About the Center

The Center was founded in 2005 to inspire, form, and support leaders, communities, and congregations to live as ambassadors of Christ’s reconciliation.  After five years, the Center has become a leading voice in shaping a distinctly Christian vision of reconciliation, with a desire to equip the Church for reconciliation, justice, and peacemaking in a divided world.

Center History

The Center for Reconciliation was born in 2005 to serve the church by forming, resourcing, and connecting leaders for reconciliation. Each coming from a vocation of reconciliation and peacemaking, Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole discovered one another at Duke Divinity School and joined together to co-found the Center for Reconciliation.  Over the first five years of the Center for Reconciliation’s ministry, the staff has grown to five full-time and four part-time staff, including Duke Divinity student leaders who share a passion and calling to reconciliation.

The Gift of Duke Divinity

Duke Divinity School’s commitment to reconciliation grows out of the significance of Scripture, the church, and social imagination.  In addition to the long-time work of the Office of Black Church Studies, Duke Divinity faculty have developed growing global commitments to Africa and Asia, a World Christianity class requirement for the M.Div. program, partnerships in South Africa (John Wesley College), Sudan (Renk Bible College), and Brazil (South American Theological Seminary), and pilgrimages and field education placements in South Africa, Uganda, and Brazil. This teaching and learning has answered a deep restlessness in students coming to the Divinity School and strengthened their capacity for Christian leadership in the church, academy, and world.

Students

In 2005, the Center for Reconciliation sent the first Duke Divinity students for a summer of formation in some of the most innovative and hopeful communities of reconciliation.  Each year, a new group of students has been inspired by these summer internships to dream anew about their own ministry and leadership in peace, justice, and reconciliation.  Students have also initiated trips to the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference and in 2010 students planned and led the first U.S. Pilgrimage of Pain & Hope during spring break.

Practitioners

Practitioners of reconciliation are crying out for a place of rest, renewal, and inspiration for their ministry.  Whether they are working in community development, international mission, justice and peace, health, anti-poverty, or racial reconciliation, grassroots leaders need a place to refuel and to connect with others.  In 2008, the Center for Reconciliation hosted a gathering for U.S. leaders of reconciliation and in 2009 launched the annual Duke Summer Institute.  Today, hundreds of leaders are engaging the ministry of reconciliation with fresh resources and connections.

Congregations

The Center’s congregational resources have enabled churches to address questions of lament, reconciliation, justice, and mission in fresh and accessible ways.  Beginning in 2008, the Center has released two titles yearly in the Resources for Reconciliation book series.  Written for a wide audience, especially congregations, each book is accompanied by a study guide with questions and suggestions for small group discussion. 

A Vision for the Future

The Center for Reconciliation is taking the lead in shaping the Church’s commitment to reconciliation.  All over the world—from Thailand to Tennessee, Houston to Hawaii, Poland to Peru—God’s people are gathering around a Christian vision of reconciliation.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, grounded in the nitty-gritty of justice and community-development, and inspired to see a real change in our world, Christians are claiming their calling to be ambassadors of reconciliation.

Leadership

Chris Rice

Director of the Center for Reconciliation

Chris grew up in South Korea, the child of Presbyterian missionaries, and attended Middlebury College and Belhaven College. A turning point in his life was living and working for 17 years in an inner-city neighborhood of Jackson, Miss., with Voice of Calvary, an interracial church and community development ministry. Chris came to Duke Divinity School in 2000 to pursue ways for the academy to serve the world of Christian activism, and graduated summa cum laude in 2004. His books Reconciling All Things and More Than Equals each won book awards from Christianity Today magazine, and his book Grace Matters was named a Best Adult Religion Book by Publishers Weekly. Chris has received the Distinguished Service to Mankind Award from Belhaven College. He also serves as Director of the Global Reconciliation Network. Chris and his wife Donna have three children, and Chris is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  He blogs at http://reconcilers.wordpress.com.

