Michael N. Nagler

Michael N. Nagler ( born 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City ) is a retired American university professor, author and peace activist.

From 1966 to 1991 he was Professor of Ancient Languages ​​and Comparative Literature (Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature) at the University of California at Berkeley and is emeritus since then. In the 1970s he founded the study program in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies ( Peace and Conflict Studies ) and was several times its director.

Life

Michael Nagler grew up in New York, the son of a teacher couple. From 1954 to 1958 he studied at Cornell University and the New York State Medical School. In 1960, he earned a BA in English Literature at New York University and moved to the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated in 1963 with a Master in a Comparative Literature. In 1966 he received his doctorate with a thesis on the use of traditional motifs in the poems of Homer ( The Use of Traditional Motifs in the Homeric Poems ). During his studies he was active in the Free Speech Movement.

After graduating, he pursued a career in science. Since 1966, Nagler taught at Berkeley, among others, Classical Languages ​​, Ancient Greek Literature, Comparative Literature, Religious Studies and founded the study program in the field of peace and conflict research. In 1967 he met the South Indian meditation teacher Eknath Easwaran Sri know, who attended the university. Easwaran introduced him to meditation and brought the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi's close to him. In 1970, Nagler joined the founded in West Marin Eknath Easwaran of the Ashram.

1991 Nagler resigned in protest against the policies of the university, the look in his view education only as a business, from his positions. As a professor emeritus, he continues to hold well-attended seminars at his former university. Nagler has a worldwide reputation as a peace activist and theorist in the field of peace research and frequent speaker before academic and nichtakademischem audience. He has decades of experience in organizing nonviolent actions and is active in this field as a consultant to the U.S. Institute of Peace, as well as several non-governmental organizations. In addition, he is also a demand for interviews.

Michael Nagler was 1962-63 as a visiting scientist at the University of Heidelberg and held in 2004 a visiting professor at the University of Vechta.

Publications

Nagler is the author of several books on the topic of non-violence, spirituality and peace. For his book The Search for a Nonviolent Future ( Eng.: The search for a nonviolent future) he was awarded in 2002 with the American Book Award.

  • The Search for a Nonviolent Future. A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. Inner Ocean Publishing, Makawao, HI 2004. (Original edition: Berkeley Hills Books, Berkeley, CA 2001)
  • The Steps of Nonviolence. Fellowship of Reconciliation, Nyack, NY, 1999.
  • The Upanishads. (along with Eknath Easwaran ), Nilgiri Press, Petaluma, CA 1987.
  • America Without Violence: Why Violence Persists and How You Can Stop it. Iceland Press, Covelo, CA 1982.
  • Spontaneity and Tradition: A Study of Homer's Oral Art University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1974.
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