Topic: Maintaining Moral Balance in Israel/Palestine.

Presenters: Kevin Carnahan

Kevin Carnahan is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. He served for five years as the co-editor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and three as the President of the Niebuhr Society. He is author of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Ramsey (Lexington Books, 2010), and From Presumption to Prudence in Just-War Rationality (Routledge, 2017), and co-editor of Paradoxical Virtue: Reinhold Niebuhr and the Virtue Tradition (Routledge, 2020). He has an enduring interest in the politics of Israel/Palestine and has traveled frequently in the region. 

Talk Summary: The story of Israel/Palestine is a story of compounded historical tragedy. There is no solution to the conflict that fulfills all the requirements of justice. In such a context, it becomes tempting for participants in the conflict to deny the reality of some goods (usually the goods of their opponents) in order to present what appears to be a simple and satisfying moral analysis of the situation. Realistic moral analysis must resist such reductive rhetoric, count the costs, and take seriously the balance of power in the region. Such vision is necessary to find a way for Israel and Palestine to coexist at any point in the future.

Watch for further details, including information about a series of Saturday conversations with presentations by the authors. 

If you would like to receive regular announcements and updates about activities and events at the Cobb Institute, please join our list of Friends.

Can’t make it to the live session? Click here to access our archive of Cobb & Friends recordings.