Fall / Winter 2006
Ron Kraybill Shifts Into Publishing
Ron Kraybill
Ronald S. Kraybill is moving into fulltime consulting and publishing on peace and conflict transformation issues, wrapping up 11 years on the faculty of the Center of Justice and Peacebuilding.
Kraybill was one of the pioneers in the field of conflict transformation and mediation in the late 1970s. He was the first director of the Mennonite Conciliation Service, serving from 1979 to 1988.
He earned his PhD in religious studies from the University of Cape Town, where he also was director of training for the Centre for Conflict Resolution during a pivotal period of South Africa’s history – the transition from the apartheid regime to today’s democratically elected government.
During his South African years, Kraybill maintained a conversation with John Paul Lederach about starting an educational program that would combine peacebuilding practice and knowledge. This dream became reality with the establishment of the conflict transformation program at EMU in 1994.
Kraybill, who also has a master of divinity degree from Harvard University, has consulted and led trainings on most continents of the world. In recent years he has increasingly focused on communicating his knowledge and experience through Riverhouse ePress, his own print and web publishing company.
His most recent works are Cool Tools for Hot Topics, a collection of facilitation tools (Good Books, forthcoming) and Renewing the Healer (in final manuscript stage). The latter addresses the challenges of self-care and personal transformation for people involved in healing the wounds of our world.
One of his most widely-used works is the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, an inexpensive manual designed to help users understand their style of dealing with differences and gain insight into how to work more effectively with others despite conflict.
More information about Kraybill and his writings can be found at: www.RiverhouseEpress.com.