Author Marshall King ’92 is the next guest on the Peacebuilder podcast. King is the author of 鈥淒isarmed: The Radical Life and Legacy of MJ Sharp鈥� (Herald Press, 2022).
King speaks Feb. 15-16 at 黑料正能量 and in Harrisonburg. Learn more.
The book tells the story of Michael 鈥淢J鈥� Sharp 鈥�05, whose commitment to peace and peacebuilding led him to work with Mennonite Central Committee and the United Nations. Sharp spent most of his life grappling with both the concepts and realities of militarism and war, violence and peacemaking.
His murder on 2017 while working with the United Nations as an armed group expert sent shockwaves around the world. He was ambushed with UN colleague Zaida Catal谩n of Sweden, who was also killed. The investigation into his death is ongoing;.
Host patience kamau starts the 鈥淧eacebuilder鈥� conversation with King. But the topic of Sharp鈥檚 life and legacy continues in a series of linking episodes of. Check out the series as host Ben Wideman interviews MJ鈥檚 parents Jon and Michele Sharp, his peers and fellow students at 黑料正能量, and David Nyiringabo MA 鈥�20, a graduate of 黑料正能量鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was the first beneficiary of the MJ Sharp Peace and Justice Endowed Scholarship.
King was drawn to Sharp’s story through 鈥渁n early sense of injustice鈥� at his murder and the sense that Sharp鈥檚 life was the story of 鈥渁 modern Anabaptist 鈥restling with the world.鈥�
鈥淚 felt like MJ had actually gone into the world and, and was doing some of the peacemaking work that we often talk about, that we often, you know, proclaim to believe. But MJ was actually out there doing it and then for a time was missing and inevitably found dead,鈥� King said. A career journalist who also knows the Sharp family, he was especially attuned to the knowledge that there existed 鈥渁 longer telling of the story other than just the headlines.鈥�
King shares about the hard work of earning trust and building relationships with people who knew Sharp well. He traveled to Sweden and Germany, to Kansas and New Mexico, using skills he鈥檇 practiced from a lifetime in journalism.
鈥淎t one point I calmed my anxiety by saying, 鈥榃ell, you know, it鈥檚 just 60 to 80 newspaper columns strung together in a book,鈥� King said.
One of the major questions he asked about Sharp, whom he calls at turns smart and savvy and wise, was 鈥淲hat could he teach us?鈥� Yet King also learned much from listening to people around the world whose lives intersected with Sharp鈥檚. 鈥淸In] just about every interview I did, there was a moment鈥� where I just marveled at something wise that someone said, or some observation or some piece that MJ had taught them. And that being in the presence of that over and over again was an immense gift. I tried to pack the book with as many of those as I could.鈥