Inspired by the conference theme of Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin, these presentations use qualitative research methods to explore how churches and other forms of religious community respond creatively and constructively to violence and practice nonviolence.
Table-top role-playing games (ttrpgs) have recently experienced a renaissance, and are being used in ecclesial communities as outreach beyond proselytization. This paper will determine how this ecclesial practice can encourage non-violence in the 'real world,' especially Principles #5 and #6 of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Non-Violence. New data will be collected through ethnography in EcclesiCon at Central Baptist Church in Palmyra, NJ (for example, interviewing gamers and participating in games); author's experiences at other gaming 'conventions' (i.e., gamer gatherings) will also be used. Data will then be analyzed through the lens of immersion (i.e., the act of 'inhabiting' the game world individually and communally) and performance (i.e., the structured yet fluid habitus of gamers) from Role-Playing Games Studies. The hypothesis is that ttrp gaming is demonstrably beneficial as micro-ecclesial practice, especially when intended as macro-community building (i.e., within and beyond the church itself).
This paper utilizes ethnographic research to examine how one ecumenical basement church uses discussion-style preaching to create an opportunity for congregants (including many people who experience homelessness) to process their experiences through the lens of scripture and communally interpret and reconstruct. Unhoused people are vulnerable to multiple forms of violence, including encounters with ecclesial practices that dehumanize the poor or treat people as mere “objects” of service. In this paper, I examine how this embodied nonviolent communication as preaching creates a space with the potential for communal processing and healing where people can imagine and enact resistance to violence together. While in this specific marginalized community “sharing the sermon” offers people experiencing homelessness space to process the forms of violence they encounter, I believe that within this example are opportunities for emulating this practice as a form of communication across theological (and other) differences and resistance to violence.
This paper builds on a research project with New-England based congregations to examine the complexities, challenges, and transformations three churches have experienced in pursuing callings to racial justice and repair. It begins by discussing the initiatives each congregation has taken in pursuing the call to racial justice, including examination of ecclesial histories and injustices, uncovering problematic theologies and spiritualities, “abolishing” interiorized bias, and taking tangible steps towards racial repair, such as making material reparations. The paper then explores the challenges and complexities congregations have faced as they have pursued vocations of repair, including confronting ecclesial complicity in racial violence and identifying paths of repair that respond meaningfully to historical harms and create future peace. The paper concludes by naming some of the “celebrations” and areas of growth for congregations in pursuing callings to racial justice, as well as identifies implications for thinking about ecclesial vocations in an age of violence.