Creative Interruption: Transformative Testimony in Violent Times
Join us at the DePaul Center ahead of COV&R 2026
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.
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’re searching 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’re already planning to attend COV&R and want to jumpstart the week oriented toward hope
Creative Interruption welcomes you!
Register now to join us for this day of listening, learning, and asking good questions in good company.
Presenters
Wolfgang Palaver
Wolfgang Palaver is Professor Emeritus of Catholic Social Thought at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, where he taught from 2002–2023 and served as Dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty from 2013–2017. An internationally recognized expert on violence, religion, and Christian peace ethics, he currently serves as President of Pax Christi Austria and, as of March 2025, as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Discrimination, including intolerance toward religious communities.
Anne K. Ream
Anne K. Ream is a writer, music critic, and longtime activist on gender justice issues. Her memoir Lived Through This is a global journey spent listening to the testimonies of gender-based violence survivors. Her writing has appeared in The New Republic, Los Angeles Times, The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, Newcity, and The Washington Post. An advisory board member of RAINN, the country’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, she is also founding co-chair at World Without Exploitation, the national coalition to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Anne co-founded Center for Story & Witness, where she is the Chief Vision Officer.
R. Clifton Spargo
R. Clifton Spargo is a novelist, short story writer, music critic, activist, and scholar. His novel Beautiful Fools tells the missing final chapter in the tragic romance of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. His fiction and other writing have appeared in The Atlantic, Glimmer Train Stories, Huffington Post, Kenyon Review, Newcity, Raritan, and The Wall Street Journal. An expert on testimony, ethics, and the Holocaust, he is the author of The Ethics of Mourning and Vigilant Memory: Emmanuel Levinas, the Holocaust, and the Unjust Death. He co-founded Center for Story & Witness, an award-winning global nonprofit organization, and he teaches creative writing at Yale University.
Morning Session (July 7th)
- 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Active Nonviolence at the Center of Just Peace
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, this session explores how the Sermon on the Mount calls not for passivity or withdrawal, but for courageous, creative, and disciplined nonviolent action.
- 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Q&A
A rare opportunity, this session draws from Wolfgang Palaver’s forthcoming book, Fighting for Peace: Learning from Gandhi and Mandela in Times of War — work that has not yet been translated into English. Participants will hear fresh material from one of the world’s most respected voices in mimetic theory and Christian peace ethics, offered in a setting designed for thoughtful engagement.
- 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Community Discussion
Afternoon Session (July 7th)
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Center for Story & Witness
The nonprofit Center for Story & Witness is dedicated to cultivating and sharing stories that bear witness to gender-based violence and other injustices. The Center’s co-founders, R. Clifton Spargo and Anne K. Ream, will lead an interactive seminar detailing best practices in generating, collecting, and sharing testimony. In recent years, witness writing and oral testimony have come to be recognized as essential elements in social justice movements. Testimony challenges and rewrites our idea of ourselves and our society. Spargo and Ream will share what they’ve learned through their award-winning testimonial writing program and engage session participants in writing exercises modeled on the workshop. The session will reflect on the role testimony plays in educating the public on social, political, and interpersonal violences, and how testimony defines and defends the human rights of victims of violence. Encouraging participants to contemplate acts of bearing witness in their everyday lives, thus blending personal experience and ethical imagination, the session will explore novel ways of incorporating testimony and storytelling into teaching, advocacy, and other professional practices.
- 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The Role of the Witness in Breaking Cycles of Violence
Nothing is more contagious than a well-told story. But what if that story is a lie? Violence is loud, dramatic, and simple. It relies on clean arcs that flatten people into categories: hero and villain, innocent and guilty, us and them. In those stories, complexity disappears — and when complexity disappears, so do victims. Testimony interrupts that logic. It does not explain violence away or resolve it neatly. It simply says: I am here. This happened. I saw it. In doing so, testimony preserves human presence where violence seeks erasure. It preserves complexity where violence wants to make things simple. Testimony doesn’t promise redemption or closure. It does something more fundamental: it renders violence less contagious by insisting on complexity, dignity, and presence. This interactive seminar will guide participants through best practices in generating, holding, and sharing witness testimony responsibly. Drawing from their award-winning testimonial writing program, the session will include writing exercises modeled on their workshops, inviting participants to experience how testimony works — not just to learn about it.
