Formation for Life: Just Peacemaking and Twenty-First-Century Discipleship

Contributors

Martin Accad, DPhil (University of Oxford) is Associate Professor of Islamic studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, and Director of the Institute of Middle East Studies at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon. Fluent in English, French, and Arabic, Accad has taught at seminaries in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United States. Accad has contributed chapters to various books, including Rethinking Mission for the Middle East in Christian Presence and Witness among Muslims (edited by Peter Penner, 2005) and The Interpretation of John 20.17 in Muslim-Christian Dialogue (8th–14th cent.): The Ultimate Proof-Text in Christians at the Heart of Islamic Rule (edited by David Thomas, 2003), as well as authoring journal and dictionary articles, such as the Trinity article in the IVP Dictionary of Mission Theology: Evangelical Foundations (2007). Accad is currently writing a book, through the Langham Writer’s Grant, on moving beyond conflict in Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Warren S. Brown, PhD (University of Southern California) is director of the Travis Research Institute and Professor of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. Brown has authored or coauthored over seventy-five scholarly articles in such peer-reviewed scientific journals as Neuropsychologia, Psychophysiology, Biological Psychiatry, Developmental Neuropsychology, Cortex, Nature Review Neuroscience, and Science; fifteen chapters in edited scholarly books; and over 150 presentations at scientific meetings. Brown has also written and lectured on the integration of neuroscience and Christian faith, and was principal editor and contributor to Whatever Happened to the Soul? Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature (1998). He was also editor and contributor to Understanding Wisdom: Sources, Science and Society (2000), and wrote (with Nancey Murphy) Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?: Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will (2007). His newest book, Neuroscience, Psychology and Religion: Illusions, Delusions, and Realities of Human Nature (with Malcolm Jeeves) was published in 2009.

Scott R. Garrels, PhD (Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary) is Adjunct Professor in the School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, and a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice. He has written and lectured widely on the integration of René Girard’s mimetic theory with contemporary empirical research on human imitation, including their implications for clinical theory and practice. He was awarded a Templeton Advanced Research Program grant from the Metanexus Institute (2006) and recently edited Mimesis and Science: Empirical Research on Imitation and the Mimetic Theory of Culture and Religion (2011).

Marc Gopin, PhD (Brandeis University), is the James H. Laue Professor of Religion, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution, and the Director of the Center on Religion, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) at George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR). Gopin has lectured in universities and countries throughout the world on conflict resolution. He has engaged in back channel diplomacy with religious, political, and military figures on both sides of conflicts, especially in the Arab/Israeli conflict. Gopin is the author of Between Eden and Armageddon: The Future of World Religions, Violence and Peacemaking (2000), and Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East (2002), a study on what was missing from the Oslo Process, and what will be necessary culturally for a successful Arab/Israeli peace process. He also wrote, Healing the Heart of Conflict (2004). Dr. Gopin was ordained as a rabbi in 1983. Gopin is now working in partnership with the Fetzer Foundation to create a web-based video series and book on enemies who become friends and close partners. Filming began in the summer of 2008. He is also the author of To Make the Earth Whole: The Art of Citizen Diplomacy in an Age of Religious Militancy (2009).

Jeffrey Gros, PhD (Fordham University) has been Distinguished Professor of Historical and Ecumenical Theology, University of Memphis. Gros has been involved in editing numerous books including: Deepening Communion (with William Rusch, 1998); Introduction to Ecumenism (with Ann Riggs, Eamon McManus, 1998); The Church as Koinonia of Salvation; Its Structures and Ministries (with Randall Lee, 2000); Growing Concensus II (with Lydia Veliko, 2005); The Ecumenical Christian Dialogues and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (with Daniel Mulhall, 2006), The Fragmentation of the Church and its Unity in Peacemaking (with John Remple, 2001), John Baptist de La Salle: The Spirituality of Christian Education (with Jeffrey Calligan, 2004), Evangelization and Religious Freedom: Ad Gentes, Dignitatis Humanae (with Steven Bevans, SVD, 2008).

