Partnership with Goshen College

Conflict Transformation courses

AMBS has an agreement with Goshen (Indiana) College that allows AMBS students to register for Goshen College’s course offerings in Conflict Transformation. Any of these courses can count towards the “Courses in concentration” requirement in the Primary concentration of the MA: Theology and Peace Studies degree. These courses are offered at the undergraduate level; AMBS students work from a different course syllabus that meets graduate-level standards for time invested in the course and demonstrates comprehensive understanding, analysis, critical evaluation, and emergent ideas.

  • Conflict-healthy Groups (PJCS 426)
    Three hours
    Using a systems approach, students will explore conflicts in organizations and communities, locating and examining models for assessment, diagnosis, intervention, and evaluation. Working with case studies and real-life situations of structural injustice and conflict, students will learn practical strategies for dialogue, problem-solving, healing, reconciliation, and system change. Prerequisite: PJCS 325.
  • Dynamics/Theology of Reconciliation (PJCS 350)
    Three hours
    An interdisciplinary examination of the work of reconciliation in interpersonal and small-group relationships, but especially in large-scale social and political contexts.
  • Mediation: Process, Skills, Theory (PJCS 325)
    Three hours
    Focuses on the third-party role of the mediator. Explores the theoretical basis for mediation, its various applications in North America, and critiques of the appropriateness of mediation for certain types of conflicts. Emphasis will be on experiential learning to develop the skills needed for mediation in formal and informal settings. Students will complete one hour of applied experience.
  • Religion, Conflict, and Peace (PJCS 332)
    Three hours
    Examines the role of religion in causing and nurturing violence and in promoting peace themes that have emerged as central to the pursuit of peace in the 21st century.
  • Restorative Justice (PJCS 347)
    Three hours
    Begins with an account of some of the classic and mainstream understandings of justice and then moves on to an overview of the foundational principles of restorative justice and its various practical applications. The course will examine and address the needs of victims, offenders, communities, and broader systems. It will specifically examine the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) model and its role in the North American criminal justice system. It will also examine models from other contexts such as family group conferences and circles.

AMBS contact

Scott Janzen, Registrar