News & Archive

Inspiration and Renewal:
Words of Hope in the Season of Gratitude

Featuring John Paul Lederach and
Reverend Professor Peter Gomes
Moderated by HNII Director Erica Ariel Fox

Wednesday, November, 15, 2006
6:00 - 7:00 P.M. Refreshments and Exhibitors Reception
7:00 - 9:00 P.M. Program
Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
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About the Speakers

John Paul Lederach is a professor of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University. Widely known for his pioneering work on conflict transformation, Professor Lederach is involved in conciliation work in Colombia, the Philippines, Nepal and Tajikistan, plus countries in east and West Africa. He has helped design and conduct training programs in 25 countries across five continents. Professor Lederach is also the founder of the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University.

He is the author of The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005), The Journey Toward Reconciliation (Herald Press, 1999), Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (USIP, 1997), and Preparing for Peace: Confliction Transformation Across Cultures (Syracuse University Press 1995).

Professor Lederach holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado (1988).

Reverend Professor Peter Gomes is an American Baptist minister ordained to the Christian Ministry by The First Baptist Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since 1970, he has served in The Memorial Church at Harvard University and in 1974 he was appointed the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church.

A member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of the Faculty of Divinity of Harvard University, Professor Gomes holds degrees from Bates College (A.B., 1965), and from the Harvard Divinity School (S.T.B.,1968); and thirty honorary degrees.

Widely regarded as one of America’s most distinguished preachers, Professor Gomes fulfills preaching and lecturing engagements throughout America and the British Isles. He is the author of several books including, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, (1996), The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need (2002), and The Backward Glance and the Forward Look (2005). He has also published ten volumes of sermons as well as numerous articles and papers.

The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes has been profiled by The New Yorker and interviewed by Morley Safer on 60 Minutes.