Woolman Peacemaking Forum
This year’s Woolman Forum offers two inspiring opportunities to engage with international peacemakers in a thought-provoking conversation on peace and justice through a biblical perspective. These distinguished scholars and practitioners bring their experience from some of the world’s most historically challenging and deeply divided regions, including Israel/Palestine and the American South. Join us to discover practical peacemaking principles that address injustice and foster reconciliation, both globally and in our own communities.
The following events are free and open to the public.
Keynote Lecture: Bearing Witness: A Christian Palestinian Cry for Justice and Peace
Dr. Lamma Mansour
Tuesday, February 25 at 6 p.m.
Hoover 105 & Livestream
The devastating war across Israel-Palestine, grinding on for over a year, follows years of violence, dispossession, and systemic oppression. How can followers of Christ respond to these realities? Join us as Dr. Mansour explores the principle of bearing witness as a central practice of Christian peacemaking and an antidote to apathy, despair, and erasure that often plagues responses to prolonged injustice. She will draw from the lived realities of Palestinian Christians and the Biblical call to be peacemakers, in a talk that invites Christ followers to embrace their responsibility to advocate for justice, dignity, and peace across Israel-Palestine.
Afternoon Panel: Peacemakers Panel
Tuesday, February 25 at 3:30 - 5 p.m.
Hoover 105 & Livestream
This panel features dedicated peacemakers who will explore the historical and political complexities behind the persistent unrest in the Middle East. Rooted in the Christian call to pursue peace and justice for all who bear the image of God, the discussion will highlight practical principles and practices of peacemaking. Attendees will gain valuable insights into how these principles can foster restoration and healing in seemingly irreconcilable global conflicts and their own personal and community relationships.
Panelists
- David Katibah
- Lamma Mansour
- Ned Rosch
- Lana Thurston
Location & Livestream
Location for Both Events
Hoover 105 (Building #26 on campus map)
George Fox University: Newberg Campus
414 N. Meridian St
Newberg, OR 97132
Livestream for Both Events
Can't join in person? Watch the livestream.
Speaker Information
Dr. Lamma Mansour
Dr. Lamma Mansour, a Christian Palestinian from Nazareth, holds a DPhil and MPhil in Social Policy and Intervention from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She also earned a BSc in Psychology from the University of Haifa. Her research, which centers on young people in Israel-Palestine, has been featured in leading academic journals. In addition to her scholarly work, Dr. Mansour actively serves in her local church in Nazareth and contributes to conversations on the intersection of faith and society through various local and global platforms as a writer and speaker.
David Katibah
As an American of Syrian descent, David is passionate about conflict transformation in the Middle East and the transformative potential of Christians participating in peacemaking around the globe. He holds dual BAs in Economics and Political Science, graduating with highest distinction from the Honors College of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has spent time living and working in East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. He serves as Director of Communications and Christian Engagement at The Telos Group. David also writes about peace, poetry, and imagination on his substack, “Awakenings,” and serves on the board of Peace Catalyst International, a global Christian peacebuilding organization.
Lana Thurston
Following a full career with the U.S. Forest Service, Lana Thurston has devoted her retirement years to supporting Palestinian young adults in communities under Israeli occupation. Her journey began with a service trip to Ramallah, where she volunteered at the Ramallah Friends School and taught English to young adults through STEP International. Deeply inspired by the people and their stories, she returned the next academic year and has continued her work with STEP International in East Jerusalem, immersing herself in the community, building relationships, and providing education and support.
In addition to her work abroad, Lana serves on the George Fox University Board of Trustees.
Ned Rosch
Raised in an observant Jewish family that strongly identified with Zionism, and named after a great-uncle killed in the Holocaust, Ned Rosch grew up with a profound connection to Israel where he worked on a kibbutz and studied at the Hebrew University. However, an evolving and deeply personal commitment to people’s liberation struggles ultimately transformed his perspectives on the Palestine issue.
Ned has spent extended time in Gaza teaching yoga to young people living in war-torn refugee camps and devastated areas. Guided by the Jewish teaching, “Justice, justice shall you pursue,” Ned believes that actively supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice is one of the most profoundly Jewish acts he can undertake.
