33] It would include a commitment to avoid the temptation to make Jesus over into our own image, or to make Jesus fit easily into a previously defined discipline. For instance, it might be tempting to adopt the Jesus created by A. N. Wilson as depicted by Charlotte Allen. According to Allen:
Although Wilson's Jesus is supposed to be a first-century Jewish holy man, he is actually a nondenominational 20th-century therapy-group facilitator whose specialty is "enabling [people] to become themselves," and whose message is: "Suppress if you can the yang and exalt the yin! Keep down the urge to dominate, to score, to triumph, to fight, and exalt the urge to conciliate, to understand, to value."[34]
Of course, no one who writes of Jesus entirely avoids making Jesus into their own image. But Yoder is a good model here in the way he wrote The Politics of Jesus. He more or less dealt with the whole of the New Testament (and to a much lesser extent, the Old Testament). He drew on much of the best in contemporary biblical scholarship while remaining conscious of questions from the disciplines of ethics and systematic theology. In The Politics of Jesus, where he was seeking to show the social and political relevance of Jesus within his own context, Yoder dealt with such unlikely topics as justification by grace and the apocalyptic. But by dealing with the whole of the New Testament he was fair to various strands of biblical thought and not just those immediately relevant to his case. He showed how even topics not normally seen to affirm his general case did in fact do so. The whole picture was enriched and made even more credible by the diversity of the texts and strands of thought he drew upon.[35]
Another component of Yoder's theology for conflict transformation follows from his teaching concerning the centrality of Jesus. "We know more fully from Jesus Christ and in the context of the confessed faith than we know in other ways."[36] Christians should remember that the God we worship is the same God as the God revealed in Jesus, the Jesus whom we seek to follow faithfully. This worship, this following, has its roots in a gathered body of believers that we call church. It is the life together-as the body of Christ-that helps us discern what it means to follow Jesus faithfully today.[37] "Worship," as Yoder has said, "is the communal cultivation of an alternative construction of society and of history."[38] In fact this Christian community helps to remind us, among other things, that "conflict resolution is not only a social science; it is also a set of skills"[39] -skills that are vital for our development as peacemakers. At its core, peacemaking is not a set of skills, of course, but a way of life. As Stanley Hauerwas has observed, peacemaking as a virtue among Christians:
. . . is an act of imagination built on long habits of the resolution of differences. The great problem in the world is that our imagination has been stilled, since it has not made a practice of confronting wrongs so that violence might be avoided. In truth, we must say that the church has too often failed the world by its failure to witness in our own life the kind of conflict necessary to be a community of peace.[40]
Those practices that teach us what it means to live in unity and truth in the midst of our differences shape us to be true Christian peacemakers. Reflecting on these realities of life together in churches that wrestle honestly with their conflicts, Yoder offers the following observations:
To be human is to have differences; to be human wholesomely is to process those differences, not by building up conflicting power claims but by reconciling dialogue. Conflict is socially useful; it forces us to attend to new data from new perspectives. It is useful in interpersonal process; by processing conflict, one learns skills, awareness, trust, and hope. Conflict is useful in intra personal dynamics, protecting our concern about guilt and acceptance from being directed inwardly only to our own feelings. The therapy for guilt is forgiveness; the source of self-esteem is another person who takes seriously my restoration to community.[41]
Yoder lists a half dozen personal qualities and community resources consonant with the Christian faith that are valuable for those who would intervene in conflicts. These include:
a) vulnerability, a readiness to be shot at from both sides;
b) a willingness not to get the credit;
c) the long-range holding power that is rooted in something other than immediate success;
d) a network of understanding people with the same language and values who offer encouragement and acceptable criticism;
e) the commitment of Christians to the dignity of the other party; in Biblical language, "love of enemy";
f) a concern for the doctrine of gifts; through the richness of God we have been given different things to do and have different capacities and different personalities.[42]
At stake here is not whether Yoder or Hauerwas has named the most essential skills needed for peacemaking or conflict transformation. Clearly, other skills could be mentioned. This listing, however, reminds us that there are many skills, virtues and character qualities derived from the life of the church that are invaluable for various peacemaking tasks, including intervening in conflicts. We dismiss a vital resource if we ignore the value of the church community for shaping people to be people of peace.
It is significant that Marc Gopin, an outside observer, recognizes the importance of the Mennonite community for shaping Mennonites to be effective peacemakers. "The maintenance of community, Mennonite community," he writes, " . . . is a vital component of who they are, and also something the field of conflict resolution in general may be able to learn from them."[43] Yet gratifying as some Mennonites may find such comments, Yoder is also quick to remind us that the centrality of the Church community is not justified pragmatically. Rather, the centrality of the Church and the Gospel of Christ it proclaims and embodies is a theological claim. In fact, it is vital to remember that the Christian life is a way of life only properly understood within a network of convictions, convictions that are not judged finally by their utilitarian value but by whether or not they offer glory and praise to God.[44]
Another distinctive learning from John Yoder relevant to a theological foundation for conflict transformation is a clear understanding of the distinction between Church and world. This distinction is crucial for understanding conflict transformation and it has implications for approaching social ethics more broadly as well. We are Christians. The shape that our peacemaking assumes, and the approach we take to conflict transformation, is determinatively shaped by the community that worships and serves the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Our central identity and allegiance belong to this people rather than to any nation-state or particular culture. Hauerwas captures a part of what this means in his contribution in 1993 to a symposium on whether the U. S. government should intervene in Somalia.
If Christians are going to think clearly about American intervention in Somalia, we first need to ask ourselves who we are. It is so easy to be quickly domesticated by the question, Do you not think we should intervene? The problem is in that "we." It makes all the difference who you think the "we" is.
I suspect part of the problem in thinking about intervention in Somalia is that we assume the Christian "we" and the "we" of government are the same. When we do so we are robbed of what it means for Christians to think differently about these matters.[45]
As Yoder put it: "the church's responsibility to and for the world is first and always to be the church."[46] "Our" thinking and "our" behavior as Christians should be identifiably Christian; it should be deeply shaped and nurtured by our commitment to follow Christ within the body of Christ. These need not be different on any given issue from the reflections and behavior of others, whether in government agencies or other organizations with whom peacemakers might work.[47] However, Christians should be prepared that they may be different in many ways, including our unwillingness to use violence. This is because our first commitment is to the Church.
Next, a theology for conflict transformation must be clear about the nature of sin. If Christians have no language to describe evil, then, as literary critic Andrew Delbanco has correctly noted, "we have no language for connecting our inner lives with the horrors that pass before our eyes in the outer world."[48] Likewise, as Christians, we act foolishly if we dispense with the language of sin. As professor of preaching, Thomas Long, says:
Like other key theological terms, "sin" cannot be replaced with any other, more accessible, term. "Immorality" is too tame, too attached to the human will and social codes. "Estrangement and alienation," existentialist favorites, are too small, too focused upon the individual. "Evil" paints too broadly and lacks personal bite, while concepts like "co-dependent" and "psychopathic" are located on a single floor of the human mansion.
No other word gathers up in a single stitch the intrapsychic, the interpersonal, the moral, the ecological, the social, the cosmological, and the theological character of the brokenness of human life and of all of creation. To be able to use the word "sin" is to be able to speak with honesty about who we are with and to each other. Because it places us on common ground, it is the soil of compassion, forgiveness, and hope. An anthropology that lacks a vigorous doctrine of sin is headed for constant disillusionment, chronic and bitter disappointment, and ever deepening spirals of rage over the inability and unwillingness of human beings to act responsibly.[49]
Long is right. We make a serious mistake if we drop sin from our Christian vocabulary, including language related to conflict transformation. Stanley Hauerwas exposes the temptation: "One can only think of Jesus' crucifixion as 'an unfortunate but avoidable failure in communication' if one believes that the remedy for sin is merely better training in the techniques of conflict resolution."[50]
Reformed theologian Cornelius Plantinga Jr. offers a helpful perspective:
The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight-a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.[51]
When this web is broken, as Plantinga says, it is "not the way it's supposed to be." Or to put it in the words of his chapter title from which the quote is taken, there has been a "vandalism of shalom." This vandalism-"sin" in biblical vocabulary-involves desire, emotion, thought, word and deed; it is an affront to God as well as a disordering of God's desired shalom.[52]
