James McCarty launches Online Mini-Course on Restorative Justice |

Released in January 2024, Restorative Justice: A Global Movement to Transform Harm is a five-lecture course offered through Canopy Forum as an introduction to the history and practice of restorative justice — a healing force and a mechanism for accountability. 

In this course, James W. McCarty, Ph.D. explores restorative justice as a global social movement seeking to transform harm. Restorative justice can be understood as a philosophy, a theological framework, an alternative approach to criminal justice, a set of practices applicable both within and beyond legal systems, or even a way of life. This course navigates the depths of encounter, dialogue, and storytelling as powerful tools of re-humanization. 

The focus of each of the five lectures are global perspectives on restorative justice, including the Hollow Water Indigenous community, Mennonites in Ontario, Aboriginal justice, and South African reconciliation commissions. The final lecture concludes with proposing emergent directions for restorative justice as racial justice in the United States. 

James W. McCarty, Ph.D. is a scholar, minister, professor, and community organizer with over twenty years of experience in congregational ministry, NGO leadership, grassroots organizing, and higher education in both the United States and internationally. He is Clinical Assistant Professor of Religion and Conflict Transformation and Director of the Tom Porter Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology.