About the Plowshares Collaborative
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He shall judge between nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4 (NRSV) |
The Plowshares Collaborative was formed in 2002 by Earlham College, Goshen College and Manchester College to develop the strongest, most distinctive undergraduate program in peace studies in the United States.
Funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., this institutional collaboration is finding new, imaginative ways to address the problems of violence and related challenges that confront America and most of the world today.
Best Undergraduate Peace Studies Programs
Our founding denominations—the Quakers (Earlham), the Mennonites (Goshen) and the Church of the Brethren (Manchester)—are known collectively as the three “historic peace churches” in the United States. Our colleges represent three of the nation’s best undergraduate program in peace studies, including its oldest at Manchester College.
Academic Study and Praxis
Eight major areas of focus for the Collaboration mutually reinforce the commitment to academic study and praxis, informed by the history of our faith-based institutions:
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Strengthen campus peace studies programs through faculty development grants, mini-grants for students, on-campus special events, library resources and conflict transformation programs.
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Provide opportunities for faculty development through grants for study, research and additional programs broadly related to peace and justice.
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Develop courses that can be taken by students on the other campuses via smart classrooms and connect the colleges electronically and through instructional material.
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Initiate Peace House, and public forum and, next year a student residential program for peace, justice and conflict and urban studies in Indianapolis through study, internship and community outreach programs.
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Provide opportunities in peace studies for faculty and students at other colleges and universities to attend an undergraduate conference, participate in student exchanges among the three colleges and engage in a national summer peace academy and other programs.
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Strengthen dialogue among the three denominations.
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Promote the three colleges and state as significant sites for peace studies.
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Draw nationally recognized scholars to lead and promote peace studies programs at the three schools.
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Fund administrative leadership on each campus.
Showing the Way to Peace
In a world now even darker with violence, the Plowshares Collaboration is a beacon at the crossroads of America, encouraging and educating students, churches and citizens to show the way to peace in our nation and around the world.
