Peacejam Memories
This week I made some presentations on South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to 8th graders at the nearby Waynesville Middle School. Most of them are heavily involved …
Earth Speaks in Haiti
All our careful plans and fervent hopes are devastated by one brief shudder in earth’s crust. In the face of such appalling suffering and destruction, an offering of words seems …
Our Constitutional Crisis
The widely recognized dysfunction and paralysis of the US Senate is creating a Constitutional crisis in our country analogous to the fault-line that has created the devastating earthquake in Haiti. …
Bluegrass at the Boston Roundtable
Last week I spent some time in the Boston area, where I helped lead Tom Porter’s seminar on Restorative Justice at Boston University School of Theology before moving on to …
Rooting in the Past
In her recent column, “Rooting Around in the Past,” (Newsweek, October 28, 2009, p. 24), Raina Kelley reflects on the way media have handled news about Michelle Obama’s mixed racial …
The Junaluska Conferences
Last week Sylvia and I were heavily involved in two conferences at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center a few miles from our home. Both occurred in pouring rain …
Rupert Ross’s Returning to the Teachings
For some time my friend Tom Porter has urged me to read Rupert Ross’s, Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice (Penguin, 1996, 2006). I just finished it with the …
On War and the Soul
When I wrote up my reflections on military trauma after the JustPeace Conference, I had not yet read Edward Tick’s book, War and the Soul: Healing our Nation’s Veterans from …
Military Trauma, Ethics, and Conflict Transformation
“Trauma Healing: Preparing Churches to Receive Returning Military Personnel” was the focus of the JustPeace Gathering I attended on April 1-2 in Nashville, TN. JustPeace is the Mediation and Conflict …
On Time, Memory, and Reconciliation
Several things have converged in the last few days to make me think about time, memory, and reconciliation. But it’s not an easy topic! St. Augustine had it right: “If …
My Approach to Restorative Justice
The concept of restorative justice has emerged strongly in the past few years to sit as an equal beside more familiar forms of retribution, distribution, and exchange. At its heart …
What Is “Roundtable Ministries”?
Roundtable Ministries seek to express God’s work of reconciliation and restoration in worship and community action. In worship we place a round table at the center of our communion and …