Yoder was convinced that peacemaking must be done with a full awareness of the sometimes ugly, violent and unjust realities in the world. This was partly because as a young man, he lived in Western Europe only a few years after the devastations of World War II. There Yoder saw the ravages of war through the eyes of the orphans and in the relative poverty of the French Mennonites he served during the first half of the 1950s. Throughout the rest of his life he was a frequent international traveler, having many friends who lived in situations of poverty, injustice and violence. Yoder knew that peacebuilders could not ignore oppression and suffering. He also knew that Christian theologians must employ a biblical and theological vocabulary appropriate to these complex realities, including the rich and textured language of evil and sin.[53]
Because of the reality of sin in the world, Yoder reminds us, we should not project some future utopian world wherein violence is but a dim memory because all conflicts have been or are in the process of being transformed.[54] Nonetheless, we still live toward a vision, the vision of shalom.
A final relevant theme from the theology of John Howard Yoder for Mennonite conflict transformation programs concerns the ancient debate over effectiveness. As a practical discipline conflict transformation is geared toward results, toward pragmatism and effectiveness. Contrary to what some stereotypes would project, Yoder did not encourage ineffectiveness. He went to some effort to affirm an appropriate concern for effectiveness.[55] However, being deeply rooted theologically, Yoder was relentless in arguing that any concerns for effectiveness should be constrained by central Christian teachings.
In more positive language, Christians need to have their imaginations, their language, their thought patterns and their lives determinatively shaped by the Gospel and the community that attempts to embody it.[56] It is easy to forget that words like "effectiveness," "responsibility," "conflict transformation," and "peace" and "justice" are not self-defining terms. As Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon alert us: "Big words like 'peace' and 'justice' . . . are words awaiting content. The church really does not know what these words mean apart from the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth."[57] Arne Rasmusson adds:
[W]hat is understood as "realism" depends on how the world is seen, which in its turn is related to one's communal practice. An alternative discourse-practice helps the moral imagination and vice-versa. It is this that makes ecclesiology so theologically important. . . . One of the many ways the church can be of service to the world is to nurture alternative ways of seeing the world that question what are thought to be necessities.[58]
"To nurture alternative ways of seeing the world" is a helpful way of understanding the theological project of John Howard Yoder. And it is a useful distillation of what he would say to practitioners of conflict transformation as they consider issues related to effectiveness. As he put it in the last paragraph of the revised edition of The Politics of Jesus:
To follow Jesus does not mean renouncing effectiveness. It does not mean sacrificing concern for liberation within the social process in favor of delayed gratification in heaven, or abandoning efficacy in favor of purity. It means that in Jesus we have a clue to which kinds of causation, which kinds of community-building, which kinds of conflict management, go with the grain of the cosmos, of which we know, as Caesar does not, that Jesus is both the Word (the inner logic of things) and the Lord ("sitting at the right hand"). It is not that we begin with a mechanistic universe and then look for cracks and chinks where a little creative freedom might sneak in (for which we would then give God credit): it is that we confess the deterministic world to be enclosed within, smaller than, the sovereignty of the God of the Resurrection and Ascension. "He's got the whole world in his hands" is a post-ascension testimony. The difference it makes for political behavior is more than merely poetic or motivational.[59]
These brief reflections are really little more than notes for future conversations regarding the interface of theology and conflict transformation. In this essay I have touched, quite briefly, on six topics. Each of these topics is important to the conversations currently taking place, though there are also many other important issues as well. I am well aware, for example, that I have only barely dealt with Yoder's pacifism and its theological contours, in part because dealing adequately with this cluster of issues would require an entire essay in itself. Since all of the issues addressed in this essay impinge, in one way or another, on that set of issues, there is rich potential for many fruitful dialogues in the future.
[*] Mark Thiessen Nation is associate professor of theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. This essay is adapted from the second half of chapter 5 in John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006). 1. One of the difficulties in writing about this subject is that the terminology itself is debated. For shorthand I will use the term "conflict transformation." I do this because as Carolyn Schrock-Shenk and John Paul Lederach define the terms, this phrase seems to have the closest affinity to John Yoder's theological concerns.-Cf. Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, "Introducing Conflict and Conflict Transformation," in Making Peace With Conflict: Practical Skills for Conflict Transformation, ed. Carolyn Schrock-Shenk and Lawrence Ressler (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1999), 35, and John Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 2003), 3-6. The fluidity of the terminology is suggested by the fact that the "Conflict Transformation Program," at Eastern Mennonite University, in recently reaching its tenth anniversary, changed its name to the "Center for Justice and Peacebuilding." Return to Text
[2] . The field of conflict transformation is complicated. For an introduction to and overview of the discipline (or various subdisciplines) see "The Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding," a series introduced by Good Books in 2002. Also see the most recent book by John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Return to Text
[3] . It should be noted that many Mennonite (and some other) practitioners of conflict transformation would acknowledge John Yoder's influence on their work. See, for instance, John Paul Lederach, "Recollections and the Construction of a Legacy: The Influence of John Howard Yoder on My Life and Work," a keynote address at a conference on the legacy of John Howard Yoder held at Notre Dame University in March of 2002. Return to Text
[4] . Some of Yoder's lectures on this subject are being gathered into a forthcoming volume of essays to be edited by Glen H. Stassen and myself. Return to Text
[5] . John Howard Yoder, "A Theological Point of Reference for an Approach to Conflict, Intervention, and Conciliation," unpublished lecture, Mennonite Central Committee Peace Theology Consultation, Kansas City, Apr. 6-8, 1978, 1-2. This consultation helped launch Mennonite Conciliation Services, which was a significant step forward in Mennonite involvement in the field of conflict transformation. Return to Text
[6] . Yoder, "A Theological Point of Reference," 2. Return to Text
[7] . One of Yoder's own best and succinct summaries of the heart of his approach is John Howard Yoder, Nevertheless: Varieties of Religious Pacifism, rev. ed. (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1992), 133-138. Return to Text
[8] . Marc Gopin, "The Religious Component of Mennonite Peacemaking and Its Global Implications," in From the Ground Up: Mennonite Contributions to International Peacebuilding, ed. Cynthia Sampson and John Paul Lederach (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 243. Return to Text
[9] . Gopin, "The Religious Component of Mennonite Peacemaking," 237. Return to Text
[10] . Ibid. Return to Text
[11] . Yoder, "The Disavowal of Constantine," in The Royal Priesthood, 257. For an example of the way in which Yoder's larger body of writings can be used to respond to the questions raised here see Gayle Gerber Koontz, "Evangelical Peace Theology and Religious Pluralism: Particularity in Perspective," The Conrad Grebel Review 14 (Winter 1996):57-85. For some of Yoder's other comments see Yoder, "Radical Reformation Ethics in Ecumenical Perspective," in The Priestly Kingdom (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 119, and "Why Ecclesiology Is Social Ethics," in The Royal Priesthood, 112-114. Return to Text
[12] . Gopin, "The Religious Component of Mennonite Peacemaking," 236. The sentence quoted is followed by: "The latter they might see as a by-product of his work but not as its focus. This does not necessarily mean that they would be displeased by more Christians in the world. It is unclear, and that appears to be a sensitive issue" (pp. 236-237). The ambiguity of these two sentences is typical of Gopin's comments on this subject. It is not of great importance, for the purposes of this essay, which particular people Gopin has in mind here; I believe his characterizations, in general terms, would accurately describe a significant number of educated Mennonites at the beginning of this new century. Return to Text
[13] . Gopin, "The Religious Component of Mennonite Peacemaking and Its Global Implications," 237. Return to Text
[14] However, sometimes the critiques are lacking in nuance. See, e.g., the recent sociological study: Robert D. Woodberry, "The Shadow of Empire: Christian Mission, Colonial Policy, and Democracy in Post-Colonial Societies" (Ph. D. diss. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2004). Return to Text
[15] . For reflections on some of these issues see John Howard Yoder, "On Not Being Ashamed of the Gospel: Particularity, Plularism, and Validation," Faith and Philosophy 9 (July 1992), 285-300. Also see William C. Placher, Unapologetic Theology (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989); Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1989); Paul J. Griffiths, An Apology for Apologetics (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991); and Stanley Fish, The Trouble With Principle (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999). Return to Text
[16] . Gavin D'Costa, "The Impossibility of a Pluralist View of Religions," Religious Studies 32 (June 1996), 223-232, quote from 225-226. Return to Text
[17] . Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 218; emphasis is in the original. Return to Text
[18] . Volf, Exclusion & Embrace, 72-73. One of the challenges is to reflect more critically on current understandings of tolerance and intolerance. See, e.g., Daniel Taylor, "Deconstructing the Gospel of Tolerance," Christianity Today (Jan. 11, 1999), 43-52; and Paul Griffiths, "Proselytizing for Tolerance," First Things (Nov. 2002), 30-34. Return to Text
[19] . Paul Griffiths and Delmas Lewis, "On Grading Religions, Seeking Truth, and Being Nice to People-A Reply to Professor Hick," Religious Studies 19 (March 1983), 77. For a response to the claim that "thin" religion is better than "thick" or serious religion, see Miroslav Volf's unpublished lecture "Christianity and Violence." Return to Text
