Jim Forest Institute for Religion, Peace & Justice

08/31/2026

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay “Civil Disobedience” (originally published as “Resistance to Civil Government”), an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau’s philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of many peacemakers such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.

08/27/2026

We have a few extra spots available in our coming “Religion, Peace & Violence” course starting mid-September (all online) facilitated by Fr. Joash P. Thomas & Darnell Barkman … we’ve thus reopened registration for the next two weeks!

You can take it as part of a graduate program, the Certificate in Religion, Peace & Justice, or on its own for personal enrichment (credit or audit options available).

Jump in and join us as we explore the the intersection of religion, peace and violence in our world.

ssu.ca/application 👈🏼

08/26/2026

Reading the Bible in an age of G E N O C I D E 📖

Join us every fall & spring semester for “Peace & Violence in the Old & New Testament” (two courses) facilitated ONLINE by Brad Jersak 🤲🏼

jfi.ssu.ca 👈🏼

08/25/2026

“When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.” - DOM HÉLDER CÂMARA

08/24/2026

On today’s special 20th episode of the Good on Wood Podcast we reboot an interview between Howard Thurman and Landrum Bolling from 1976 thanks to the good folk at the Howard Thurman Digital Archive. This newly edited and freshly remastered conversation follows Howard Thurman from his boyhood in segregated Daytona Beach to his seminary years, teaching career, and mystical theology and praxis. Thurman reflects on the spiritual power of nature, his grandmother’s influence, racial humiliation, prayer, hope, and nonviolence as a love ethic to survive a hostile world.

Listen NOW wherever you podcast.

08/24/2026

On today’s special 20th episode of the Good on Wood Podcast we reboot an interview between Howard Thurman and Landrum Bolling from 1976 thanks to the good folk at the Howard Thurman Digital Archive. This newly edited and freshly remastered conversation follows Howard Thurman from his boyhood in segregated Daytona Beach to his seminary years, teaching career, and mystical theology and praxis. Thurman reflects on the spiritual power of nature, his grandmother’s influence, racial humiliation, prayer, hope, and nonviolence as a love ethic to survive a hostile world.

On today’s special 20th episode of the Good on Wood Podcast we reboot an interview between Howard Thurman and Landrum Bolling from 1976 thanks to the good folk at the Howard Thurman Digital Archive. This edited and freshly remastered conversation follows Howard Thurman from his boyhood in segregat...

08/23/2026

A reminder that calls for peace & nonviolence, when not implicitly connected to a telos of liberation, can become callous ways to wash one’s hands of the very real struggles facing oppressed communities.

Here are some poignant reminders that peacemaking in situations of injustice requires solidarity, NOT NEUTRALITY.