The Spirit & Art of Conflict Transformation

Now Available!

JustPeace is pleased to announce that Tom Porter‘s new book, “The Spirit & Art of Conflict Transformation:  Creating a Culture of JustPeace“, is now available for purchase online from the publisher, Upper Room Ministries.  It can also be found at your local Cokesbury bookstore.

CLICK HERE to order it online from Upper Room Ministries.

About the Book

Transforming conflict into a positive rather than a negative force is a spiritual pursuit and needs to be grounded in biblical principles: love of God, neighbor, and self.

This book is a resource for seminary professors, leaders, ministers, mediators, facilitators, and conflict transformation consultants who want to approach their work in this way. Part I explains how we can prepare ourselves for the work of engaging conflict, and Part II explores how we engage others in conflict transformation, outlining specific processes. This book articulates the vision and practice of conflict transformation developed by the JustPeace organization. The mission of the JustPeace organization is: to engage conflict constructively in ways that strive for justice, reconciliation, resource preservation, and restoration of community in and through the church universal to the world in which we live.

Interwoven with the practical instructions are stories that illustrate the potential for this new JustPeace approach.

Video Series

JustPeace has created a series of videos that correspond with the book’s chapters and can be used as accompaniments for individual reflection or group discussion.  In each video, you will hear from the book’s author, Tom Porter, as he weaves personal stories, theological insights, and practical experience together with his book’s major themes.  Click here to view the videos.

Below is Chapter 1.   Click here to view all of the videos.

Chapter 1:  Changing Our Attitude toward Conflict

Chapter 1 from JustPeaceUMC on Vimeo.

Click here to watch a video introduction of this chapter.

Praise for The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation

Good leaders know that conflict is a given in human relationships. The question becomes, how does one best behave in response to this inevitable reality? Too often conflict results in retribution or the desire to blame someone. With practical wisdom and rich Biblical illustration, Tom Porter invites us to journey with him on “the better path”—the path of restoration and reconciliation. This is not only an analysis of the problem; it is an invitation explore alternative ways to transform tension and violence. Without sentimentality or being blindly optimistic, Porter calls us to a better way of listening, of inviting others to a common table and of seeking ways to restore relationships that have been shattered. Peace building is seen for what it is, careful, prayerful labor that sometimes allows those who are fortunate enough to join the process to see God’s activity among us.

Phil Amerson
President, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Tom Porter is a spiritual guide for all who long to think, live, and lead as peacemakers. This book is full of wisdom, resources, images, and processes for conflict transformation. It will equip you to live through conflict with gentleness and courage and hope.

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward
Mississippi Annual Conference
The United Methodist Church

This book is a very important contribution to the literature on conflict transformation and circle process because it combines a practical analysis of conflict and conflict resolution process with a discussion of spiritual grounding in a Christian framework. As one who loves the circle process, it is engaging and interesting for me look at circles through the lens of Christian teachings. The discussion of covenants and appreciative inquiry are useful and helpful contributions to circle practice.

Kay Pranis

About the Author

Tom Porter is an ordained elder of the New England Annual Conference, a lawyer, a seminary professor, and professional mediator.  He has served twenty-three years as chancellor of the New England United Methodist Conference while in practice as a trial attorney. Tom teaches at Boston University School of Theology and has developed a concentration in the degree programs in Religion and Conflict Transformation. He recently edited the book, Conflict and Communion: Reconciliation and Restorative Justice at Christ’s Table.  He has  mediated many different types of conflicts within the Church.