Moral Re-Armament

Moral Re-Armament (MRA, or sometimes Buchmanism) is an international movement that was founded as the Oxford Group by Frank N. D. Buchman (a prominent Christian Evangelist from the United States), and a group of Oxford students in the 1920s. It is also the title of a book Moral Rearmament (The Battle for Peace), edited by H. W. Austin in 1938, the same year that the Oxford Group was becoming Moral Re-Armament. It is one of the first uses of the term.

Related Topics:
Frank N. D. Buchman - Oxford - H. W. Austin

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The origin of the term lies in the political climate of the 1930's, in which the re-militarization of post-WWI Germany was a contentious issue. The rejoinder of the Oxford Group and MRA was that the world needed not military re-armament, but moral re-armament.

Related Topics:
Re-militarization - WWI

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The movement has Christian roots but has grown into an informal, international network of people of all faiths and backgrounds. It is based around what it calls 'the Four Absolutes' (honesty, purity, unselfishness, love) and encourages its members to be actively involved in political and social issues. One of the core ideas is that changing the world starts with seeking change in one self.

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In 2001, it changed its name to Initiatives of Change.

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