Raymond G. Helmick, SJ is professor of Conflict Resolution, Boston College, 1984. He has been Career Associate Director of the Center for Human Rights and Responsibilities, London, 1973–79, Institute Society Research, London, 1973–79; foundation, Co-director of the Center of Concern for Human Dignity, 1979–81; Senior Associate of the Conflict Analysis Center, Washington, 1982–; Senior Associate for the Center of Strategic and Internal Studies, Washington, 2000–2004; faculty Rotary Peace Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He has worked with conflict in the following regions: Northern Ireland; Lebanon; the Arab-Israeli conflict; and elsewhere including Boston (USA). He is founder and Senior Associate Member of the Conflict Analysis Center. His publications include: A Social Option: A Social Planning Approach to the Problems of Northern Ireland (with Richard Hauser, 1975); La Situation libanaise selon Raymond Eddé (1990); Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Social Policy and Conflict Transformation (with Rodney L. Petersen, 2001); Negotiating Outside the Law: Why Camp David Failed (2004); Living Catholic Faith in a Contentious Age (2010).

Cheryl Bridges Johns, PhD (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Professor of Discipleship and Christian Formation, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Cleveland, Tennessee. Her published works include Pentecostal Formation: A Pedagogy among the Oppressed (1993) and Finding Eternal Treasures (1986). She is the past-president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. She has been actively involved in numerous ecumenical initiatives including the Roman Catholic/Pentecostal Dialogue, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, Church of God-Mennonite Dialogue. She has represented her tradition with the World Council of Churches and Faith and Order for the National Council of Churches. Johns is on the board for Evangelicals for Human Rights, the Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, and the National Religious Campaign against Torture. Her work has included several creation care initiatives, including Scientists and Evangelicals Initiative on the Care of Creation. She is co-pastor of the New Covenant Church of God, a church she and her husband, Jackie, started in 1989.

Hajung Lee, PhDc (Boston University) is completing doctoral work in social ethics. Lee is an attorney and Co-director of the Center for Women in Ministry and Mission in Santa Clarita, California. Lee is interested in just peacemaking from a feminist perspective.

Philip LeMasters, PhD (Duke University) is Turner Distinguished Professor of Religion, Director of the Honors Program, and Dean, School of Social Sciences and Religion, Abilene, Texas. An internationally recognized scholar of Christian ethics, LeMasters has presented on the ethics of war and peace in Eastern Orthodox Christianity at conferences in Romania, Greece, Syria, and Northern Ireland. A widely published author, LeMasters’ five books and many essays and reviews address a variety of topics in moral theology, including biomedical, political, and sexual ethics. His most recent book is The Goodness of God’s Creation (2008). He has published an essay on the ethics of war and peace in the Orthodox Church in the March 2011 edition of The Ecumenical Review, a journal associated with the World Council of Churches. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Academy of Religion, and the Society of Christian Ethics, LeMasters is also a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York. A priest of the Orthodox Church, he is also the pastor of a small congregation in Abilene.

David McMillan, PhD (International Baptist Theological Seminary) works with the International Baptist Theological Seminary (Prague) and is director of Clanrye Initiatives, involved in education and research with particular emphasis on theology, conflict, reconciliation, and peace-building. He has been pastor at Windsor Baptist Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was director for seventeen years of ECONI (Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland), a catalyst for radical biblical discipleship, encouraging, and enabling Christians to think biblically about their life and witness in the world. In particular ECONI aimed to equip Christians to address the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland and the reality of community division and to contribute to the long-term task of peacebuilding. McMillan has also held pastorates at other Baptist churches and been director at Newry and Mourne Co-operative.

Juan Martínez, PhD (Fuller Theological Seminary) is Assistant Dean for the Hispanic Church Studies Department and Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies and Pastoral Leadership in the School of Theology. Martínez joined Fuller from the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where he served as rector for nine years. A Mennonite Brethren pastor, Martínez also has experience in church planting and teaching in both religious and secular venues. He served as director of Hispanic Ministries for the Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church and of Instituto Bíblico del Pacífico, a Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute. Most recently Martínez has published the books Los Evangélicos: Portraits of Latino Protestantism in the United States (with Lindy Scott, 2009), Walk with the People: Latino Ministry in the United States/Caminando entre el pueblo: Ministerio latino en los Estados Unidos (2008), and Vivir y servir en el exilio: Lecturas teológicas de la experiencia latina en los Estados Unidos (with Jorge Maldonado, 2008). He is contributor to several books: Hispanic American Religious Cultures (2009), Building Bridges, Doing Justice: Constructing a Latino/a Ecumenical Theology (2009); Evangelicals and Empire: Christian Alternatives to the Political Status Quo (2008); and Vivir y servir en el exilio: Lecturas teológicas de la experiencia latina en los Estados Unidos. (2008). He was also a regional editor for the Global Dictionary of Theology (2008).

