Creating the Beloved Community

This history of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the United States shows that FOR members have been practical dreamers, both imagining a more peaceful world and working to realize the dream. FOR has inspired and empowered generations of peacemakers working to replace cultures of violence and war with cultures of nonviolence. In writing their story, the author seeks to help readers live the vision of the beloved community, that all might dwell in peace.

Paul R. Dekar, Memphis, Tennessee, is Niswonger Professor at Memphis Theological Seminary and Adjunct Professor at the University of Memphis. In addition to teacher, he is a peacemaker, social activist, and visionary. Over a 30-year teaching career, he has sought to unite scholarship, spirituality, and a passion for transformative peacemaking. Dekar has taught introductory and elective courses in peace studies, religious studies, history, and theology at universities in Australia, Canada, and the United States.