Creative Interruption: Transformative Testimony in Violent Times

Join us for a one-day special event
ahead of COV&R 2026

Tuesday, July 7, 2026 from 9am to 5pm (CDT)
at the DePaul Center in Chicago, IL

We are living in an era when violence feels increasingly casual — and increasingly contagious.

Many of us know how to name its patterns clearly. We can point to the polarization, scapegoating, dehumanization, and retaliation, and yet we feel uncertain about how to respond without descending into reactivity or numbness. We recognize what violence is doing. What’s less clear is how to live in ways that disrupt its escalation.

Creative Interruption is a one-day gathering for anyone ready to move beyond analysis. Hosted by Theology & Peace and designed for aspiring peacemakers who want to respond to violence without reproducing it, this special event brings together theological depth, historical nuance, lived practice, and ethical imagination in a setting designed for thoughtful engagement and community conversation.

If you’re curious about how active nonviolence, witness, and testimony can break cycles of harm in real communities and restore a sense of hope in the face of human violence, this event is for you.

Register today!

Morning Presenter:
Wolfgang Palaver

In recent decades, Christian peace ethics has shifted its center of gravity from just war toward just peace. While the criteria of the just war tradition remain important, the focus has moved decisively toward peace itself.

At the heart of just peace is active nonviolence.

Drawing on Christian theology and the witness of figures like Gandhi, world-renowned peace ethicist Wolfgang Palaver explores how the Sermon on the Mount calls not for passivity or withdrawal, but for courageous, creative, and disciplined nonviolent action.

Learn more

Afternoon Presenter:
Center for Story & Witness

The Center for Story & Witness is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating and sharing stories that bear witness to gender-based violence and other injustices, with the aim of advancing human rights and social change. Through testimonial writing workshops, public storytelling initiatives, and educational partnerships, the Center equips individuals and communities to tell difficult truths with integrity, care, and courage.

Co-founders R. Clifton Spargo and Anne K. Ream bring decades of experience at the intersection of ethics, literature, human rights advocacy, and trauma-informed practice. Their work is widely recognized for modeling how storytelling can honor lived experience while fostering public accountability and moral imagination.

Learn more
Register today!

What You Can Expect

  • A full day of in-person, participatory learning
  • Creative exercises alongside historical models
  • Space for reflection, writing, and conversation
  • A community of people committed to practicing peace

What you should not expect:

  • Easy answers
  • Quick fixes
  • Performative optimism
  • A checklist for saving the world

Still curious?

Held in advance of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R), Creative Interruption offers a fresh perspective on the power of human mimesis to prevent violence — not just to produce it.

COV&R helps us understand how violence works.

This day is about discovering how we can interrupt it.

We encourage participants to consider additional attendance at COV&R for an immersive dive into the dynamics that underpin escalating violence. This year’s theme of Arts & Architecture offers a not-to-be-missed experience of the theaters, music, and buildings of Chicago.

Join Us

  • If you’ve been longing for a space that takes violence seriously without surrendering to it
  • If you’re curious about what peace looks like when it goes beyond discussion into practice
  • If you want to begin COV&R grounded, attentive, and oriented toward hope

We’d be glad to welcome you.

Register below to join us for this day of listening, learning, and asking good questions in good company.

Register today!

Practical Details

Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: DePaul Center, The Loop — downtown Chicago, IL

Food & breaks

Registration for this event does not include meals or lodging.

We will provide coffee and light snacks throughout the day. A generous lunch break is built into the schedule, giving participants time to explore the surrounding neighborhood.

The DePaul Center is located in The Loop, one of Chicago’s most walkable and food-rich areas. Attendees will find a wide variety of restaurants within just a few blocks of the venue. Here are a few healthy and moderately priced options recommended by COV&R.

Lodging

We will be recommending a nearby hotel for those traveling in from out of town, with the hope of making it easy for participants to stay in the same place and continue conversations informally. Hotel details will be shared as soon as they are finalized. Here is price-tiered list of several locations compiled by COV&R.

Pricing

Full price is $80. Reduced price and scholarship options are also available.

Register today!