Faculty & Plenary Speakers

 

Each day of the Summer Institute includes a plenary talk given by preeminent scholars and practitioners in the field of reconciliation. Plenary talks use scriptural interpretation, theology, and story-telling to weave a rich tapestry of reflection that is theological, contextual and practical. The teaching team of the Summer Institute also includes afternoon seminar leaders, who unite in-depth teaching with small group reflection around a particular theme in reconciliation, such as reconciliation and congregations, prisons ministry, creation care, or institutional leadership for reconciliation.

2012 Faculty Members

Fred Bahnson holds a master’s in theological studies from Duke Divinity School and writes about the intersection of food, faith, and agriculture. After being wooed into the agrarian life while serving as a peace worker among Mayan coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, he returned to the U.S. and co-founded Anathoth Community Garden, a church-supported agriculture ministry that he directed from 2005-2009. His essays have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Orion, The Sun, The Christian Century, and the anthology Best American Spiritual Writing 2007. Writing awards include a Kellogg Food & Community fellowship and a North Carolina Artist fellowship in creative nonfiction. He is co-author, with Norman Wirzba, of Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation (IVP) and is currently at work on Soil & Sacrament: Four Seasons Among the Keepers of the Earth, forthcoming from Free Press.

Articles by Fred Bahnson in Faith & Leadership:

Fred Bahnson will co-teach a seminar called “Making Peace with the Land” with Norman Wirzba.

Edgardo Colón-Emeric is Assistant Professor of Theology at Duke University. He was the founding director of the Hispanic House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, which was established to assist the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church and Duke Divinity School in supporting and strengthening ministries to and with Hispanics and Latinos in North Carolina. He is an ordained elder in the North Carolina Annual Conference. His ecumenical study of Wesley, Aquinas and Christian Perfection received the 2008 Aquinas Dissertation Prize from Ave Maria University and is published by Baylor University Press. His research interests focus on the intersections of dogmatic theology and Hispanic questions.

Edgardo Colón-Emeric will teach a seminar called “Introduction to Reconciliation."

Dr. Curtiss DeYoung has served as the professor of reconciliation studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., since 2002. Bethel University launched a B.A. degree in reconciliation studies in the fall of 2005. Curtiss earned an Ed.D. from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and an M.Div. from Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C. He is an author or editor of nine books on reconciliation and social justice. Prior to his current position, Curtiss served for 17 years in urban multicultural settings in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota as the president of the Twin Cities Urban Reconciliation Network (TURN), the executive director of the City Gate Project, and the senior pastor at a multiracial congregation. He also served congregations in Washington, D.C, and New York City, and worked at the Covenant House Times Square shelter for homeless and runaway youth in New York City. He is an ordained minister in the Church of God (headquarters in Anderson, Indiana).

Curtiss DeYoung will co-teach a seminar with Cheryl Sanders called “Shaping Congregations for Faithfulness across Divides.”

Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is Senior Research Professor on trauma, forgiveness and reconciliation at the University of Free State, and former professor of psychology at the University of Cape Town. Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela served as coordinator of victims’ public testimonies on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and as facilitator of encounters between perpetrators and family members of victims. Gobodo-Madikizela has been involved in studying the process of forgiving in order to deepen the understanding of its reparative elements in the aftermath of gross human-rights violations and mass trauma. Her current research applies the insights emerging from the study of forgiveness in victim–perpetrator encounters in order to explore the psychoanalytic dimensions of empathy in the context of perpetrators’ remorse and victims’ forgiveness. Her interests concerning empathy focus on the web of feelings and the transformative shifts that open up in dialogue processes between former enemies. Her critically acclaimed book on this topic, A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness won the Alan Paton Award in South Africa, and the Christopher Award in the United States. Her other books include Narrating Our Healing: Perspectives on Healing Trauma (as co-author), and Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past (as co-editor).

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela will co-facilitate a seminar called “Unfinished Business: Healing the Wounds of History” with Peter Storey.

Rev. Sarah Jobe is a mother, preacher, activist, and teacher who is learning to be a good neighbor in the Walltown community of Durham, N.C. She lives with her husband and two daughters at the Rutba House, an intentional Christian house of hospitality. Rev. Jobe serves as the director of Project TURN, a program that offers seminary style classes inside of North Carolina prisons. She serves as a chaplain at Raleigh Correctional Center for Women, where she also teaches courses on spiritual development and biblical studies. As an ordained Baptist minister, she also teaches, preaches, and lectures across the United States. Rev. Jobe received her M.Div. from Duke Divinity School with a focus on Hebrew Bible and Gender Studies. Her first book entitled Creating with God: The Holy Confusing Gift of Pregnancy was recently published by Paraclete Press.

