Topic outline

  • 4 credits for M.Th./M.Div, 6 credits for Th.D./D.Min.

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    Instructor: Mary Ann Cejka, Ph. D.

    email: provost@globalministriesuniversity.org

  • Course Description

    This course will introduce the student to essential skills, tools, frameworks and processes in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.The scope of the course will range from interpersonal conflict to large groups (including nations).Opportunities will be provided to reflect upon the local and global roles of the minister in conflict intervention and building peace.

  • Student Learning Outcomes


    Students will:
    • Develop a lexicon useful in conflict transformation practice.
    • Articulate the dynamics of conflict, and the essential values of a conflict transformation approach.
    • Learn to make intervention choices that are contextually appropriate.
    • Reflect upon the minister's role in conflict intervention and peacebuilding.
    • Demonstrate an ability to write effectively about issues of conflict and peace, as they impact us both personally and globally.

  • Texts


    John Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, (Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2003).

    John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 1997).

    William W. Wilmot & Joyce L. Hocker, Interpersonal Conflict (8th edition), (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011).


  • Methodology


    This is a "directed study” online course, in which students will read the assigned texts and fulfill accompanying written assignments.The latter will include completing applications in the study of interpersonal conflict, maintaining a "war journal,” and writing two papers.

  • Assignments


    Please carry out the assignments for this course in the following order:

    1)Begin your War Journal:Pay attention to the news while you are taking this course.On at least ten separate occasions, make an entry in your journal about a contemporary conflict.(Your journal may follow one conflict, or touch upon several, or anything in between.) Note the date above each entry.At the end of the course, polish and proofread your journal and turn it in to me.Entries may take any direction you choose, but here are some questions you may want address in some of them:

    ·What attitudes toward war in general do you bring to your analysis of/reflection on this conflict?

    ·What are your biases/potential biases toward this conflict or the parties involved?

    ·How knowledgeable are you about this conflict?About the cultures, political systems, and/or the economic systems/status of the groups involved?

    ·Who are the main parties to the conflict?

    ·Who are power players in the conflict?Are there powers involved beyond the directly warring parties?

    ·With what sorts of weapons is the conflict being fought?

    ·What are the central issues in the conflict?On the surface? At a deeper level?

    ·What events precipitated the conflict?

    2)Read the first five chapters of Interpersonal Conflict.

    3)Interpersonal Conflict applications:Chose one application from each of the first five chapters and apply it to your experience, recording your reactions on paper. (Note:This book is among the most respected texts on the topic, but be forewarned that it is geared toward a young, just-out-of- college, graduate student audience.Choose the applications that are most relevant in your life now, or feel free to re-work them so that they speak more to your current experience.) Polish and proofread, then turn in the final version to me.

    4)Read the final five chapters of Interpersonal Conflict.

    5)Interpersonal Conflict applications:Chose one application from each of chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 (there is only one in chapter 9) and apply it to your experience, recording your reactions on paper.(See note in #3, above.) Polish and proofread, then turn in the final version to me.

    6)Read The Little Book of Conflict Transformation.

    7)Conflict Transformation in Ministry Paper:Write a 5-7 page research & reflection paper offering an example of one or two types of conflicts in which a minister might be expected to intervene.You can use actual examples or hypothetical conflicts.Offer appropriate interventions based upon what you've learned from The Little Book of Conflict Transformation.

    8)Read Building Peace.

    9)Conflict Analysis/Peacebuilding Paper:Choose a contemporary or recently ended armed conflict from anywhere in the world.Write a 7-10 page research paper in which you:

    ·Analyze the conflict according to the questions for conflict analysis addressed in Building Peace.

    ·Put forward what you believe to be a plan for ending the conflict (if it has not yet ended) and for building a sustainable peace.

    Polish and proofread this final paper and turn it in to me.

    Summary of Assignments

    Read all 3 textbooks.

    5 written assignments:

    War Journal

    Interpersonal Conflict applications from Chapters 1-5

    Interpersonal Conflict applications from Chapters 6, 7, 8, & 10

    Conflict Transformation in Ministry Paper

    Conflict Analysis/Peacebuilding Paper (final paper)

    IMPORTANT:  

    Save your paper with a file name you will recognize, using TH701 and your name. Click "Browse" and find your paper on your computer. Click "Open" at bottom. Click "Upload file" on Classroom page. Your instructor will automatically be notified of your submission.


    After uploading any files, click "Save Changes,” then you MUST CLICK SUBMIT on the next screen. If you see a status of "Draft”, you have not submitted your assignment and the instructor will not be notified. 


  • Course Evaluation

    Your input is very important to us; therefore we urge you to submit a Course Evaluation:

  • Instructor Biography

    Mary Ann Cejka holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Loyola Marymount University, an M.Div. from Yale, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Purdue.A 7-country study of grassroots peacemaking efforts that she directed for the Maryknoll Society is described in detail in a volume titled Artisans of Peace (Orbis, 2003), which received the Pax Christi Book Award the following year.A longtime activist for peace & justice issues and for Catholic Church reform, Dr. Cejka's articles have appeared in a number of periodicals including National Catholic Reporter, Maryknoll, America, The Christian Century, Sojourners,and The Catholic Worker.She also teaches a graduate course in multicultural psychology for the University of Phoenix.