Center for Justice and Peacebuilding
| Type | Graduate education, accredited through master’s level; also offers courses for non-credit training purposes. |
|---|---|
| Established | 1994-95 |
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Parent institution
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Eastern Mennonite University |
| Affiliation | Mennonite Church USA |
| Director | Founding director, John Paul Lederach; executive director since 2013, J. Daryl Byler |
|
Academic staff
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6 dedicated faculty; 7 adjunct; 16 additional instructors at annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute |
| Location |
Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA 38°28′15″N 78°52′46″W / 38.470966°N 78.879519°WCoordinates: 38°28′15″N 78°52′46″W / 38.470966°N 78.879519°W |
| Campus | 97 acres in semi-urban location of the Shenandoah Valley |
| Website | www |
Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) is an accredited graduate-level program founded in 1994. It also offers non-credit training. The program specializes in conflict transformation, restorative justice, trauma healing, equitable development, and addressing organizational conflict. CJP is housed at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which describes itself as "a leader among faith-based universities" in emphasizing "peacebuilding, creation care, experiential learning, and cross-cultural engagement." One of the three 2011 Nobel Peace Laureates, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, earned a master's degree in conflict transformation from CJP in 2007.
The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) is anchored in two currents within the Mennonite stream of Christianity:
The founding of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding grew in part out of the work of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Founded in 1920 to aid fellow Mennonites and others in Russia and the Ukraine, the organization developed a global reputation for providing assistance after natural and man-made disasters by the mid-1970s usually operating under MCC’s Mennonite Disaster Service, founded in 1950.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, MCC started work on establishing a better training program focusing on the peace and justice fields at a systematic level. This was addressed first by founding the Office on Crime and Justice, with renowned restorative justice expert Howard Zehr as its first director. This office had the goal of moving the justice system away from retributive punishments toward processes that would help heal those harmed and restore communities. Zehr began the first victim/offender conferencing program in the United States during this period. Two years later, MCC founded Mennonite Conciliation Service (MCS) with Ron Kraybill as its first director. The mission of this organization was to encourage Mennonites and others to pursue peaceful resolution of conflicts. These two offices later were integrated into MCC’s Office of Justice and Peacebuilding. Kraybill left MCS in 1989 to pursue a Ph.D. and was replaced by John Paul Lederach. The tenure of Kraybill and Lederach overlapped a bit, allowing them opportunity to develop a shared vision for a new kind of peace studies program in the world of higher education. Kraybill later recalled those early conversations:
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