Sarah Jobe will co-teach a seminar called “Reconciliation in the Context of Prisons” with Madeline McClenney-Sadler.

Dr. Mary Nelson was for 30 years the founding President and CEO of Bethel New Life, Inc. Bethel has earned a national reputation for innovative and effective urban ministry, with programs that promote the social, economic, and spiritual welfare of children, families, and seniors. Since her retirement from Bethel in 2006, Mary heads a Loyola University/SCUPE graduate degree (Master’s in Social Justice and Community Development), is on the faculty of Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD), chairs the Board of Sojourners, and consults, speaks and does workshops in a variety of settings. She wrote the recently released Empowerment Workbook for CCDA. Mary has an earned Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, six honorary Ph.D.s and numerous other awards.

Interview with Mary Nelson in Faith & Leadership: Mary Nelson: Embracing God’s vision for community

Mary Nelson will teach the seminar “Building Beloved Communities of Justice and Advocacy with the Poor.”

Rev. Dr. Madeline McClenney-Sadler is an ordained Baptist minister with more than 20 years of experience serving the church. She completed a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, and an M.Div. at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she was an active advocate for the homeless. She continued her education at Duke University where she earned a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies in 2001, with minors in Women’s Studies and Islamic Law.  As an advocate for the underserved, she received a citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2001 for her humanitarian work in the community. In 1999, Dr. McClenney-Sadler founded Exodus Foundation.org, a national Christian faith-based charity headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. Its mission is to stop the flow of African-Americans to prison. Its banner program is the Red Sea Crossings Mentoring and Scholarship Program. Dr. McClenney-Sadler is a frequent pulpit guest and published author. She is one of several nationally known contributors to the 2011 Judsen Press release Ministry with Prisoners and Families: The Way Forward, a groundbreaking tool for pastors and congregations.

Article by Madeline McClenney-Sadler in Faith & Leadership: Home for Good

Madeline McClenney Sadler will co-teach a seminar called “Reconciliation in the Context of Prisons” with Sarah Jobe.

Dr. Joel Perez is an expert in managing change in the area of diversity, particularly within faith-based institutions. His doctoral research at Claremont Graduate University examined the factors motivating four faith-based institutions seeking to become more diverse. He is passionate about assisting institutions in becoming more inclusive. Joel presented his doctoral research at the most recent National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) and NASPA's Multicultural Institute. In October he served as a consultant for a group of American Theological Society member seminaries. He has been recognized for his work in bringing awareness to the DREAM Act and supporting undocumented students. Joel currently serves as the dean of transitions and inclusion at George Fox University in Oregon. In addition to his doctorate, he holds a master’s in education with an emphasis in college student affairs from Azusa Pacific University, and a bachelor’s from Biola University. His work is informed by his experience as a first-generation college student and the first member of his family to complete a doctorate. He blogs at http://joelperez.net/

Joel Perez will facilitate the seminar “Reconciliation and Academic Institutions” which will include a guest lecture by Chris Rice.

Dr. John M. Perkins is a sharecropper’s son who grew up in New Hebron, Miss., amidst dire poverty. Fleeing to California at age 17 after his older brother’s murder at the hands of a town marshal, he vowed never to return. However, after converting to Christianity in 1960, he returned to Mendenhall, Miss., to share the gospel of Christ. While in Mississippi, his outspoken nature and leadership in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment, beatings, and imprisonment. In Mendenhall, Perkins and his wife founded Voice of Calvary Ministries. In 1989 he co-founded the Christian Community Development Association, which represents 6,800 individuals and 600 churches, ministries, institutions, and businesses in more than 100 cities and townships across the country.

Interview with John Perkins in Faith & Leadership: John Perkins: Empowering Communities

Chris Rice serves as Director of the Duke Divinity School Center for Reconciliation. Chris grew up in South Korea, the child of Presbyterian missionaries.  A turning point in his life was living and working for 17 years in an inner-city neighborhood of Jackson, Miss., with Voice of Calvary, an interracial church and community development ministry. Chris came to Duke Divinity School in 2000 to pursue ways for the academy to serve the world of Christian activism and helped launch the Center in 2005 as a founding co-director. His books Reconciling All Things and More Than Equals each won book awards from Christianity Today magazine, and his book Grace Matters was named a Best Adult Religion Book by Publishers Weekly. Chris has received the Distinguished Service to Mankind Award from Belhaven College. He also serves as director of the emerging Global Reconciliation Network and as chair of the Lausanne Special Interest Committee on Reconciliation. Chris and his wife Donna have three children, and Chris is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He blogs at http://reconcilers.wordpress.com/

Article by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice in Faith & Leadership: Recovering Reconciliation as the Mission of God

Chris Rice is a plenary speaker and will provide a guest lecture in the seminar “Reconciliation and Academic Institutions” with Joel Perez.

