Sermon by Tom Wagner: Presented on 7 December 2014 at Harbor Unitarian
Universalist Congregation, Muskegon, MI.
“My background is in the Church of the Brethren and my undergraduate work was
in peace studies at Manchester University, North Manchester, Indiana. I've been a
long time "friend" at HUUC. grace & peace” Tom Wagner
“Western Sources of Gandhi’s Nonviolence:
Jesus, Thoreau, Ruskin and Tolstoy”
James 4:1-3
For the most part, it was an ordinary Thursday. Thanksgiving had been celebrated a
week earlier, and now the Christmas shopping season was in full swing. At the end of
her shift, a department store seamstress boarded a city bus and took a seat. The
extraordinary moment came a few stops later when she refused to follow the bus
driver’s order to give up her seat to a white man. For this she was arrested.
The city: Montgomery, Alabama.
The date: December 1st, 1955.
And the seamstress, as you may have guessed, was Rosa Parks.
Her action sparked the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended segregation on
the city bus system.
The boycott became a watershed moment in the American Civil Rights Movement. Up
until that time the struggle had been conducted primarily in the courtroom, most
notably by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP legal team. Perhaps their best known
effort was the Brown v. the Board of EducationSupreme Court decision of 1954. While
the courtroom would remain an important venue for the movement, events in
Montgomery shifted the focus to a more participatory strategy of disciplined
nonviolent resistance borrowed from the Indian independence leader; Mohandas K.
Gandhi (1869-1948). The boycott also propelled a young Baptist minister into national
prominence: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Most Americans were only vaguely aware of Gandhi and his Satyagraha movement
through occasional newspaper reports in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Many of those reports
sided with British officials, at least until the Salt March in 1930. Prior to the mid-1950s
any serious American study of Gandhi’s methods was limited to a few academics, social
activists, members of the Historic Peace Churches (Brethren, Friends and Mennonites)
and members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. King’s interest began during his
seminary studies, after hearing Dr. Mordecai Johnson, President of Howard University,
speak about Gandhi’s ideas following a sojourn in India. Yet this interest remained
primarily an intellectual pursuit until he arrived in Montgomery. It would be the Civil
Rights Movement that popularized nonviolent resistance in the United States.
King would write in his first book, Stride toward Freedom: “As I delved deeper into the
philosophy of Gandhi my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually
diminished, and I came to see for the first time its potency in the area of social
reform. Prior to reading Gandhi, I had concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only
effective in individual relationship. The “turn the other check” philosophy and
“love your enemies” philosophy were only valid, I felt, when individuals were in
conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict a
more realistic approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how
utterly mistaken I was.
Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above
mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a
large scale. Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective
transformation.” (pp. 96-97)
Gandhi’s direct exposure to western ideas took place initially as a law student in London
and during twenty years as an attorney and activist in South Africa. It was in South Africa
that he began to experiment with the technique he would call nonviolent resistance or
Satyagraha in opposition to discrimination against fellow Indians. Due to those efforts
he was already counted as something of a national hero when he and his family
returned to India in 1915.
Gandhi had grown up in a Hindu home and indeed his mother was strongly influenced
by Jainism. Yet he suggests that he knew very little about this faith when he went to
England. During his years in law school he became curious about religion and began
reading books on both Hinduism and Buddhism. Through English vegetarian contacts
he was encouraged to read the Bible as well. Gandhi writes, “I began reading it, but I
could not possibly read through the Old Testament. I read the book of Genesis,
and the chapters that followed invariably sent me to sleep. But just for the sake of
being able to say that I had read it, I plodded through the other books with much
difficulty and without the least interest or understanding....But the New Testament
produced a different impression, especially the Sermon on the Mount which went
straight to my heart. I compared it to the Gita. The verses, ‘But I say unto you that
ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him
the other also. And if any man take away thy coat let him have thy cloke too,’
delighted me beyond measure….” (Autobiography, p. 68.)
The Sermon on the Mount as found in Matthew Chapters 5-6, forms the first of five
discourses in the book. In the structure of this particular gospel there are five
collections of narratives or stories about Jesus alternated with groups of his sayings.
Most scholars have seen this arrangement as an echo of the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible known as the Torah or the Law, and indeed served to borrow from that
authority. As indicated in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote, many Christians over the
centuries found ways around Jesus teachings to “turn the other cheek” and to love one’s
enemies. One way has been to limit the application to personal relationships. Others
have suggested that Jesus was only addressing his disciples, limiting the practice to the
clergy. Others still have seen the passages as ideals to strive for, but impossible to fulfill.
