Symposium in November of Restorative Justice, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding
There is will on Symposium on November 11-12 at NYU School of Law, entitled “Restorative Justice, Reconciliation, and Peacebuilding.”
Featured speakers include:
John Braithwaite, Australian National University
Phil Clark, School of Oriental and African Studies
Stephen Hopgood, School of Oriental and African Studies
Louise Mallinder, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster
David Tolbert, International Center for Transitional Justice
Charles Villa-Vicencio, Georgetown University
Conference is free but requires advance registration. Because space is limited, early registration is recommended. To register, contact Kelly Roberts at iiljstudent@exchange.law.nyu.edu.
The symposium is a project of the Program on Religion and Reconciliation at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame in collaboration with the Restorative Peacebuilding Project of the Working Party on Restorative Justice of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in New York.
To see the flier for more information, click here.
BU Faculty Combine Academics and Activism—with Social Justice at the Core
Dr. James McCarty, Director of the Tom Porter Religion and Conflict Transformation Program, was profiled in Bostonia Magazine along with several other BU faculty for their activism and its relationship to their academic work.
An excerpt of the article is below:
James McCarty, a School of Theology assistant clinical professor of religion and conflict transformation, has also spent years building relationships with local communities. The director of theTom Porter Program on Religion & Conflict Transformation, McCarty is a restorative justice, transformative justice, and conflict transformation practitioner and researcher—that is, he works with people and organizations to repair harms caused by racism, violence, and oppression.
As a Korean American, McCarty has always felt a commitment to racial justice. In 2014, he started as a chaplain at Seattle University. Not long after, Eric Garner was killed by a New York City police officer, and the Black Lives Matter movement gained national attention. In response, he and a colleague organized a die-in on the Seattle University campus.
“This country is really broken,” says McCarty. “And one of the ways that it’s really broken is along lines of racial injustice and oppression.”
He joined local communities in Tacoma, Wash., to help combat increased violence among young men of color. They agreed that the best response would be to implement peacemaking circles, a restorative justice practice inspired by indigenous traditions that offers alternative ways to respond to crime. The circles brought together people who have caused and experienced harm in an attempt to build empathy, bring about healing, and prevent offenses.
“The way my life played out, with the communities that I’m connected to, [my work] turned radically local,” McCarty says. “And that’s just because I’ve really spent the time listening and building relationships.”
You can read the entire article here.
Dr. David Anderson Hooker Serving as Visiting Professor of Religion and Conflict Transformation
Boston University School of Theology is pleased to announce the appointment of David Anderson Hooker as visiting associate professor of religion and conflict transformation for the fall 2023 semester. Dr. Hooker will be teaching two courses this fall, TC 871 Spiritual Formation for Peacebuilders and TS 807 Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Healing and Collective Wounds. Dr. Hooker is a lawyer and former community psychologist with more than 35 years’ experience as a mediator, trainer, and community builder, and his life’s work will be integral for students who wish to learn restorative and healing justice processes.
“Dr. Hooker brings global perspectives and hands-on engagement with communities across the world to his teaching,” says G. Sujin Pak, dean of the School of Theology. “Drawing upon his knowledge, skills, and expertise in theology, law, and public health, he implements an exquisite framework and set of practices that wrestle with issues of memory, historical harms, and the role of narrative in shaping human beliefs and practices. Every student should seize this amazing opportunity to take his classes! I am so thrilled to have him with us this fall.”
Read an interview with Dr. Hooker here.
Congratulations to Our 2023 Certificate Recipients!
We had thirteen students graduate with the Religion and Conflict Transformation Certificate in Spring 2023. Congratulations to each of you! The names of those who completed all requirements for the certificate are listed below:
Barton, Rachel, Judith (BU, 2023)
Blair, David (BU, 2023)
Bryans, Darrah (BU, 2023)
Carman, Daniel, Anthony (BU, 2023)
De Grood, Anine (BU, 2023)
Gosen, Evan (BU, 2023)
Kelly, Kasey (BU, 2023)
Ney, Christopher (BU, 2023)
Park, Yewon (BU, 2023)
Perry, Cynthia (BU, 2023)
Reynolds, Adam (BU, 2023)
Saha, Rumni (BU, 2023)
Yuen, Stacey (BU, 2023)
Leading in a Good Way
Director McCarty led the Anna Howard Shaw Thursday lunch lecture series on February 16, 2023 by introducing the group to peacemaking circles. He offered a primer on what peacemaking circles are and some key principles of leading a circle to be a healing tool in a community.
Director McCarty Elected to SCE Board of Directors
The Society of Christian Ethics (SCE) announced in a recent social media post that Assistant Clinical Professor of Religion and Conflict Transformation James McCarty has been elected to their Board of Directors. The non-denominational SCE was founded in the 1950s and today has more than 850 active members, including professors of ethics and clergy members, as well as scholars of social policy. The Society promotes research in the fields of Christian ethics and moral theology, among others, as well as addresses global and local contextual issues of human rights and social justices.
“I am excited to join the board of the largest and most prestigious organization devoted to the work of Christian ethics,” says Prof. McCarty. “The SCE has been an intellectual and spiritual home for my entire career and serving in this leadership position is an honor. I hope to be a voice of wisdom and courage in this divisive moment in our history and to bring the skills I teach to students with me in my work for the society.”
Many congratulations to Prof. McCarty on this new appointment.
Director McCarty Featured in BU Today
The following is an excerpt from BU Today’s article “Why We Need More MLK in Schools” by Steve Holt, featuring Assistant Clinical Professor of Religion and Conflict Transformation James McCarty, published on November 29, 2022. Click here to read the full article.
BU Today: As a King scholar, what was your first reaction to hearing that initial drafts of Virginia’s public school curriculum mostly erased King from its K-5 history and social sciences requirements?
McCarty: My initial thoughts are that it is truly incredible to think that King, perhaps the most recent addition to the pantheon of American democratic heroes (if the Washington Mall is any indication), is not appropriate for students preparing to become citizens. King was a Christian pastor, a champion of democracy who secured voting rights for millions, quoted Thomas Jefferson regularly, and is an internationally influential voice for peace—but he’s too dangerous for youth to learn about? It raises the question of what is actually so dangerous about King. The most likely answer to that is his firm stance on behalf of racial justice, economic restructuring, and critiques of America’s militarism. In the era of critical race theory panic, all of these, especially the concern for racial justice, come to mind.
BUSTH Welcomes New Director of Tom Porter Religion and Conflict Transformation Program
May 2022 – Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is pleased to announce the appointment of new full-time faculty member James (Jimmy) McCarty, who will begin at the end of July 2022. Dr. McCarty will join the faculty as Assistant Clinical Professor of Religion and Conflict Transformation and Director of the Tom Porter Religion and Conflict Transformation Program.
Interview with Bishop Susan Hassinger
In appreciation of Bishop Hassinger’s teaching and mentoring at STH, and her longstanding leadership with the RCT program, Oscar Guana, MDiv, RCT Research Assistant, conducted the following interview in celebration of her retirement this summer. To read the interview with Bishop Hassinger, click here.
Upcoming Events
Tues. Jan. 29th - "A New Religious Call for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons" - a lecture and conversation with James Carroll; STH 325, 4pm
Thurs. Jan. 31st - Partakers Info Session and Orientation; STH 111B, 3:30p
Upcoming Events
November 10th - RCT Fall Retreat
Guest Speaker: Rev. Cornell Brooks