Peter Dula, Associate
Professor of Religion and Culture at Eastern Mennonite University and Evan
Knappenberger, student and Iraq War veteran, reflect on their first encounters
with one another in Dula’s theology class.
Please
briefly describe your work in connection to the conflict in Iraq, veterans, and
pacifism.
Peter: I was
the Mennonite Central Committee program coordinator in Iraq from 2004-2006. I
lived the first nine months starting in 2004 in Baghdad, where I got to know
and interact with a number of soldiers in various formal and informal
capacities. I discovered that I really liked them all, that it was fun talking
to them – often they were interested in the same things I was. Partly it was
just a cultural thing. My friends were Iraqi or European, so it was always nice
to talk to other folks from the United States like the soldiers.
Evan: I was
in the U.S. Army from 2003-2007, serving as an Intelligence analyst in Iraq in
2005-2006. After I got out of the military, I became interested in peace and
conflict transformation, and theology. I’ve been at Eastern Mennonite University
for two years now, and plan on attending seminary here.
In
2012, two Iraq War veterans (Evan and Joe) showed up in the Eastern Mennonite
University introductory theology course taught by a former MCC Iraq worker
(Peter). As one of these three people, what was the experience like for you? What
personal boundaries did you have to cross? What tensions and stereotypes did
this raise for you?
Evan: When I
met Peter during registration that year, I had my army hat on and I thought he
was uneasy with the presence of a veteran. When Peter’s class started that fall
and I met Joe, who was in Iraq with the Navy Seals, I also felt uneasy. Despite
those first impressions, I quickly began to like both Peter and Joe, and spent
many hours each day after class with Joe, who had some trouble adjusting to
Mennonites. Joe shattered many of my stereotypes of veterans: He was critical
of pacifist theology, but not in a way that precluded our dialogue. Peter and I
gradually became easier with each other as we found agreement on many matters
of faith and doctrine. Whereas Peter and I mostly agreed on theology, Joe and I
did not at all, and I had to be very accommodating and nonjudgmental in my
relating to Joe, who I consider a friend and a peer. With Peter, sometimes I
see signs of my own trauma in him, but when I began to realize the intellectual
depth of his belief, it was a wakeup call to me that faith can heal emotional
trauma if it’s done right. People like Peter are very rare in my experience,
and I wish all veterans could learn from his example.
Peter: I was
intrigued by Evan as a veteran interested in pacifism and peace theology. I
wondered about how that happened to come about, and I liked the way he busted
through stereotypes of soldiers and veterans. Here was a pacifist vet who read
obscure primary sources in philosophy. I met Joe over the phone in the summer
before he enrolled, and I thought that perhaps Eastern Mennonite would not be
the best theological fit for him. After he had been here for a while, I
realized that barriers between him and EMU culture had more dimensions than
just theology. Joe was an outsider in so many ways at EMU — an unapologetic
veteran at a pacifist school, a fundamentalist Christian confronting Anabaptist
theology, an African-American studying at a majority white school, and in his
40s (I think??) among mostly 18- to 22-year-olds. I asked Joe to coffee and he
never responded, but I saw that Evan and Joe were connecting, so I left it to
them. I realize now that there were some serious issues for Joe. I should have
reached out more.
When
you meet others carrying deep emotional trauma similar or related to yours, how
do you approach them? How do you resolve the tensions and stereotypes that get
in the way?
Evan: I have
often found it difficult to talk to other veterans, because the trauma of war
is a hard thing to relate to, even as a peer with similar types of experience. Often
the first things to be discarded in a relationship are the stereotypes of what
it means to be a veteran. Many of the vets I meet do not at all fit the
stereotypes – in fact, most of my veteran friends are pacifists or have deep
pacifist leanings. I think the thing to do is to be present with them and to
not let emotional blockages get in the way of relating to the other person. I
think relating on a level of faith can be a powerful connection with a tendency
to transcend ideological differences.
Peter: I don’t think that Baghdad was
traumatizing for me like it was for Evan and Joe. But I do think that having been in Iraq makes
me stereotype veterans less. Because Iraq seems like common ground, veterans
don’t seem so alien to me. They are victims of the war also. In my opinion, if
there are theological tensions around pacifism, the burden of proof is on the
pacifists. I don’t blame or judge non-pacifists for not coming to the same
conclusions as Mennonites about how to understand the normativity of Jesus’
pacifism; I can hold onto my pacifism, recognizing that it is a vulnerable
position.
What
happened between the three of you, Peter, Joe and Evan, and what might this
mean for Mennonites working with veterans?
Evan: Peter
and I still work together, and have a healthy friendship. As we mostly agree on
the mission of peace work, and our faith in Christ, it is easy to overcome the
difficulties of being veteran/pacifist. Joe and I were close friends even after
he decided to leave the Mennonite university community. We spent a good deal of
time together until Joe left the area altogether. I often wish that the
Mennonites could have engaged Joe differently somehow, that he could have found
a place here like I did. It would have been an interesting challenge. I think
that veterans of faith like Joe definitely have a place in the Anabaptist
mission.
Peter: Evan
is the most interesting thing to happen to the Bible and Religion Department at
EMU since I’ve been here. It is often the case that our most interesting
students are non-Mennonites who become really interested in what Mennonites
have to offer. I think that comes from them not having used the Anabaptist
language from the very start; they bring new context and background, making it
interesting, helping us see and hear our old stuff in a different key. The
whole theme of “crossing barriers” is central to the EMU Bible Department
mission. Joe is an example of difference that we struggle to tolerate, let
alone embrace. We can go on about diversity, but the encounter with a
non-apologetic veteran may be something we don’t, as yet, have space for.
What
would you tell veterans about dealing with Mennonites?
Peter: It depends
on the veteran. I’d tell them to be patient with us. We might require a
significant cross-cultural understanding. We can be like a separate tribe with our
own ways, and maybe there hasn’t been a lot of overlap between vets and most Mennonites.
We’re more frightened of you than you are of us!
Evan: Often the things that Mennonites
have done during conflict demonstrate a great courage, equal to anything we did
as soldiers. The Anabaptist/pacifist equivalent of being a veteran should be
more celebrated by the veteran community, and can offer us another perspective
on the conflicts we participated in.
What
would you tell Mennonites about dealing with veterans?
Peter: Mennonites need to know that
veterans are victims of war, regardless of the fact that they participated in
the victimization process. Pacifists should be angry with the politicians and
bureaucrats that sent the veterans to war, not the veterans. If the “Support
Our Troops” mantra didn’t have certain political connotations attached, it
would be valid. It should be, “Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home!”
Evan: It is veterans who must finally be
the ones to end war. The place of Anabaptist pacifism is to demonstrate the way
of nonviolence, its effectiveness and wholeness as a methodology of conflict.
But it is the place of the military community to implement these truths into
the work they do, eventually leading to a prophetic re-imagining of what it
means to be in conflict. Working with veterans and the military community is
crucial to the mission of the Christian faith, the work of Jesus, if we take
that mission seriously.