[20] . For two instructive discussions of the way in which understandings of "justice" are always embedded within particular cultures, traditions and communities, see Alasdair MacIntryre, Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988) and Michael Walzer, Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994). Return to Text
[21] . For Yoder's fuller development of his critique of "religion" see John Howard Yoder, "Civil Religion in American," in The Priestly Kingdom, 182-187. Also see John Howard Yoder, The Fullness of Christ (Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Press, 1987), 1-8, and what is implied by John Howard Yoder, Body Politics. Return to Text
[22] . Anyone who knows the writings of John Yoder knows that for him the church was fundamental. For two of his essays on this see John Howard Yoder, "The Otherness of the Church," and "A People in the World," in The Royal Priesthood, 53- 64, 65-101. Return to Text
[23] . Again, there is a danger here. Our witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ should not be because it motivates people to be good transformers of conflict. We are Christian because we trust in the God revealed in Jesus Christ. This entails a way of life for us and any others who would be so committed. This way of life involves many dimensions, including a commitment to being peacemakers in all that that involves. Return to Text
[24] . William C. Spohn, Go and Do Likewise: Jesus and Ethics (New York: Continuum, 1999), 15. Return to Text
[25] . I mention the Harvard Negotiation Project simply because it is well known.-See, e.g., Roger Fisher, et al., Getting to Yes, 2d ed. (New York: Penguin, 1991). The point is that the language of peacemaking shaped by Christ and the Church is never simply "a rhetorical garment" that can just as easily be transposed into the jargon of any school of conflict transformation studies. The points of reference for Christians are always centrally derived from Christ and the life of the Church, even if these same Christians are making connections between their own lives and, say, conflict transformation. Return to Text
[26] . Yoder, "Introduction," in The Priestly Kingdom, 11. Return to Text
[27] . Yoder, "Radical Reformation Ethics in Ecumenical Perspective," in The Priestly Kingdom, 120. Return to Text
[28] . John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994), 1-20. Return to Text
[29] . Yoder, "But We Do See Jesus," in The Priestly Kingdom, 59. Return to Text
[30] . Yoder, "On Not Being Ashamed of the Gospel." Return to Text
[31] . Yoder, "But We Do See Jesus," in The Priestly Kingdom, 62. Return to Text
[32] . I am not necessarily suggesting that the following should primarily be done by those who deal with conflict transformation. For truly gifted and ambitious people that may be possible. But it might be that the following suggestions would require serious, and perhaps ongoing, dialogue between those who teach or practice conflict transformation and theologians with various specialties. Minimally it would require serious, attentive involvement in the life and teachings of the church. Return to Text
[33] . I think of the following writers who offer valuable insights but are inadequate as sole guides: Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992); Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Story of Jesus (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1988); Ched Myers, et al., Say to This Mountain: Mark's Story of Discipleship (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996); and Robert R. Beck, Nonviolent Story: Narrative Conflict Resolution in the Gospel of Mark (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996). Return to Text
[34] . Charlotte Allen, The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus (New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, 1998), 310. Allen's entertaining and informative book serves as a good reminder of "the perils of modernizing Jesus," to borrow a phrase from H. J. Cadbury. Return to Text
[35] . Biblical studies are much more complicated now than when Yoder wrote the first edition of The Politics of Jesus. But some of books that I would include would be: Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997); N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996); Tom Wright, The Challenge of Jesus (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999); Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996); Michael J. Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul's Narrative Spirituality of the Cross (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001); David Wenham, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995); Walter Brueggemann, Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993); Walter Brueggemann, The Spirituality of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001); Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995). Return to Text
[36] . Yoder, "Introduction," The Priestly Kingdom, 11, emphasis mine. Return to Text
[37] . Reflections on the significance of this for peacemaking are offered in Mark Thiessen Nation, "The First Word Christians Have to Say About Violence Is 'Church': On Bonhoeffer, Baptists, and Becoming a Peace Church," in Faithfulness & Fortitude: In Conversation With the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, ed. Mark Thiessen Nation and Samuel Wells (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000), 83-115. Return to Text
[38] . Yoder, "The Hermeneutics of Peoplehood," in The Priestly Kingdom, 43. Return to Text
[39] . Yoder, "Conflict Resolution," 8. Return to Text
[40] . Stanley M. Hauerwas, "Peacemaking: The Virtue of the Church," in Christian Existence Today, 95. Return to Text
[41] . John Howard Yoder, Body Politics, 8. Return to Text
[42] . Yoder, "A Theological Point of Reference," 6-7. Return to Text
[43] . Gopin, "The Religious Component of Mennonite Peacemaking," 241. Return to Text
[44] . This is one among many things interestingly discussed in Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005). Return to Text
[45] . Stanley Hauerwas, "Who Is 'We'"? Sojourners 22 (April 1993), 15. Return to Text
[46] . Yoder, "The Otherness of the Church," in The Royal Priesthood, 61. Return to Text
[47] . Earlier in his writing career Yoder referred to the distinctiveness of Christian behavior. Later he came to refer, rather, to behavior being specifiably or identifiably Christian.-See Yoder, "A People in the World," in The Royal Priesthood, 81, fn 19. Return to Text
[48] . Andrew Delbanco, The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), 3. Many of us are also aware of how detrimental the self-serving employment of the language of evil can be. For documentation of this see Michael Northcott, An Angel Directs the Storm: Apocalyptic Religion & American Empire (London: I. B. Taurus, 2004). Scott Bader-Saye, in a recent lecture, also helps to name how fear is related to our moral behavior in "The Culture of Fear and the Moral Life," Society of Christian Ethics, Jan. 2005. Return to Text
[49] . Thomas G. Long, "God Be Merciful to Me, a Miscalculator," Theology Today 50 (July 1993), 166-167. If I were to explore sin more fully I would consult Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995); Alastair McFadyen, Bound To Sin: Abuse, Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine of Sin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); and Ted Peters, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994). Return to Text
[50] . Stanley Hauerwas, "'Salvation Even in Sin': Learning to Speak Truthfully About Ourselves," in Sanctify Them in the Truth (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1998), 67. Return to Text
[51] . Plantinga, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be, 10. Return to Text
[52] . Plantinga, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be, 13. Return to Text
[53] . This is apparent is Yoder's book The Christian Witness to the State (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2001; original 1964), as well as elsewhere. For one account of some dimensions of the role of sin in Yoder's thought, see: Gerald W. Schlabach, "The Christian Witness in the Earthly City: John H. Yoder as Augustinian Interlocutor," in A Mind Patient and Untamed: Assessing John Howard Yoder's Contributions of Theology, Ethics, and Peacemaking (Telford, Pa.: Cascadia Publishing House), 221-244. Return to Text
[54] . Again, see John Howard Yoder, The Christian Witness to the State. For Yoder this is related to his affirmation, along with that of the apostle Paul, that the cross of Christ is central for Christians. This cross includes a reminder that faithful Christians will suffer for their faith, sometimes through martyrdom. Return to Text
[55] . See John Howard Yoder, Nevertheless: Varieties of Religious Pacifism, rev. and exp. ed. (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1992), esp. chapters 4 and 5; Yoder, "The Lessons of Nonviolent Experience," in Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution: A Companion to Bainton (Elkhart, Ind.: Co-op Bookstore, 1983), 487-507; Yoder, "The Kingdom as Social Ethic," in The Priestly Kingdom, 96-101; Yoder, "Christ, the Hope of the World," in The Royal Priesthood, 203ff.; and Mark Thiessen Nation, "Demanding Signs, Desiring Wisdom, or Proclaiming Christ Crucified?: John H. Yoder's Contributions to a Peace Ethic," in Doing Theologies in a Baptistic Way, ed. Parush R. Parushev and Nigel Wright (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster Press, forthcoming). Return to Text
[56] . This is wonderfully conveyed through narrative and theological reflection in Charles Marsh, The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice, from the Civil Rights Movement to Today (New York: Basic Books, 2005). Return to Text
[57] . Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 38. Return to Text
[58] . Arne Rasmusson, "Historicizing the Historicist," in The Wisdom of the Cross: Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder, ed. Stanley Hauerwas, Harry Huebner, Chris K. Huebner and Mark Thiessen Nation (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999; repr. Eugene, re.: Wipf & Stock, 2005) 234-235. Return to Text
[59] . Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 246-247. If I were to pursue more serious theological engagement with the field of conflict transformation, I would, in addition to references already given, engage writings such as: Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996); L. Gregory Jones, Embodying Forgiveness (Grand Rapids, Mich.; Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995); Christopher D. Marshall, Beyond Retribution (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001); as well as various biblical and theological works on violence and related issues. 64 The Mennonite Quarterly Review 65 Toward a Theology for Conflict Transformation 43 MQR 80 (January 2006)


