Regina Shands Stoltzfus

Restorative Justice

This course offers an introduction to restorative justice values, principles and applications. It begins with an introduction to the indigenous roots of restorative justice and traditional criminal/retributive justice concepts, which then stand in comparison to restorative justice alternatives. Using a diversity of learning activities and encounters, readings and writing, guest speakers and trainings, students explore various aspects of restorative justice. An emphasis is placed on experiential learning, and embodying the principles of restorative justice throughout the class and class work.

Mediation

This theory and skills-based course teaches mediation skills, and focuses  the third-party role of the mediator. Students consider:

• historical roots of mediation
• theoretical basis
• various streams of its more current manifestation in North America
• arenas/situations in which mediation is appropriate and indicated and arenas/situations in which it is not
• cultural implications of mediation
• ethical dilemmas mediators face

Engaging the Bible

An introduction to biblical literature that provides a foundation for current expressions of Christian faith and practice. Students will gain skill in the use of academic resources and methods in order to read, interpret and communicate more effectively.

Race, Class and Ethnic Relations

This class explores the social construction of difference in the categories of race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality.  Students survey evolving theories of identity categories developed by sociologists and other scholars.  In the course students will read first hand accounts of individual experiences, and will write about and discuss their own experiences.

Transforming Conflict and Violence

This course explores the potentially constructive nature of conflict, the destructive nature of violence and the relationship between the two.  Students examine various patterns of communication, conflict and violence and what is needed for transformation.  There is a special emphasis on structural/institutional violence in the second half of the semester.

Personal Violence and Healing

In this seminar course advanced students examine selected problems in violence.  The course focuses upon the socio-cultural matrix of an individual’s encounters with violence, and integrates religious and ethical studies with the social sciences.

Co-Facilitator for “Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice,” Messiah University, January 2022.

Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar Lecturer, Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, ON, Canada. March 2022.

Keynote Speaker, Goshen College Martin Luther King Jr. Study Day Convocation, January 2020.

Speaker and Preacher: Sing a New World Into Being: Music and Worship Leaders Retreat, Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, Laurelville PA, January 5-7, 2018.

“Teaching Peace: Collaborating on a Book for Students and Activists.”  Talking ‘Bout a Revolution: Women Doing Theology Conference.  Mennonite Church USA Women in Leadership, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, IN, November 8-10, 2018.

Co-Facilitator: Power, Privilege and the Journey Toward Justice Conference for Church of the Brethren, Bridgewater Church of the Brethren, Bridgewater VA, October 20-22, 2017.

Facilitator: The Necessity of an Intersectional Analysis for Anti-Oppression Work, Homeless Prenatal Program, San Francisco, CA, May 2017.

Panel: History of Black and Brown Mennonites, Minority Ministries Council Conference, Goshen, Indiana, March 31, 2017.

Presenter, The History of Jim Crow, College Mennonite Church, Goshen Indiana, November 9, 2016.

Panel: Mennonites and the Wages of Whiteness, Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, Conrad Grebel University College, June 10, 2016.

Facilitator: An Intersectional Approach to Anti-Racism Work, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, September 2015.

“Black, Female and Mennonite: Navigating Cultural, Political and Religious Identity,” American Academy of Religion, October 2010.

Respondent, “Postcolonialism and Anabaptism: A Conversation,” Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown, PA, September 2010.

“Thinking, Speaking and Working Margin to Margin,” National Women’s Studies Association, November 2009.

Keynote Speaker, Eastern Mennonite Seminary School for Leadership Training, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, January 2009.

“Blinders and Power: Women of Color Proclaim” with Iris de Leon Hartshorn, Proclaiming the Good News: Mennonite Women’s Voices 1972-2006.
Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2023.

Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality, Herald Press, 2021. (co-authored with Tobin Miller Shearer)

“Racism in the 21st Century: Will Our Institutions Show Up?” Leader Magazine, Spring 2021, Volume 18 No 3.

“Pacifism and the Assault on Marginalized Bodies.” in Liberating the Politics of Jesus, Studies in Anabaptist Theology and Ethics Volume 2, T&T Clark, 2020.

“The Effects of Segregation on Theologies of Creation Care.” Mennonite Quarterly Review, January 2020, Number 1.

Cordova, Guynn, Johnson and Shands Stoltzfus. Resist, Organize, Transform: An Introduction to Nonviolence and Activism, First Edition. Cognella Academic Publishing, 2020.

“Where is Home?” The Mennonite, August 5, 2019, https://themennonite.org/where-is-home/

“Black in America,” The Mennonite, March 1, 2019, https://themennonite.org/feature/black-america-coming-terms-racial-history/

“This is My Truth: Black Bodies, Silencing and Untold Stories,” Our Stories Untold Blog, September 20, 2016, http://www.ourstoriesuntold.com/truth-black-bodies-silencing-untold-stories/

“I Cannot Speak of Love to You Today,” The Mennonite, July 16, 2016, https://themennonite.org/feature/cannot-speak-love-today/

“Mennonites, Missions and Race: The Cleveland Experiment,” Anabaptist Historians Blog, November 15, 2016, https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2016/11/15/mennonites-mission-and-race-the-cleveland-experiment/

“The Violence of Normal,” Sojourners Online Magazine, June 29, 2016, sojo.net.

“Attending to Context in Ministry” in Youth Ministry at a Crossroads: Tending to the Faith Formation of Mennonite Youth, Brubacher Kaethler, A. and Yoder, R., eds., Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2011.

“Lee Heights Community Church: Formed by Diversity.”  Chapter in Widening the Circle: Anabaptist Experiments in Discipleship, Shenk, Joanna, ed., Herald Press, 2011.

“Couldn’t Keep It To Myself: Testimony in the Black Church Tradition.”   Vision: a Journal for Church and Theology 10.2 (2009).

Book Review: “Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church.” Conrad Grebel Review (Spring 2009).

“Mother May I? A Pastors Week Sermon.” Vision: a Journal for Church and Theology 5.2 (2004).

“City Youth and the Call to Serve.” Direction: A Mennonite Brethren Forum 31/1 (Spring 2002).

Set Free: A Journey Toward Solidarity Against Racism. With Iris de Leon Hartshorn and Tobin Miller Shearer, Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2001.

“Cultural Dynamics and Conflict.”  in Making Peace with Conflict. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1995.