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Candler Connection | Summer 2012
Now Now & Then: A Faculty Dialogue In April, Ellen Ott Marshall,
&
Bill Mallard: What is it like teaching conflict trans-
and think about resources for transformation and
associate professor of Christian
formation at Candler School of Theology in the
peacebuilding at that site. We continue to hear from
ethics and conflict transforma-
21st century?
alumni that they wished they’d learned more in
tion, and William Mallard, profes-
seminary about effectively addressing conflict. How Ellen Ott Marshall: This spring I did an intense
do you deal with fights over the hymnal? How do
conflict transformation skills workshop course
you deal with grouchy people who don’t get along?
with students over two weekends. It was a really
And how do you deal with the simmering hostilities
between teaching at Candler now
positive and remarkable experience. The students
in a congregational setting?
and in decades past.
saw natural overlap between the skills for conflict
sor emeritus of church history, talked about the differences
transformation and the skills for ministry. There’s
Mallard: Well, I just think that’s so fine. We had
also overlap in the skills for conflict transformation
pastoral care, of course, and ethics, but we had not
and things they had learned in terms of pastoral
gone into conflict transformation.
care and counseling about listening and affirming and responding appropriately. They came into that
Marshall: The language of conflict transformation,
setting nicely equipped and ready to go, and then
for me, has this theological claim attached to it:
had context for ministry—where there are plenty of
that this is God’s work, the process of transform-
conflicts to be found.
ing sites of conflict. The other piece, the hope of it is that sometimes, if a conflict can’t be resolved,
In the fall I’m teaching one of the Contextual Educa-
it’s still possible that relationships and persons and
tion electives. Throughout the semester the students
institutions can be constructively changed even if
will do an analysis of conflict at their Con Ed sites
the conflict itself isn’t resolved.