(919) 660-3578
reconciliation@div.duke.edu

Publications

Articles & Chapters

    Emmanuel Katongole

    Senior Strategist of the Center for Reconciliation

    Emmanuel is a Catholic priest from Uganda and the associate professor of theology & world Christianity at Duke Divinity School. Born in Maloube, Uganda, Emmanuel was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest by the Kampala Archdiocese in 1987. Since his ordination he has served parishes in Africa, Belgium, and the United States. In addition to serving as Senior Strategist for the Center for Reconciliation, Emmanuel’s teaching and research interests cover a wide range of issues related to theology, reconciliation, the church in Africa, the Rwandan genocide, African politics, theology, violence, and the AIDS epidemic. He examines the role of stories in the formation of political identity, the dynamics of social memory and the nature and role of Christian imagination. Emmanuel serves on the boards of Word Made Flesh and the International Academic Advisory Council of St. Augustine’s College of South Africa. His six books include The Sacrifice of Africa, Mirror to the Church, and the award-winning Reconciling All Things.

    (919) 660-3578
    reconciliation@div.duke.edu

    Books

    Articles & Chapters

    Staff

    Center for Reconciliation
    Duke Divinity School
    Box 90967
    Durham, NC 27708-0967

    Phone: (919) 660-3578
    Fax: (919)660-3473
    reconciliation@div.duke.edu

    Abi RiakAbi Riak
    Manager, Operations and Programs
    (919) 660-3585
    ariak@div.duke.edu
    Abi has worked in international development from 1998 to 2011 supporting programs and projects in countries affected by conflict such as Afghanistan, Armenia, Lebanon, the Philippines, the Russian Federation and South Sudan. She lives in Durham and attends The CityWell, a Methodist church plant in Durham that is committed to the recovering the central role of discipleship in the Church's life, and to bearing witness to Jesus' gospel of reconciliation by being an inclusive community that embraces and reflects the diversity of Durham.

    Gann HermanGann Herman
    International Programs Coordinator
    (919) 660-3594
    gherman@div.duke.edu
    Gann grew up in Alaska and completed a Ph.D. in English at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1982. Gann worked for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) from 1983–1986 and then later from 2006–2010 as the Uganda Country co-representative. In this role, she led MCC’s partnerships with the Duke Center for Reconciliation 2006-2010, facilitating leadership gatherings in Kampala, Uganda and Bujumbura, Burundi. She joined the Center in January 2011. Gann provides leadership and support for the Center's international initiatives, including the African Great Lakes Initiative and Leadership Institute. Her life and work display a deep commitment to building faithful relationships between the North and South, between West and Africa, and between Duke and Durham, ones that are built on mutuality and witness to God’s peace. Gann and her husband Dale have 2 children and 2 granddaughters. They worship at Church of Reconciliation (PCUSA) in Chapel Hill, N.C.

    Mary Jo Clancy
    Staff Specialist
    (919) 660-3578
    mjclancy@div.duke.edu
    Mary Jo assists in office operations, finances, and scheduling, as well as serving as the hub of hospitality and outreach for the Center. She believes that pilgrimage can lead to a profound transformation of life, and is committed to providing others with the opportunity for that experience. Mary Jo lives in Cary, N.C., with her husband and has three children, Karen, Becky, and David.

    Dayna Olson-Getty
    U.S. Programs Coordinator
    (919) 660-3578
    dolsongetty@div.duke.edu
    Dayna grew up in northern Michigan and graduated from Mount Holyoke College.  Prior to starting work with the Center in 2007, Dayna worked in campus ministry in New England with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and in administration for Los Angeles’ largest publically-funded mental health agency.  She received an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminar in 2006. Dayna provides leadership for the Duke Divinity School Summer Institute, Reconcilers Weekend, and reconciliation ministry formation programs for Divinity students. She lives in the Walltown neighborhood of Durham and is a member of Durham Mennonite Church. Dayna and her husband Eric are parents of one living son, Noah. 

    Advisory Board

    Nancy Rich
    Chair, Center for Reconciliation Advisory Board
    (919) 660-3565
    Nancy is Chair of the Center for Reconciliation Advisory Board and has been actively involved with the ministry of the Center since its founding, including traveling to Africa for multiple gatherings of the African Great Lakes Initiative. Nancy and her husband Cy have 5 grown children and 2 grandchildren and live in Edenton NC on their solar powered farm where they raise organic grass fed cattle. nrich@div.duke.edu