Dr. Alvin Sanders is the Executive Director of Reconciliation for the Evangelical Free Church of America. Before serving in this senior leadership position he served as founding pastor of River of Life Church in downtown Cincinnati within the midst of civil unrest over racial strife. A noted authority on reconciliation, he is often utilized as an organizational consultant and speaker. He has been named an adjunct professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Indiana Wesleyan University, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and is a board member for the Christian Community Development Association. He also is the author of Reconciliation 101: A Handbook for Ministry Leaders.  Alvin resides in Cincinnati with his wife Caroline and two daughters.  He often posts in a team blog, http://reconciliation101.wordpress.com/.  

Interview with Alvin Sanders in Faith & Leadership:  Focus on the Right Battlefield

Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders has been Senior Pastor of the Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C. since 1997, and is professor of Christian ethics at the Howard University School of Divinity, where she has taught since 1984. She has published more than 100 works including several books: Ministry at the Margins (1997); Saints in Exile: The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in African American Religion and Culture (1996); Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People (1995); and Living the Intersection (1995). She is a contributing guest editor for Leadership, a journal for pastors. She is a graduate of the Sidwell Friends School, Swarthmore College (B.A. in Mathematics), and Harvard Divinity School (M.Div., cum laude and Th.D. in the field of Applied Theology). In 2002 she was awarded the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. She received a second honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Anderson University in 2007. She is married to Dr. Alan D. Carswell, and is the mother of two adult children, Allison and Garrett.

Interview with Cheryl Sanders in Faith & Leadership: Finding Identity in the World

Cheryl Sanders will co-teach a seminar with Curtiss DeYoung called “Shaping Congregations for Faithfulness across Divides.”

Rev. Dr. Peter Storey is former president of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, past president of the South African Council of Churches, and was Methodist Bishop of the Johannesburg/Soweto area for 13 years. A native South African with a 30-year track record in urban ministry, Professor Storey founded a network of crisis intervention centers in South Africa and served as chaplain to Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners on Robben Island. In the 1980s he became a national leader in the church struggle against apartheid and co-led an ecumenical delegation to the United Nations, the U.S. Congress and Europe, urging intensified pressure on the apartheid regime in 1984. He co-chaired the regional Peace Accord structures intervening in political violence before South Africa’s first democratic elections and was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to help select the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  He serves as Professor Emeritus at Duke Divinity School, is the author of numerous publications, and recently led efforts to establish Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Peter Storey will co-facilitate a seminar called “Unfinished Business: Healing the Wounds of History.” with Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a writer and speaker who serves as a leader in the New Monastic movement. He is a native of North Carolina, where he lives with his family and other friends at the Rutba House, a new monastic community that prays, eats, and lives together, welcoming neighbors and the homeless. Jonathan is an associate minister at the historically black St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church, and is engaged in peacemaking and reconciliation efforts in Durham, N.C. Jonathan directs the School for Conversion, an alternative seminary that hosts courses around the country. He is editor of the New Monastic Library Series (Cascade Books) and associate editor of the Resources for Reconciliation Series (InterVarsity Press). He is the author of several books, most recently God’s Economy (Zondervan), The Wisdom of Stability (Paraclete Press), and Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Zondervan).

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove will teach a seminar called “Writing and the Ministry of Reconciliation.”

Dr. Norman Wirzba is Research Professor of Theology, Ecology and Rural Life at Duke Divinity School. He is the author of several celebrated books on the doctrine of creation, practice of Sabbath, and Christian agrarian movement. In particular, he focuses on understanding and promoting practices that will equip both rural and urban church communities to be more faithful and responsible members of creation. Current projects focus on eating as a spiritual discipline, theological reflection as informed by place, and agrarianism as a viable and comprehensive cultural force. Dr. Wirzba has published The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight. His most recent book is Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating.

Norman Wirzba will co-teach a seminar called “Making Peace with the Land” with Fred Bahnson.