Online Education Design Specialist, Eastern Mennonite University; District Minister of Communications & Leadership Development, Church of the Brethren (Northern Plains District) Based in rural Iowa, Brian continues his work in educational technology work for EMU from afar, but is also involved in local and regional church ministry efforts. As an ordained minister in the Church ...More
When a few of us on staff and faculty at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) came together last year to begin discussing the possibility of doing an online course – something we had never done before – we were met with some resistance, not the least of which came from Howard Zehr, Professor ...More
In an impassioned op-ed piece over at NationofChange, Christopher Petrella paints a troubling picture of the state of corrections in the United States and the paths which brought us here. Particularly troubling is what Petrella calls “the circuitous pathways between race, citizenship, containment, and profitability.” Not only is the phenomenon of for-profit prisons becoming more common, in ...More
James Cavanaugh, a retired ATF executive, offers a good picture of the role of police in the #occupy movement in this op-ed piece posted to Tickle the Wire, a site focused on federal law enforcement. Most notably, he encourages the “greatly underutilized” resources of police negotiators to form relationships and build trust with #occupy movement ...More
On Friday of last week, I had the most fun day at work ever. I had the fortune of being the web & social media nerd for the alma mater of a Nobel Peace Prize winner! Liberian nonviolent peace activist, Leymah Gbowee, was one of three women to win the 2011 prize. She is also a 2007 ...More
justice, n. Etymology: < Old French justise, -ice (jostise) uprightness, equity, vindication of right, administration of law, jurisdiction, court of justice, infliction of punishment, gallows, judge, etc. —Oxford English Dictionary online The customary way of thinking of justice – usually tied to determining what kind of punishment is appropriate for a particular wrongdoing – is ...More
Nearly three years ago, in the fall of 2008, I had just started the four-year saga known as “the dual-degree program” at EMU, between the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) and the Seminary. There I was, a small-town Iowa boy, learning conflict analysis with Lisa Schirch and restorative justice with Howard Zehr. Around me ...More
The sixteenth annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) at Eastern Mennonite University came to a successful conclusion on June 17th, just over a week ago. During the course of SPI a few of my colleagues conducted sixteen interviews with students and instructors. (To my knowledge, the recurrence of “sixteen” is a happy coincidence.) Our interview subjects ...More
On behalf of the faculty, staff, alumni, and students of the Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP), I’d like to welcome you to the new Peacebuilder Online! Over the past year, this website has functioned as the online home of articles written for our print magazine, Peacebuilder, which has also been posted for ...More