Those interpretations were convenient in a world where the church had become a
powerful social institution allied with the state. However, there have always been a small
number of Christians who have taken these teachings seriously. The traditional name for
what we today would call Christian or Biblical pacifism was “non-resistance”, based on
the wording in 5:39, “resist not evil”. The point was to follow the teachings of Jesus,
regardless of the cost. Indeed Jesus’ own execution became the prime example of the
principle. At one level the idea was to simply do no harm. Even though the teaching
applied to all relationships, traditional non-restistants would not see their practice as a
social strategy. They sought to be faithful. Effectiveness wasn’t on their radar. While
Gandhi did not become a Christian, he took the example of Christ’s suffering and death
very seriously. The challenge Gandhi brought to Christian pacifists was to suggest that
nonviolence taught by Jesus was actually a form of resistance. To turn the other cheek
and go the second mile, especially in an occupied country is an act of courage.
Further on in Chapter 6, Jesus speaks on issues of economic life in passages which start,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…” (vv. 19-21), “No one can serve two
masters…” (v. 24) and “…do not be anxious about your life…” (vv. 25-34). While Gandhi
most often spoke of the nonviolence themes in Chapter 5 when he mentions the
Sermon on the Mount, it is clear that he was aware of the connection between violence
and economics that Jesus himself made. What Gandhi was likely not aware of was Jesus
sense of economic justice rooted in the Torah and the prophetic tradition. What is
hinted at in Matthew and more obvious in Luke’s gospel is that Jesus was committed to
reviving the practice of the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles proposed in Exodus 21 &
23, Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15. The intent was to regulate the gap between
wealth and poverty in tribal Israel. Every 7 years, land was to be left fallow, people who
had sold themselves and their families into slavery were to be set free and all debts
canceled. After 7 cycles of 7 years (about 50 years) in addition to the other provisions,
land was returned to the original families. Some scholars suggest that Jesus in Matthew
chapter 6 was not just speaking of a general attitude of simple living and renunciation,
but speaking very specifically to the fears for survival folks would have in literally living
off the land during the fallow years as part of this egalitarian program. For Gandhi,
independence from Britain was as much an economic question as it was political.
Gandhi’s ideas of nonviolent resistance are often associated with Henry David
Thoreau’s (1817-1866) essay “On Civil Disobedience” (1849). Curiously he only ran
across Thoreau’s work during his second imprisonment in South Africa. Thoreau’s
lecture and later essay was prompted by his opposition to African slavery and the U.S.
War with Mexico in 1848. Many Americans at the time understood the Mexican War as
an attempt to extend slavery into new territories. Famously Thoreau refused to pay a
poll tax in protest and spent 24 hours in the local jail, until a friend, who did not
understand the principled stand he was taking, paid the tax on Thoreau’s behalf. While
Gandhi was well on his way in the development of Satyagraha when he encountered
Thoreau, this essay did help him develop the English vocabulary for the movement.
“The statement that I had derived my idea of Civil Disobedience from the writings
of Thoreau is wrong. The resistance to authority in South Africa was well advanced
before I got the essay of Thoreau on Civil Disobedience. But the movement was
then known as passive resistance. As it was incomplete I had coined the word
Satyagraha for Gujarati readers. When I saw the title of Thoreau’s great essay, I
began to use his phrase to explain our struggle to English readers. But I found that
even ‘Civil Disobedience’ failed to convey the full meaning of that struggle. I
therefore adopted the phrase Civil Resistance. Non-violence was always an integral
part of our struggle”. (Chadha, p. 137.)
While Thoreau’s work did not prompt Gandhi’s initial actions, it did lend significant
moral support to his position. He often recommended reading Thoreau.
The third western influence on Gandhi’s thought I have listed is a bit more obscure to
21st century Americans. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was best known as an artist, art critic
and essayist in Victorian England. He was roughly contemporary with Thoreau. In 1860
he wrote a series of essays on economics for Cornhill Magazine. The extremely negative
response by readers forced the publisher to cut the series short at 4 installments. Two
years later Ruskin published the essays in a collection titled, Unto This Last. The literary
reference is to Jesus parable in Matthew 20:1-16 known as “The Laborers in the
Vineyard”. In the story the landowner has hired day laborers to work in his vineyard at
various times throughout the day. Those hired early in the day are promised a denarius,
which was considered a fair living wage. Those hired later were promised that they
would receive what was “right”, including those who were hired during the final work
hour. As everyone lined up to be paid at the end of the day, each worker received the
same amount. Those hired earlier in the day complained. The land owner responded,
“Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what
belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you.” (vv. 13-14). His
essay was a critique of 18th and 19thcentury industrial capitalism. He believed that value
resided human labor not things. Economics is really about relationships between people
and communities, not so much the trafficking of goods. Perhaps most astoundingly, he
proposed not a minimum wage, but an equal wage for all members of society,
regardless of rank.
