What I do:
As a practitioner of strategic peacebuilding I’ve launched a consultancy called Peacebuilding Ventures. It’s a fledgling enterprise with a long way to go! Here I integrate the principles of strategic peacebuilding and design justice as I work to empower leaders to manage and transform conflict. I am also available for keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshop facilitation, and mediation.
As a scholar, I’ve had the privilege to teach at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, where I was Assistant Professor of Mass Communication (Journalism) and Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology. Courses included Media Reporting and Writing, Feature Writing, Opinion Writing, Media Law and Ethics, Mass Media in Society, Peace and Conflict Studies, “Race” and Ethnicity, and International Human Rights Law and Advocacy. I also taught Christian Perspectives on War, Peace, and Revolution at the University of Notre Dame as a doctoral candidate.
As an ordained minister and theologian in the United Church of Christ, I have served congregations in Medford MA, Farmington CT, Silver Lake OH, and Ravenna OH. I have also served on and chaired Committees on Ministry and Association Councils and guided several churches and pastors through conflict.
As a freelance writer, I draw on my experience in journalism to tell stories.
Who I am:
Husband to the incredible Nanette Pitt | Goofball who loves dad jokes – the punnier the better! | Person of faith passionate about social justice, living mindfully, and leading a compassionate life | Devourer of narrative nonfiction | Aspiring poet | Fiend at board games | Hiker and outdoor enthusiast |
Minion to three cats – Freya, Olive, and Maeve.
I hold a Ph.D. in Theology and Peace Studies from the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies (Keough School for Global Affairs) at the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School (now ANS at Yale). My scholarship integrates political theology, decolonial theory, design justice, strategic peacebuilding, and media studies as I investigate resistance to hegemonic social imaginaries and the development of sustainable counter-imaginaries and agencies.
My doctoral dissertation, which I’m slowly turning into a monograph, is titled Unsettling the Settler Colonial Imagination in South Africa: Decoloniality as a Theological Hermeneutic?
Journalism credits include The Pretoria News, where I started my career way back in 1995 as a staff reporter, and the Eastern Province Herald where I was business editor from 1998-2000. I worked with The Christian Science Monitor in Boston from 2001-2003. In the intervening years I’ve worked on several print and online projects and recently dipped back into freelance journalism with Signal Akron.