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Holiday Acoustic Night Featuring The Mulligan Brothers
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The event will be in the Bama Theatre Greensboro Room, seating is general admission with 100 attendees maximum.
7:30 p.m. show
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The band is releasing a new song on Thanksgiving Day titled "A Christmas Song". It references the classic movie "A Christmas Story", with all proceeds benefitting St. Mary's Children's Home in Mobile, Ala. Buy the song here: http://themulliganbrothers.com/store
For more information about the band, visit themulliganbrothers.com.
The mission of the Druid City Garden Project is to increase access to fresh, locally-grown produce and empower the community to make healthy and sustainable food choices.
For more information visit druidcitygardenproject.org.
The Bama Theatre is rented by various artists and organizations, only events sponsored by The Arts Council are for sale on this page.
Renters have their own ticket providers, visit our calendar and click on the date for more information about individual events.

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text: Introduction TouchPoints provides three distinct databases: The first database, the Hub Survey, provides a detailed view of 'a week in the life' of consumer behaviour. Respondents record their activities for every waking half hour over a seven day period, giving a unique view of people's daily lives and how their media usage fits into these patterns. "We have been able to use TouchPoints to add value to our bespoke client data which has given us new consumer insights as well as given us implications for our scheduling. We don't know what we would do without it now." Mark Greenstreet, Carat Insight TouchPoints1 was published in 2006, TouchPoints2 in 2008, TouchPoints3 in 2010, TouchPoints4 in 2012, TouchPoints5 in 2014 and now TouchPoints6 in 2015 - TouchPoints7 is planned for 2016. The second database, the TouchPoints Channel Planner is the only industry-available, cross-media channel planner. It has been created by integrating the industry media currencies onto the Hub Survey. The third database is the Passive Data, which is created by passively monitoring respondent's smartphones and tablets, which delivers a deeper insight into mobile digital media consumption. In addition, users can integrate their own databases or proprietary tools to build a more complete picture of their company, clients and brands. TouchPoints6 Hub Survey launch The TouchPoints Hub Survey Data from the sixth TouchPoints Survey is now available to subscribers. Major new insights include media consumption by device, double screening, shopping patterns, mobile and tablet usage etc. The TouchPoints6 smartphone respondents were also asked to download a passive app which passively monitors all the activity on their smartphones and tablets including location. View presentations from the launch event held at BAFTA London on 9th October 2015.


