A Conflictual Resolution for Peace

In Christian circles over the past say hundred years, especially in the 20th Century with the vast amount of bloody wars fought, there has been a great amount of talk over the 'end of the age' or the 'final consummation of the kingdom of god', where God "sets the world to rights" as the Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright has stated on numerous occasions.  This fascination with 'end of the age' in my opinion and the opinion of those who have written extensively about this powerful theological quandary hold that all conflicts will be set to rest and since we live in a world of constant violent conflicts, it can be easy to see why one would want an 'end' to those conflicts. Although no one can really know what this 'end' will look like or what shape or framework the full consummation of the kingdom of god will take, I am going out on a limb here to say that conflict; is not the problem, nor do I believe conflict will or should, 'end'.  

There are others that have thought about this the premise of the full consummation of the kingdom of god, but I can not remember reading or studying anything concerning conflict.  We must then unpack first the premise of what conflict is?

Conflict is defined as a "perceived divergence of interests".  If I have one interest or human need and I perceive another to have an interest or human need which overlaps my interests or needs, then most conflict would develop out of the idea that my interest (needs) and another's interests (needs) can not be mutually accessible.  Once again, though the key word is "perceived", which is developed out of a faulty sense that the world does not possess enough to satisfy both needs equally. Our perceptions would be that I can not access my interests along with the other's interests, but that our interests stand in stark opposition to one another, instead of us developing a method of collaboration.  This method of collaboration would develop by understanding a mutual interdependence that I have with the other person.  If I understand that my interests can only be fulfilled in relationship to another then it could turn the conflict toward a mutually satisfying solution.  Peace is present, but peace is not the absence of conflict, since growth is impossible without these conflicts as present above.

In this final dawning of a new age, we have always known that peace will reign, since God is a God of peace.  The kingdom of God is God's rule or God's reign, "on earth as it is in heaven" as we have prayed so many times in Matthew 6.  We know that God will "wipe away every tear", but if conflict is not negative, but the violence which is associated with the non resolution of conflict which causes these "tears", then why blame the conflict?  Part of the understanding of conflict resolution is also moving to a place of not blaming, but participating in mutual responsibility, where we realize that I must own my conflicts with another, because we as human beings possess connectedness.  Isn't our non-connectedness, what causes the selfishness associated with only pursuing my interests (needs) as discussed above?  If I am a Christian then I believe in the connectedness of human beings and would not pursue my interests outside of meeting my neighbors interests (needs).  If we as a church were pursuing this goal of conflict and meeting the interests (needs) of our neighbors, then we would say that the kingdom is near.

The final consummation might then look like the fullness of each and every one of us pursuing the interests (needs) of our neighbors.  We could bless and not curse; love and not hate; and when our interests "diverge", pursue a mutually beneficial solution.  Conflict is how the earth cleanses itself, from a nature perspective, through storms,  and although one may think that this is a dangerous statement due to various ethnic cleansing's and racial cleansing's which have been experienced by certain nations and certain groups, but once again it was not the conflict itself but the domination system and the non resolution of the conflict.  It was the domination and forceful overwhelming of my interests by another. It was the complete refusal to acknowledge mutual interdependence with one another, which allows a conflict to become intractable.  Racism contained within the history of the United States is an intractable conflict, because of how long it has dominated the landscape without acknowledging it significance upon the formation of life.  The kingdom of God is formative for life, so will the conflict associated with racism be done away or is it now, "Open for discussion?"  Is this an interesting premise?

One could also say that if God re-creates the earth, then conflict would not be needed, since we would all "think the same", that is like Christ.  What I think could be driving this premise is the fact that we do not love ourselves for who we are and our humanity.  I know that sounds harsh, but if we broke it down, do we simply want to be done away with our bodies?  Galatians 3:28, although used as a text to promote this type of thinking (of doing away with difference), actually affirms that the goodness of who we were created to is one in Christ, but not done away with in Christ.  What is wrong with me being an Italian/Portuguese man?  Once again, I love my humanity for the sake that God created my humanity. 

Do we want to exist in an ethereal world, where we do not feel anything any longer, do not exist any longer as the people to whom God created us to be, and we no longer have to think about and accept each others' differences.  We think that these exact differences are what cause the conflicts and we want to be done away with them.  I do believe that our processing through the schemas in our brains though will change.  Miroslav Volf, Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale has written a book entitled, "The End of Memory", which explores how our the memory of violence done against us must end for true reconciliation to happen, but I believe our memories will not end, but change.  The change will be contained in how we process our differences. Our brains process as associated memories and part of the wiping away of our tears, implies a change in our memory.  Our memories currently dictate how we relate to others and how we perceive ourselves, but in the 'new age', no longer will the memory from our pain dictate how we function, but our conflict's will be handled through mutual embrace of one another. Your difference is unique, beautiful, and completely acceptable and does not threaten my difference.  We can work together in a mutual interdependence doing what, I have no idea. 

Once again, is it the conflict or the violence and our misperception of conflict itself?  

Remember that Jesus conflicted with the disciples even up to the last possible moment on earth.