Gandhi made some lifestyle choices in response to reading Ruskin. He organized an
intentional community in South Africa which became known as Phoenix Farm. Each
member of the community drew an equal wage, regardless of their outside
employment. Also everyone was expected to participate in manual labor, regardless of
profession or social status. One of the classic examples was raking and covering the
latrines. Gandhi also published a paraphrase of Unto This Last in Gujarati. Much later an
English translation of the Gandhi’s paraphrase was published.
Of the 4 sources, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) would have the most influence on Gandhi.
This was in part because they were able to make contact with each other through a
series of letters late in Tolstoy’s life. Tolstoy had worldwide fame as one of the great
19th century Russian novelists and is likely still best known among us today for his
fiction. Later in his life he had something of a conversion experience. As something of a
seeker he had read scared literature of Hindu and Buddhist faiths. However, his dramatic
shift came after reading the Christian gospels. He began to embrace the ethical
teachings of Jesus, especially as found in the Sermon on the Mount. For the most part
he rejected the mystical teachings and the institutional church. He published a work in
1884 titled, What I Believe. Due to his fame the book got wide distribution. This would
lead to excommunication by the Russian Orthodox Church. It also put him in
correspondence with numerous people around the globe, including American Quakers
and Mennonites. In 1894 he published another book on faith, The Kingdom of God Is
within You. It was written as a reply to his critics, specifically defending his position on
“non-resistance”.
Early during his sojourn in South Africa, Gandhi was introduced to Tolstoy’s The
Kingdom of God Is within You by a Quaker friend referred to as “Mr. Coats”. Gandhi says
in his autobiography that the book “…overwhelmed me. It left an impression on me.
Before the independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness of the
book, all books given to me by Mr. Coats seemed to pale into
insignificance.” (Autobiography,pp. 137-8) Gandhi would start a brief correspondence
with Tolstoy near the end of the author’s life, initially seeking permission to reprint a
short work, sometimes titled A Letter Addressed to a Hindu, but also known by the
title The Subjection of India—Its Cause and Cure. It was Tolstoy’s response to an Indian
who asked advice on overthrowing British rule in India. He noted that using violence or
terrorism would only replace one evil with another. He also pointed out that if 30,000
Englishmen had enslaved 200,000,000 Indians, perhaps the Indians had enslaved
themselves. The aged author was delighted with Gandhi’s request and enthusiastically
gave his permission. Later Tolstoy received a copy of Gandhi’s book India Home Rule. In
a sense the Russian novelist was aware before his death that the mantel of nonviolence
had been passed to a new generation. Tolstoy wrote his final letter to Gandhi in
September 1910—one of his last lengthy letters to anyone—two months before his
death.
Currently we are in the Christian season of Advent. It is a time for messianic themes.
Waiting and anticipation and hope are an important part of what gives this moment
meaning. However, for most people it is more an exercise in remembering the birth of a
child adored by common shepherds and exotic magi from distant lands, rather than
looking forward. Yes we need heroes, saints and good examples in our lives. And we
even need patience, because real substantive change does not happen overnight.
However, waiting for someone else to take the first step before we will do the right
thing is a cop out.
We are the ones we are waiting for.
Tom Wagner is a former pastor in the Church of the Brethren and is finishing a term as
president of Muskegon County Cooperating Churches. He writes a regular column for
MCCC's bi-monthly newsletter BRANCHES. His undergraduate work was in peace studies
at Manchester University, North Manchester, IN.
Bibliography
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CA: University of California Press, 1965)
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Chadha, Yogesh, Gandhi: A Life, (NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1997)
Fischer, Louis, Gandhi: His Life and Message, (NY: Mentor Books, 1954)
Gandhi, Mohandas K., An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, (Boston, MA: Beacon
Press, 1957)
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Arthur, ed. (Nashville, TN: Abington Press, 1951)
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