text:
Torrey Hills pedestrian hit by vehicle dies
SAN DIEGO A pedestrian in his 70s was struck by a vehicle in the Torrey Hills neighborhood Wednesday morning and later died of his injuries, San Diego police said.
The man's name was not released.
He was jaywalking at 6 a.m., crossing Carmel Mountain Road mid-block between East Ocean Air Drive and Verde Mar de Corazon, when he was hit by an eastbound vehicle, police said.
Paramedics took the man to Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, where he died about an hour later. The driver, who stopped after the collision, was not injured, police said.


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Each year more than 600,000 surgical procedures for colon diseases are performed in the United States. Today, many colon surgeries can be completed with a minimally invasive surgery (MIS) approach. The vast majority of surgeries performed on the colon are for cancer, diverticulitis, Crohn's disease and colitis.
In 1990, LifeBridge Health's Dr. Peter Geis became one of the first surgeons in the nation to perform a minimally invasive colon resection.
In most laparoscopic colon resections, surgeons repair and/or remove portions of a patient's colon through small openings in the abdomen while watching an enlarged image of the patient's internal organs on a television monitor. Depending on the length and complexity of the procedure, patients usually leave the hospital in a few days and return to normal activities more quickly than patients recovering from open surgery.
MIS is also being used for fecal diversion with the creation of an ileostomy, an opening between the surface of the skin and the small intestine, and a colostomy, an opening between the surface of the skin and the colon. Fecal diversions are often used to treat complex rectal or anal problems and poor control of bowels (incontinence). If a patient has had an ileostomy or colostomy that must be closed, MIS may be used to easily reverse and close the ileostomy or colostomy with a very short hospitalization.
Other common gastrointestinal MIS procedures include small bowel resection, appendectomy/cecectomy and various procedures on the stomach.
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Third Marine Aircraft Wing's first F-35B arrives on the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma flightline, in Yuma, Ariz., in this 2012 file photo. (Reuters)
Air Force close to decision on basing F-35s in Vermont
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I am so please with these bouquets - the hydrangeas look quite real especially from a short distance (eg. 3ft). The size can be slightly modified depending on how much you fluff it out - it can be 7 inches compressed or even 10 inches if you really fluff out the stems to add other fillers. There are a few petals (like 2-3) with imperfections such as slight miscoloration or not cut quite properly but overall it looks very very good. I ordered two so far and I received almost mirror image bouquets - so not identical, but I think this is even more natural looking especially if all my bridesmaids are carrying one of these.
The leaves are all underneath the bouquet and they are not that great - they're definitely misshapen by packaging and they don't look very realistic. I will probably get rid of most of them.
I attach pictures with relative size to my body (I'm 5'3), with it flash and with flash.
Vancouver BC
Photo without flash
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I bought these to use as bridesmaids bouquets and as a base bouquet for my own bouquet. The flowers are beautiful - I'm very happy with the way they look. I have received two of the bouquets so far and they are sort of mirror images of each other - so not identical, which I think will look more natural when each of my bridesmaids is carrying one. There are some minor defects on 2-3 petals only - bad color or a bad cut of the petal, but overall the flowers look very very good. The leaves are all underneath the bouquet and not throughout as the advertised image shows. The leaves are quite fake looking and I will probably get rid of them. The stems are plastic and definitely fake looking but they are sturdy. I will cover the stems with floral tape and ribbon so this is a non-issue for me. The bouquet can be adjusted for size too - if kept compact it is probably about 7 inches in diameter, but you can fluff out the individual hydrangea stalks and make its probably up to 10 inches in diameter. You can also totally separate the stalks and rearrange to form another bouquet. These were shipped very quickly and and they arrived in very good condition.
Vancouver, BC
I am so happy I went with this bouquet for my bridal party. It is so pretty and totally affordable!
I LOVE this bouquet! It looks so real and looks exactly like the picture portrays it. I only ordered one at first just to see what it looks like. I will be ordering more for my Bridesmaid to use as their bouquets. I am so excited! I added a few small ivory roses in the bouquet just to give it an extra pop. I also wrapped the stems in Ivory lace to add even more flair that will go with my wedding colors. Overall, i am so pleased with this bouquet as well as all the other flowers i ordered from AFloral.com. Very impressed!
Valparaiso, Indiana
I was so hesitant about ordering a silk flower bouquet, but was so suprised at how beautiful these are!! I would definitely recommend these!
Jonesboro, AR
I'd say it looks better in this picture but it's still pretty. Not too small nor too big. It has more purple than blue though.
I am using this as my throw bouquet for my wedding in July! It is the perfect size and cheap price with my exact colors.
Dubuque, IA
I used this as a starting point for my bridal bouquet, combining with another pre-made bouquet from this site. These flowers tended to come apart a little easier that I would have liked. But the quality of the flowers is amazing, you can't beat it for the price. Would buy from afloral again and again! Arrived quickly too, great for a bride in a time crunch! :)
Brandy G.
I ordered all of my flowers from Afloral and I loved them all... except for this bouquet (which I was going to use for my bridal bouquet no less!). Just from the way the flowers are, you can clearly see the stems are plastic. I am going to be taking these apart and combining them with another bouquet so hopefully it will look "normal". They aren't terrible but be warned!
Maryanne V.
New Jersey
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text:
The Guardian website has a report here on the impact of today's budget on local government.
Their key points were:
• Restrictions on public sector pay were announced.
• Welfare Cap to be set at £119bn in 2015-16, rising to £127bn in 2018-9.
• Osborne said house building was up by 23% but this wasn't enough. He said further reforms to the planning system were being made and that he wanted to get Britain building.
• The government will make £140m available for repairs and maintenance to damaged flood defences.
• Local authorities will also be able to bid from a pot of £200m for filling potholes.