History of the Woolman Peacemaking Forum
The John Woolman Peacemaking Forum was established in 1986 as a way of articulating peacemaking issues to the George Fox University community. Its purpose is threefold: to provide a forum for those involved in peacemaking to offer insights and challenges; to inspire and equip us to invest our energies in the diligent pursuit of peace; and to enrich the ongoing work of the Center for Peace and Justice, both through contact with leading peacemakers and through greater public awareness of our programs.
The forum is named for John Woolman, an 18th-century American Quaker who called attention to the evils of slavery and challenged fellow Quakers to abandon the practice. Woolman also worked for fairer treatment of First Nations Indigenous Americans. In his journal, he recorded his developing opposition to war and other forms of violence and his struggles to purify his lifestyle from anything that might encourage or promote violence. His journal has become a devotional classic for its sensitive expression of the lifelong development of one person’ s conscience toward peace.
John Woolman
(1720-1772)
May we look upon our treasures, and the furniture of our houses, and the garments in which we array ourselves, and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in these possessions or not.
Recent Woolman Peacemaking Forum Topics
- 2024 - Is there a Balm in Gilead? Prospects for a Palestinian / Israeli Peace
- 2023 - What Makes for Peace? Lessons from the Road to Jericho
- 2022 - Letter from Birmingham Jail, by MLK Jr.; A culmination of discussions
- 2021 - "Learn-Pray-Join: Immigration Justice, Radical Hospitality"
- 2020 - "One Like the Sea: Frederick Douglass' Global Search for Democracy and Equality, 1886-1887"
- 2019 - Promised Land; Film screening and discussion
- 2018 - "Martin Luther King, Jr: The Inner Life & Global Vision"
- 2017 - "Peace: Personal & Global"
- 2016 - "Fostering Peace & Justice Through the Lens of Service"
- 2015 - "Past, Present and Future: Promoting Peace & Justice at George Fox University and Beyond"
- 2014 - "People of Peace: Effective Faith-Rooted Advocacy"
- 2013 - "Shalom – Holistic Peace for a Fragmented World"
- 2012 - "New Neighbor: An Invitation to Join Beloved Community"
- 2011 - "Reconciling All Things"
- 2010 - "Are We Achieving Racial Justice and Reconciliation?”
Previous Woolman Forum Speakers
Previous speakers have included men and women with a wide variety of strengths and experiences. Among the previous speakers are:
- Jonathan Kuttab
- Mark Braverman
- Todd Deatherage
- Scott Finnie
- Dina González-Piña
- Verdis Robinson
- Tony Johnson and Vasant & Sarah Saledo
- Clayborne Carson
- Michelle Lloyd-Paige
- Stuart Willcuts
- Jason Fileta
- Alexia Salvatierra
- Lisa Sharon Harper
- Leroy Barber
- Emmanuel Katongole
- John Perkins
- Naim Ateek
- David Augsburger
- Landrum Bolling
- Tony Campolo
- Mark Hatfield
- John Paul Lederach
- Lisa Schirch
- Ron Sider
- Walter Wink
- Tom Getman
- Chip Zimmer
- Elise Boulding
- David Rawson
- Tom & Christine Sine
- Jim Wallis
- Ron Kraybill
The Woolman Peacemaking Award is given annually to someone in the region who exemplifies peacemaking.
Beyond the Woolman Forum, peacemaking is featured at George Fox through multiple means that include: chapels, classes, student groups, various campus media and through special collections of peacemaking books, journals, videos, and other resources kept at the Center for Peace and Justice and in the university library.
Publications by John Woolman
Listed below is a collection of books and other publications by John Woolman, which includes his Journal, the only piece of Colonial American literature continuously in print since publication.
(Originally Published in 1774 by Cruckshank)
John Greenleaf Whittier introduction ed. Published 1871
The Works of John Woolman in Two Parts
(includes the Journal of John Woolman)
Published in 1774 Joseph Cruckshank
Published in 1768
John Woolman
from Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes
There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind; which in different places and ages hath had different names. It is, however, pure, and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren in the best sense of the expression.