Faculty Profile

Joe Liechty

Professor of PJCS, Director of Peace, Justice & Conflict Studies
Department Chair

Education

BA, Goshen College, 1978
PHD, National University of Ireland, 1987

Courses

What I’m teaching this year

Religion, Conflict, and Peace   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.

Dynamics and Theology of Reconciliation  An interdisciplinary examination of the work of reconciliation in interpersonal and small group relationships, but especially in large-scale social and political contexts, including the significance of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

War, Peace, and Nonresistance  Can or should Christians participate in war? In what ways do Christians seek peace, especially in times of war? We examine the concepts of pacifism, just war, and holy war, along with the many forms that peacemaking takes–especially today.

Violence and Nonviolence   When and why are people violent, and when and why are they peaceful? How do nonviolent movements challenge the destructive force of violence and stand as an alternative way of seeking change?

Junior Seminar   In the fall of their Junior year, PJCS majors work together on research and writing skills, culminating in a proposal for a senior thesis and a comparative book review that works as a review of the literature in the student’s area of research.

Senior Seminar   As the culmination of research begun in their junior year, PJCS majors complete a major research project on a topic they are passionate about.

Selected Publications

In this millennium . . .

“The Importance of Working with Scraps: Reconciliation in Difficult Contexts.” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 4, no. 2 (Spring 2011). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/importance-working-scraps-reconciliation-difficult-contexts -contexts

“Defining Forgiveness: Some Reflections on David Konstan’s Before Forgiveness.” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 4, no. 1 (Fall 2010). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/defining-forgiveness

“World Cup Reflections: Religion (But Mostly) Conflict and Peace.” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 3, no. 2 (Spring 2010). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/world-cup-reflections-religion-mostly-conflict-and-peace

“The National Anthem Debate at Goshen College.” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 3, no. 1 (Spring 2010). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/national-anthem-debate-goshen-college

“Multiplying Conversation Partners and Intercultural Translators: Teaching Theology and Expressing Personal Faith in the Undergraduate Classroom.”  Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 2, no. 2 (Spring 2009). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/multiplying-conversation-partners-and-intercultural-translators

[Editor, with Tim McElwee, Welling Hall, and Julie Garber] Peace, Justice, and Security Studies: A Curriculum Guide.  Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009.

“Religion and the Environmental Crisis.”  Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 2, no. 1 (Fall 2008). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/religion-and-environmental-crisis

“Fundamentalist Rights.” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 1, no. 2 (Spring 2008). http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/editor/fundamentalist-rights

“Staying Mennonite: Why Martyrs Still Matter.” Mennonite Life 62, no. 1 (Spring 2007). http://www.bethelks.edu/mennonitelife/2007spring/liechty.php.

“Forgiveness.” Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 8, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 44-53.

[Editor, with David Tombs] Explorations in Reconciliation: New Directions for Theology. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2006.

“Putting Forgiveness in Its Place: An Account of the Dynamics of Reconciliation.”  In Explorations in Reconciliation, 59-68.

[With Cecelia Clegg] ‘Moving Beyond Sectarianism:  Religion, Conflict, and Reconciliation in Contemporary Northern Ireland.’  In Toleration and Religious Identity:  The Implications of the Edict of Nantes for France, Britain and Ireland, edited by Ruth Whelan and Carol Baxter, 262-76.  Dublin:  Four Courts Press, 2002.

“Mitigation in Northern Ireland: A Strategy for Living in Peace When Truth Claims Clash.” In Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding, edited by David Smock, 89-101.  Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2002.

[With Cecelia Clegg]  Moving Beyond Sectarianism: Religion, Conflict, and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland.  Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Columba Press, 2001.

“Four Religious Variations on the Theme of Sectarianism in Northern Ireland.” In National Questions, edited by Vincent Comerford and Enda Delaney, 94-109. Dublin:  Wolfhound Press, 2000.

“Mennonites and Conflict in Northern Ireland, 1970-1996.”  In From the Ground Up:  Mennonite Experiences in Peacebuilding, edited by John Paul Lederach and Cynthia Sampson, 77-96.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

 

 

Personal Information

Community and Church service

I’ve been a mayor’s appointee to Goshen’s Community Relations Commission since it was founded in 2004, and I’ve been chairing it for the past two years. Over the last few years, immigration issues have been high on our agenda, as they have been for the US as a whole.

Since returning to the US in the fall of 2003, I’ve belonged to Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen. For the past few years, I’ve enjoyed teaching a vibrant college-age Sunday school class along with Jan and Pete Shetler and John Roth.