- 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Q&A
Wednesday Bonuses (July 8th)
Peacemaking Amid Polarization with Vanessa Avery (9:00 am - 11:30 am)
What is a mimetic binary, and what does it mean—practically and inwardly—to stand outside it? What is peacebuilding, what does it look like on the ground, and what psycho-spiritual competencies are required to do it well? Participants will examine common challenges and risks of stepping outside mimetic binaries, and will also consider the empirical and personal impacts of peacebuilding work, including its effects on community norms, interpersonal trust, and the practitioner’s interior life. The session will be interactive and practice-forward, leaving participants with tools they can apply in their own institutional and communal contexts. For registration details, follow the link below in the "Our Collaborators" section.
Mimetic Theory 101 with Grant Kaplan (11 am - 12 pm)
If the words "René Girard" and "mimesis" sound foreign to you, or if you want a refresher on the basics of mimetic theory, this Wednesday bonus is for you! COV&R has generously opened their Mimetic Theory 101 session to our Creative Interruption participants. Join Grant Kaplan, professor of historical and systematic theology at Saint Louis University, for an overview of Girard's groundbreaking theory . This session will take place in the same building as Creative Interruption, and your registration for Creative Interruption includes this session for no additional fee.
Logistics
Practical Details
Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Location: DePaul Center, The Loop — downtown Chicago
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
Club Quarters is offering a discount to everyone attending Creative Interruption. Use this link to make a reservation. If your are attending COV&R, Club Quarter will extend the deal through Saturday night! You must make your reservation before June 7th.
Here is price-tiered list of other hotels in the area compiled by COV&R.
Pricing
Full price for Tuesday’s event is $80. (Reduced price and scholarship options are also available.)
Registration includes COV&R's Mimetic Theory 101 with Grant Kaplan.
Vanessa Avery’s Wednesday bonus event requires separate registration [here].
Our Collaborators
Find out more about COV&R and their Annual Meeting 2026 in Chicago
Find out more about the Center for Story & Witness
Find out more about Sharing Sacred Spaces and register for Peacemaking Amid Polarization
FAQs
- Do I need prior knowledge of René Girard or mimetic theory?
No. The day is designed to be accessible without prior expertise, while still offering depth for those already familiar with Girard's framework.
- Will I be expected to participate?
You’ll be invited to participate. Activities will include writing, reflection, and small-group conversation. You will never be pressured to share more than you wish.
- Is this emotionally intense?
The material is honest about violence and its costs, but the day is designed to be grounded, humane, and supportive. Respect your capacity and take whatever breaks you need.
- What will I leave with?
A deeper confidence in how to show up, how to bear witness, and how to live peace as a long-term commitment.
- When is the event?
Tuesday July 7th from 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
If you can hang around an extra day, check out the "Wednesday Bonuses" listed below.
- What does it cost?
Full price is $80. Reduced price and scholarship options are also available.
- Are meals included?
No, but complimentary coffee, tea, and light snacks will be available throughout the day.
- Do you have a hotel recommendation?
If you maker a reservation by June 7th, you can get a nightly rate of $145 at Club Quarters. Use this link.
- Is this a religious event?
The content is rooted in Christian peace ethics and draws on theological sources, but participants come from a wide range of religious and non-religious backgrounds. You do not need to share any particular faith commitments to participate.
- Is this politically affliliated?
No. The focus of the day is on nonviolence, witness, and ethical practice, not on partisan politics or policy advocacy.
- What is the refund/cancellation policy?
A full refund is available for any cancelation requested by June 30 (i.e. more than seven days before the event).
Please click "Contact host" found in your confirmation email (also located next to the big green "T" at the bottom of this page).
- Who can I contact if I have questions?
Click the "Contact host" button next to the big green "T" at bottom of this page.
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