Fall / Winter 2006
Zehr Gains Recognition, Makes Impact in Japan
Howard Zehr (right) being interviewed in Japan in July.
Howard Zehr, co-director of CJP and professor of restorative justice, is the 2006 recipient of the annual Community of Christ International Peace Award.
It is in recognition of Zehr’s role as “one of the founders of the contemporary restorative justice movement,” according to the organization’s web site, www.cofchrist.org/peaceaward.
The award comes with $30,000, which Zehr plans to use to assemble and publish “the wisdom and learning of those who have studied restorative justice at CJP and are now practicing it in some way, not only in criminal justice but in schools, transitional justice, and other arenas.”
A second pathfinder affiliated with CJP, founding director John Paul Lederach, received the same prize in 2000. Other winners of the Community of Christ prize have been civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson, primate researcher Jane Goodall, education activist Marian Wright Edelman, and Egyptian social reformer Dr. Jehan Sadat.
Fifth Major Award in Three Years
It is unprecedented for two people linked to the same organization, such as Zehr and Lederach, to receive this award. In terms of cash value, the prize is among the top 20 awarded for peace in the world.
It is Zehr’s fifth major award in three years, the second in 2006. The Journal of Law and Religion gave its “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Zehr.
In the summer, Zehr did a two-week speaking tour in Japan, where newspaper articles about his ideas and presentations on restorative justice reached about 10 million people.
Three of Zehr’s books are circulating in the Japanese language, including the book that first explained his theory of restorative justice, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice. Besides Japanese, one or more of Zehr’s dozen books have been translated into Czech; Spanish; Chinese; Pakistan’s languages of Pushto, Urdu and Persia (adapted and modified by CJP alum Ali Gohar); Ukrainian; and Russian.
Check out Zehr’s public engagements at www.emu.edu.events/offcampus, including:
- St. Paul, Minn: Oct. 6, as a panel member at a symposium
on law, religion and ethics at the Law/Grad Conference Center
of Hamline University. Phone Linda Berglin at (651) 523-2082.
- Independence, Missouri: Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., keynote speech at an awards ceremony at the Community of Christ Temple, 201 S. River. Phone Andrew Bolton at (816) 521-3077.