wfn.org | WCC UPDATE: Violence & spirituality - Kobia in US

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World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 01/11/2005

OVERCOMING VIOLENCE IS AN ECUMENICAL TASK FOR WHICH SPIRITUALITY IS A
RESOURCE, KOBIA TELLS US AUDIENCE

	See WCC press release PR-05-65 of 19 October 2005

"Violence does not recognize differences between Protestant, Catholic,
Orthodox or Pentecostal. Violence is our common plague, and non-violent
love, peace, justice and reconciliation are our common calling," Rev. Dr
Samuel Kobia told participants in a 27-29 October international conference
in Boston, USA.

Sponsored by the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in cooperation with the WCC and the Boston Theological Institute, the conference
focused on "Violence and Christian spirituality".

Setting out reasons why overcoming violence is "an eminently ecumenical
task," the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary observed that
the Council's goal in declaring the 2001-2010 Decade to Overcome Violence"
(DOV) has been "not so much to eradicate violence as to overcome the
spirit, the logic and the practice of violence by actively seeking
reconciliation and peace".

Referring to various faces of violence, from global terrorism and the war
on terrorism, political conflict and war to interpersonal and domestic
violence, Kobia went on to focus on resources for peace.

One such resource is inter-religious dialogue, Kobia said. He cautioned,
however, that "Dialogue is not and can never serve as an ambulance in a
sudden crisis or conflict. It is more like a prophylactic medicine, which
when often and regularly used, will sustain health even in difficult
situations."

For Kobia, an equally powerful resource for peace is a spirituality that
"inspires and shapes our individual and joint actions". Believing "that
prayer and contemplation together form the foremost discipline for
overcoming violence," he emphasized that "the Orthodox traditions have
much to offer" in this area.

"There is the deeply rooted and long-standing vision in Orthodox faith and
life for a spirituality of holistic peace, integrating creation, human
life and the Trinity, working together for salvation and reconciliation,"
Kobia concluded.

The full text of Samuel Kobia's speech is available on the Decade to
Overcome Violence website at:
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/

This material may be reprinted freely.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.