Richard J. Mouw, PhD (University of Chicago) is president of Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California since 1993. A philosopher, scholar, and author, Mouw joined the faculty at Fuller as professor of Christian philosophy and ethics in 1985 following seventeen years as Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mouw has a broad record of publication including editor of Reformed Journal, and current editorial board of Books and Culture. He is author of nineteen books, including The God Who Commands, The Smell of Sawdust, He Shines in All That’s Fair, Culture and Common Grace, Calvin in the Las Vegas Airport, Praying at Burger King, an expanded and revised edition of Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World, and most recently, Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction, The Challenges of Cultural Discipleship, and Talking with Mormons: An Invitation to Evangelicals. Mouw is President of the Association of Theological Schools, and for six years has served as Co-chair of the official Reformed-Christian Dialogue, and is a leader for interfaith theological conversations, particularly with Mormon and Jewish groups.

Timothy A. Norton, MA (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is owner of Crux Communication, a communication, marketing and development consulting company that assists colleges, universities, and other non-profits with visioning, communicating, and funding their missions. He is also Co-executive Director of the Lord’s Day Alliance of the U.S., having served the organization since 2000. An ordained Baptist minister, he has contributed to numerous faith-related publications and professional publications in the areas of philanthropy and marketing communications. He is founding director of the Augustine Collective, a network of independent, student-run Christian journals on college campuses. Together with Edward O’Flaherty, S.J. and Rodney Petersen, Norton edited Sunday, Sabbath, and the Weekend: Managing Time in a Global Culture (2010).

Rodney L. Petersen, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is Executive Director of the Boston Theological Institute; Co-director of the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program, Boston University School of Theology; and, Co-executive Director of The Lord’s Day Alliance of the U.S. In addition to this work with the BTI, he teaches in both the member schools and overseas in the areas of history and ethics, currently focusing on issues of religion and conflict. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Petersen has served on several denominational committees and for seven years as the pastor of the Allston Congregational Church (U.C.C.). Prior work included teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois), Webster University (Geneva, Switzerland), and with the Fédération des Institutions établies à Genève (FIIG). He is author or editor and contributor of numerous publications, including Preaching in the Last Days (1993); Christianity and Civil Society: Theological Education for Public Life (1995); Consumption, Population, and Sustainability: Perspectives from Science and Religion (1999), with accompanying video, Living in Nature; The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University. A Festschrift in Honor of Professor George H. Williams (1999), Earth at Risk (2000), Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy and Conflict Transformation (2001), Theological Literacy for the 21st Century (2002); Antioch Agenda: Essays in Honor of Orlando E. Costas (2007); Overcoming Violence: Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding (2010); 2010 Boston: The Changing Contours of World Mission and Christianity (2012).

Tom Porter, JD (Boston University Law School) is Executive Director of Just Peace Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation (UMC), the mission of which is to engage conflict constructively in ways that strive for justice, reconciliation, resource preservation and restoration of community in and through The United Methodist Church and with the Church universal to the world in which we live. He is an ordained elder of the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church and served as conference chancellor for twenty-three years. He was a founding partner of the trial firm of Melick & Porter LLP in 1983 and has been a trial lawyer since 1974. Porter is a member of the Working Group on Restorative Justice of the Boston Theological Institute and has taught courses on the practice and theory of conflict transformation and peace building at Union Theological Seminary, Claremont School of Theology, and in numerous church settings. Co-director of the Boston University School of Theology Religion and Conflict Transformation program, he is author of Conflict and Communion: Reconciliation and Restorative Justice at Christ’s Table (2006), and The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation: Creating a Culture of Justpeace (2010).

Kevin S. Reimer, PhD (Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary) is Dean and Professor of Psychology at Fresno Pacific University. His research program considers moral identity through natural language processing. He has authored or co-authored more than sixty publications. Co-authored books include The Reciprocating Self (2005) and A Peaceable Psychology (2009). He recently authored Living L’Arche (2009) and co-edits Theology and the Science of Moral Action (2012). Reimer is co-principal investigator on a scientific research grant from the John Templeton Foundation entitled Love, Compassion, and Care: Virtue Science and Exemplarity in Real Life and in the Laboratory. He has received funding from the John Fetzer Institute, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, and Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA).