Even if all of the elements we know to be significant in the process of reconciliation were present, reconciliation would not necessarily take place. Reconciliation is a nonlinear, nonalgorithmic process that involves matters of the heart. From emergent creativity and its links to mysticism, to the evolution of emotions as drivers of thought, Awakening weaves cutting-edge discoveries in complexity theory with philosophical reflections on consciousness and language, drawing on Lonergan and Wittgenstein. Awakening as a phenomenon takes on a vibrant vitality as an aspect of transpersonal psychology and it manifests as imperatives to take responsibility for our relationships, to address complex challenges of justice, and to adopt a heart-based approach to peacebuilding.
Reviews
Vern Neufeld Redekop and Gloria Neufeld Redekops edited book Awakening: Exploring Spirituality, Emergent Creativity, and Reconciliation illustrates that spirituality is relational, diachronic, and part of tacit knowledge that empowers a person to develop the inner resources of creativity, empathy, forgiveness, and reconciliation in order to transform the most difficult situations in deep rooted conflicts. The book is a must read for those interested in the role of spirituality in peacebuilding, and in transforming conflicts constructively. -- Sean Byrne, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba Awakening offers a wide range of inquiries and conversations pursuant into reconciliation in an ever more polarized and fragmented world. Stuart Kauffman's framing chapter focused toward the potential and pillars of re-enchantment coupled with extraordinary reflections and responses across disciplines, provide ever more compelling evidence that imagination with inner-outer awareness, heart-based, and relationship-centric understandings of transforming conflict are not peripheral but form the very DNA of peacebuilding practice. An extraordinary book that evokes reflection and offers courage to take up the emergent learning beyond the far too-often narrow and mechanistic views of peace practices. -- John Paul Lederach, Professor Emeritus University of Notre Dame
Acknowledgments
1 The SECR Story: The Narrative and Key Concepts behind the Spirituality,
Emergent
Creativity, and Reconciliation Research Initiative
Vern Neufeld Redekop
I. SCIENCE, EMOTIONS, AND RE-ENCHANTMENT
2 The Re-Enchantment of Humanity: The Implications of No Entailing Laws
Stuart Alan Kauffman
3 Microscopes and Mystics: A Response to Stuart Kauffmans Call to
Re-Enchantment
Neil Theise
4 Natural Spirituality and the Biology of Emotion
Katherine Peil Kauffman
5 Scientific Investigation and Spiritual Awareness: Stuart Kauffman, Bernard
Lonergan, and
Spiritual Re-Enchantment
Jamie Price
II. THE EMERGENCE OF THE ETHICAL
6 Prophetic Reading and Emergent Creativity in Genesis 1
Sandor Goodhart
7 Reinventing Natural Law as a School of Virtue: Towards a Global Ethic in
the Context of Emergent Creativity
Nadia Delicata
8 The Emergence of both Torah and Jesus: Sources of Hope in the Face of
Desperation
Vern Neufeld Redekop
III. RELIGION, EMERGENCE, AND WELLBEING
9 Spiritual Awakenings and Subsequent Rigidity in Evangelical History
Gloria Neufeld Redekop
10 Revelation Through Diversity in Creation: A Muslim Alternative to the
Modern Liberal
Paradigm of Diversity
Matthew A. MacDonald
11 What Linguistic Philosophy and Abrahamic Faith Can Teach Us About Embodied
Peacemaking and the Authentic Use of Peace Language
Barbod Salimi
IV. CONSCIOUSNESS, RELATIONSHIPS, JUSTICE, AND PEACE
12 Profound Transformation in Relationship and Creativity in Spiritual (and
Secular)
Awakening: Implications for Reconciliation
Kelly A. Kilrea
13 Intentional Peace: The Role of Human Consciousness in the Emergence of
Peace and Conflict
Megan Price
14 Practices of Reconciliation and Relational Responsibility
Borislava Manojlovic and Andrea Bartoli
15 Justice Displaced or Justice Restored?: The emergent properties of apology
as a means of
addressing past wrongs
Neil Sargent
16 The Relational Ecosystem for Peace: An Integrated Heart-Based Approach to
Peacebuilding
Brigitte Gagnon and Patrice Brodeur
Index
About the Contributors
Vern Neufeld Redekop is professor of conflict studies at Saint Paul University.
Gloria Neufeld Redekop is author and researcher in spirituality and religious social history.