text:
A trio of powerful Bay Area lawmakers called Monday on the California High-Speed Rail Authority to rethink its plans for running bullet trains up the Peninsula and presented their own ideas for the local section of the $43 billion project.
"If we can barely find the funds to do high-speed rail right, we most certainly cannot find the funds to do high-speed rail wrong," said U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, and state Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Los Altos, in a joint statement.
At a press conference at the Menlo Park Caltrain station, the lawmakers said the rail authority can save money and spare Peninsula cities aggravation by developing a "blended system" that joins high-speed rail with Caltrain.
"Why duplicate a system?" Eshoo asked. "Why tear up the Peninsula?"
Through a combination of electrification, a new train control system and other improvements, the lawmakers say it's possible to create a "21st Century Caltrain" system that would send high-speed trains from San Jose to San Francisco. North of San Jose, bullet trains would use the same tracks as an upgraded Caltrain and pass commuter trains in the same way that Baby Bullets pass non-express trains.
The lawmakers said they want the system to remain within the Caltrain right of way and would oppose running trains along elevated structures. They also said the rail authority should halt work on a study of the current project's environmental impacts, branding it a "fool's errand" in the face of local opposition and limited funding. The federal government last week eliminated all funding for high-speed rail projects.
Gordon said he and other lawmakers want the trains to run at or below-grade, but that decision should be made on a community-by-community basis.
Obligated to study larger system
The rail authority is already developing a "phased approach" for the Peninsula, which could initially include many of the lawmakers' proposals, said Jeff Barker, deputy director of the authority. Since there isn't enough money to build a statewide high-speed rail system all at once, the rail authority may have to start with fewer aerial structures, for example, he said.
But while Eshoo, Simitian and Gordon want to shrink the scope of the project on the Peninsula, Barker said the rail authority is obligated under California environmental law to plan for the larger system, which would add tracks and possibly involve land seizures.
"What we're studying now is the biggest possible system we reasonably think we'd build in 2035," he said. "Whether we actually end up building that is another story."
Barker compared it to a couple getting permits for an eight-bedroom house because they envision having a large family.
"If you ultimately build a two-bedroom house with one bath, because that turns out to be what you need, you're fine," he said.
But if you build the larger home without the necessary permits, Barker said, "then you're stuck and in fact, in our case, you're running afoul of environmental law."
He also said a "full build-out will allow for faster service, full service, and more trains per hour, which we think will be required."
Caltrain also announced Monday it is launching its own study of how the commuter rail can fit into a phased approach to high-speed rail. The first phase would include electrification of Caltrain, according to a statement.
"The concept of phased implementation has merit," Marian Lee, Caltrain executive officer for planning and development, said in the statement. "Defining what it looks like and how it fits into the (high-speed rail process) is challenging and Caltrain, (the high-speed rail authority) and Peninsula communities will need to work together to define a planning process."
Lawmakers with leverage
In their respective legislative bodies, Simitian and Gordon both chair subcommittees responsible for doling out money to high-speed rail. Simitian told The Daily News he would use his role, "ultimately, if it came to that, to simply vote against further funding" for the project.
Gordon said it would be many years before any statewide bullet train system is built, and that funds should now be "spent in a way that enhances and improves" existing transportation systems.
The lawmakers' blended proposal, Eshoo said, would build community consensus for high-speed rail, as opposed to existing plans that have been "by and large" rejected by "one community after another."
"The California High-Speed Rail Authority -- and I don't think they started out intending to alienate anyone -- but it is what it is," she said at the press conference. "I really believe they have squandered a great deal of good will on the Peninsula by not honoring our communities."
Nadia Naik, co-founder of the watchdog group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design, said the lawmakers' proposal is "much closer to an acceptable reality" than the current project. But she added that there are "a whole host of other macro issues that are still unanswered," such as concerns about the rail authority's business plans.
She agreed that the lawmakers' ideas sound similar to the phased approach proposed by the rail authority, but said the difference is the authority is looking to "landbank" extra space.
"That doesn't come for free on the Peninsula," Naik said.
Palo Alto Council Member Larry Klein, who is an alternate representative to the Peninsula Cities Consortium, said he was "very pleased" by the lawmakers' statement Monday. It contained "a lot of the ideas we've been suggesting all along," such as rejecting aerial structures and ensuring the rail line stays within the current right-of-way.
"I hope (the statement) will shake up the authority to move along these lines," Klein said.
Email Diana Samuels at email@example.com.


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One of the most challenging aspects that online researchers must contend with is information overload, especially when it comes to news searching and gathering. Years ago, we were starved for every newspaper around the globe to be free on the web however; it only led to a glut of information that was too much for some to wade through. Thanks to the power of social media, there are tools which will allow you to break through the "information clutter". Recently launched, XYDO is one of the tools that is trying to compete with Digg and StumbleUpon.
XYDO is a social news platform which allows you to share news with individuals in your social network. You may find people on XYDO by connecting your Twitter or Facebook account or start building a separate network from existing communities or connections already using the platform. Figure 1 illustrates the results given for possible connections for the topic, "social media".
Once you have established a network on XYDO, you can start sharing and searching for news. Figure 2 demonstrates the search query for "foreign investment".
Please note that when you enter your search terms, the application will ask you whether you are looking for subject, connection or article results. The digits attached to each result are the number of votes (or Thumbs Up) an article has received. Figure 3 is the listing of the Top Article Results from XYDO.
One of the features that is particularly interesting is the "My News" section in which there is a mix of news via your connections and communities.
XYDO is available at www.xydo.com


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Urban Apiculture Institute
The mission of the Urban Apiculture Institute is to promote honey bees and healthy beekeeping practices in Milwaukee County.
We train beekeepers in practical, successful, and responsible urban beekeeping practices and foster closer relationships among beekeepers. Furthermore, we educate the public about the benefits of bees to our environment and the wonderful products of the hive.
Urban Apiculture Institute Video
Urban Apiculture Facts
- Keeping bees in urban areas increases vegetable production in gardens as well as seed production in native wildflower gardens.
- Keeping gentle European honeybees will dilute the aggressive behavior common in feral honeybee colonies.
- Honeybees are being kept in at least 5 locations in the City of Milwaukee.
- Honeybees are being kept in virtually every large urban area in the world including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Toronto, London, and Paris.
- More people die per year from lightning (100) than from insect stings
For more information, contact Linda Reynolds, 414-256-4652, email@example.com.
For more information about the Urban Apiculture Institute or the Certified Beekeeper program, contact Linda Reynolds:
|Harris Byers
|Linda Reynolds
Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension
9501 W. Watertown Plank Road, Building A
Wauwatosa, WI 53226-3552


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Definition of King Alfred's cakes in English:
King Alfred's cakes
plural noun
Another term for cramp balls.
Example sentences
- Peter James takes us on a tour through the enthralling world of scarlet elf cups, death caps and King Alfred's cakes.
- The Latin name for King Alfred's cakes is Daldinia concentrica.
- Its common name of King Alfred's cakes comes from an incident where the King burned some cakes and the fungus resembled these burned cakes.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: King Alfred's cakes
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
= trending


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Merck Wins Third Fosamax Trial; Record Now Stands at 3-1
This is how the mass-tort product-liability game is played.
Plaintiffs' and defense counsel typically agree on several bellwether cases to try before all the others. Based on those results, the sides can then crunch the numbers and start wrapping their heads around a settlement figure.
In other words, the results from the early cases often have broad ramifications — which is why Merck's lawyers on Friday likely breathed a huge sigh of relief after a Manhattan jury found in the company's favor in a case involving Judith Graves, a 67-year old woman who claimed she suffered severe jaw problems as a result of her use of the bone-thinning drug, Fosamax. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the NYT story; here, here, here and here for earlier LB posts on the Fosamax situation.
Graves took the drug until November 2004, and her jaw was amputated in 2006.
"We believe the evidence showed the company acted properly and that Fosamax did not cause the plaintiff's dental and jaw problems," said Mike Brock, a lawyer for Merck. "Unfortunately, the plaintiff had multiple medical conditions that can cause people to develop jaw and dental problems, regardless of whether they were taking Fosamax."
Merck is facing more than 900 cases in state and federal courts, generally alleging that use of Fosamax can cause a jaw-destroying condition known as osteonecrosis and that Merck failed to properly warn of this risk.
Graves's case was the third so-called bellwether case to go to trial.
A jury awarded $8 million to a Florida woman earlier this year, but a judge ruled in October that the award was excessive. A jury found in favor of Merck in another case in May. A fourth case was previously dismissed by a New York federal judge overseeing the Fosamax litigation.
Timothy O'Brien, a lawyer for Ms. Graves, said he was disappointed with the verdict and believed several rulings by the judge restricted the lawyers' ability to try their case, including a ruling excluding their expert witness. He said they plan to appeal.
"We'll keep fighting for Ms. Graves," Mr. O'Brien said.


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GameSquad Forums
PC Gaming
PC Game Forums
Napoleonic Battles
> HPS Wagram: RAAB - What Gives?
View Full Version :
HPS Wagram: RAAB - What Gives?
05 Jan 07, 02:24
The Parameter data allows infantry to cross creeks but the game engine won't let you. Anyone else found this or is it just me?
16 Jan 07, 18:03
This post was on another SZO forum and Rich H. graciously moved it here as I didnt have permissions to reply to it:
I had sent in my reply to Greg earlier but here is the text of what I sent him:
The value for creek was something I was testing out but didnt change back in time for one of our past updates.
Creeks are hardcoded in the game and John Tiller has not expressed any desire to change that. I am hoping to get him to allow Has Boats equipped units to be able to cross creeks too. Keep your fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, use the fords/stream hexes. That is what the cavalry and infantry had to do as well.
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A working-class Londoner sends her husband and son off to a Sunday afternoon soccer match so she can bed a seductive neighbor. As she watches the television over her lover's shoulder, she witnesses the death of her family as the stadium is torn to shreds by terrorists. Incendiary is written in the form of a letter from the nameless narrator to Osama bin Laden in the year following her loss. As she struggles to make a living, salves herself with Valium and suffers delusions, Cleave's protagonist pours out her rage, despair and shame. "Well Osama," she writes, "I sometimes think we deserve whatever you do to us...even when you blow us into chunks we don't stop fighting each other."
First-novelist Chris Cleave handles his topic deftly for the most part. At times in the narrator's downward spiral, her situation becomes needlessly, perhaps pointlessly, awful. Ultimately, though, Cleave's novel is a provocative exploration of 9/11 and its ugly aftermath.


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Do anybody having a Netscape (AIM) Mail account experience the
defined message filters don't run automatically upon receiving new
mail? (happens for me with SeaMonkey 1.0 and 1.1)
While I've selected the Inbox and choose Tools -> Run Filters on
Folder they run o.k. I also have another IMAP Mail account (from
MyRealBox) but it runs its filters automatically o.k.


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Sir Paul McCartney played a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. Read more »
Paul McCartney live at Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium
Sir Paul McCartney's third show of the 2012 leg of his On The Run tour took place at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium. Read more »
US DVD/Blu-ray release for Scorsese's George Harrison documentary
Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World is to be released in North America on 1 May 2012. Read more »
Paul McCartney live at Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
Sir Paul McCartney's second show of the 2012 leg of his On The Run tour took place at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. Read more »
Paul McCartney live at Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sir Paul McCartney kicked off the 2012 leg of his On The Run tour with a three-hour concert at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Read more »
Paul and Linda McCartney's Ram to be reissued
Paul and Linda McCartney's 1971 album Ram is to be reissued in the US on 22 May 2012, and elsewhere in the world on 21 May. Read more »
Yellow Submarine to be reissued on DVD and Blu-ray
The Beatles' 1968 animated feature film Yellow Submarine is to be reissued in May on DVD and Blu-ray. Read more »


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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Get it today!Shop Now
OrAdd to Wish List
Gift Basket Includes: This bountiful basket includes Green D'Anjou pears, Columbia D'Anjou pears, Bosc pears, Fuji apples, Red Delicious apples, Navel oranges, Seckel pears, Royal golden pineapple, Natural pear cider (10 oz.), Monterey Jack cheese, Crackers, Mixed nuts, Bing Cherry chocolates, Blueberry chocolates, Almond chocolates, (Fruit selections and basket style may vary by season.) Overflowing with luscious fruit and gourmet delicacies, the Orchard Harvest Cheese and Fruit Gift Basket is a signature Groves Goodness basket. With chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate-covered almonds, Monterey Jack cheese, mixed nuts, sparkling pear cider, chocolate-covered blueberries, honey wheat crackers, pears, apples, pineapples, oranges, and dried fruit, this gift will truly express your best wishes and generosity. For three generations, the Webster family and The Fruit Company have been bringing the nation the world's finest fruit, grown primarily in the lush Hood River Valley of northern Oregon. Please note that for this item, the following services are available during the checkout process: Multiple Ship-To, which allows you to send gifts to several recipients with a single order. Future Delivery, which lets you select a specific date for delivery, so your gift arrives at the perfect time. Gift basket containing fruit, cheese, and crackers Delicious chocolate-covered fruits and nuts 1 size available Express your generosity in style Fruit selection may vary by season. Price: $112.99
© Copyright 2016 - Christmas.com. All rights reserved and protected by Christmas Spirit


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MAR 05, 2014 - The Guardian
A Must Read - Share
US secretary of state John Kerry to meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as Europe discusses possible sanctionsThe US and Russia are to hold talks on easing east-west tensions over Ukraine as the west steps up efforts to persuade Moscow to pull its forces back to base in Crimea and avert the risk of a war.The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will meet face-to-face for the first time since the crisis escalated, after a conference in Paris attended by all five permanent members of the UN security council.Nato and Russia will hold
Read More
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Hey you have no friends!!! Get to work and start inviting friends to help build your Comunitee. Click Here to invite friends.
© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


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Australian Who Says He's Jesus On LBC - Watch In Full
Wednesday 17th July 2013
An Australian IT worker who believes he is Jesus appeared live on LBC 97.3 on Wednesday morning and told James O'Brien: "Call me AJ."
Alan John Miller took part in a fascinating hour of radio, claiming he is the son of God and his partner Mary Luck had been present when he was crucified - and she was in fact her biblical namesake Magdalene.
He has "very clear memories" of his crucifixion 2,000 years ago, but only remembered that he was Jesus in 2004. He is now the leader of a religious group called The Divine Truth.
The 50-year-old Aussie took calls from LBC 97.3 listeners and one asked him: "Hundreds of people have claimed to be Jesus. What makes you different to any of them?"
AJ responded: "The only way to verify it is for when you get to the spirit world to meet my friends who I lived with in the 1st century."
He admitted that he hadn't yet carried out any miracles in his current body, but insisted: "I waited 30 years to do so in the 1st century." How old are you now?, asked James. "50". So you're 20 years behind schedule, responded James.
AJ admitted that many people will simply not believe that he is Jesus, saying: "People are entitled to have their own opinion of whether I'm Jesus, but I know who I am. I had no desire to believe this. It's just who I am."
He also revealed he had spoken with Adam and Eve in the spirit world - "they were the greatest examples of human beings I've seen" - and that most of Charles Darwin's theories on evolution were wrong.


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Gotterdammerung at Metropolitan Opera
05/11/13 Metropolitan Opera House, Amsterdam Ave. & 64th St. Map
212-362-6000 www.metoperafamily.org Ages: All Ages
212-362-6000 www.metoperafamily.org Ages: All Ages
This event has already taken place. Click here for the latest events.
Robert Lepage's landmark production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen is back for three complete cycles in spring 2013, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. The Ring's cataclysmic finale stars Deborah Voigt and Katarina Dalayman as Brunnhilde, opposite Jay Hunter Morris and Lars Cleveman as Siegfried. Hans-Peter Konig is Hagen and Fabio Luisi conducts.
Venue Description:
Articles About Metropolitan Opera
- The Dance Performances You Must See in NYC Summer 2016
- What to See at New York's Lincoln Center This Summer
- The Best New York Dance Performances of Spring 2016
- The Best Things to Do in NYC in April
- Opera's Greatest Double Bill at The Met—Discount Code
- Things To Do in NYC (1/13-1/20)
- What to Do at the New York Public Library This Winter
- What to Do on the Upper West Side
- Lincoln Center Free: The Best Events Coming Up at the Rubinstein Atrium
- Autumn in New York: NYC Fall Sightseeing Must-Sees
- Take $3 Off Radio City Music Hall Tour


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Connect with us 1-800-852-0154 Email
Telluride Large Format Outdoor Signs
Stonehouse Signs specializes in providing 100% Custom Signs to your exact specifications. Early in the ski season this year, Telluride Ski Resort asked Stonehouse to create a series of large format signs for a freestanding display that is located at the base of the mountain.
As always, Stonehouse delivered- Lightning Fast. Here is the final concept for the signs we printed for this Telluride project. They provided the artwork, and we did the rest!
Click the Image To Enlarge
Each sign is extremely detailed, and every image is crisp and clear, from the texture of the snow to the trail names on the map.
Let's take a closer look at some of the detail Stonehouse Signs can incorporate into your large format outdoor sign!
Scroll over the circles below to learn more about each particular area, and click within the circle to zoom in and see the amazing detail that Stonehouse can produce for any outdoor large format sign.
The map pictured here was 8 feet wide x 4 feet tall!
Source: Telluride Ski Resort
Are you looking for a detailed, durable outdoor sign?
Send us your idea by clicking the button below,
or give us a call at (800) 525-0456 and our
expert staff will take it from there!
- Indoor or Outdoor Materials Available
- Any Size or Dimension
- Full Color Images, Graphics and more!


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This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
March 13, 2002
Renewable Energy Tax Credit Extended Through 2003
Congress last week approved the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act - commonly known as the economic stimulus bill - and in the process provided a two-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC). The PTC provides renewable power producers with a tax break of 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (in 1992 dollars, adjusted for inflation) and applies to electricity produced from wind power, poultry waste, and biomass power produced from dedicated energy crops. The credit now applies retroactively to installations placed in service since the beginning of this year, and extends through the end of 2003. The PTC is crucial for wind energy development in the United States, and its extension was hailed by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). See the AWEA press release.
President Bush signed the bill into law on Saturday. See the White House press release.
Wind energy is currently the world's fastest-growing energy source, with an average growth rate of 30 percent per year for the past five years, according to AWEA. In early April, the organization will be teaming with the European Wind Energy Association and the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers' Association to host the 2002 Global Windpower Conference in Paris. See the AWEA press release.