School of Restorative Arts
Founded in 2018 in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Corrections, this groundbreaking program brings together incarcerated and free students to learn side-by-side, building a diverse community united by a commitment to restorative ministry and transformative justice.
North Park’s School of Restorative Arts offers a both a Master of Arts and a graduate certificate allowing free and incarcerated students to study together. More than just an academic offering, this unique program has built diverse community united by a commitment to restorative ministry and transformative justice.
Program studies are designed to prepare individuals for ministries of restoration in contexts susceptible to violence and includes courses in trauma, race relations, nonviolent communication, conflict transformation, and restorative justice, in addition to foundational studies in Bible, theology, and Christian history.
Founded in 2018 in partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections, the school for Restorative Arts has offered programs at at Stateville Correctional Center, an adult male maximum security facility Illinois and Logan Correctional Center, a prison for women.
Student Mike Simmons
“Without this course I would still be wondering what’s going to happen with me…I have so much hope that this is getting me prepared for something that God has in store for me.”
School of Restorative Arts
Challenge and Opportunity: What is Next for the School of Restorative Arts?
A letter from Dean Dennis Edwards and Director Michelle Dodson
Michelle S. Dodson
School of Restorative Arts
Jamal’s Story: “The seminary carved out a place for people society had disappeared”
We are not the sums of our worst mistakes. We are the sums of the opportunities given to us. Jamal …
School of Restorative Arts
North Park School of Restorative Arts Stateville Graduation Ceremony 2022
On Wednesday, June 15 at Stateville Correctional Center, North Park Theological Seminary graduated …
Covenant Companion
Pardoned: How a Life Sentence in Prison Became the Place of Call for Smiley Parham
Fifty-year-old Oscar “Smiley” Parham was just five years old when his father had a heart attack …
Stan Friedman
School of Restorative Arts
The Cross and the Prison Cell: The Stations of the Cross According to the Incarcerated
In April 2020, the friends and faculty of the School of Restorative Arts created a virtual Good …
Cheryl Lynn Cain
School of Restorative Arts
Illinois Lt. Governor Tells the Story of SRA Student Howard Keller
Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton shares about meeting School of Restorative Arts master’s …
Degree and Certificate Programs
The Master of Arts in Restorative Justice Ministries (MARJM) at North Park Theological Seminary is a groundbreaking 57-credit-hour degree offered through the School of Restorative Arts.
Master of Arts
The Certificate in Transformative Justice is a 12 credit hour program that can be completed as a stand-alone certificate or as part of another degree.
Certificate in Transformative Justice
Faculty Profile
Professor Michelle Dodson
Michelle Dodson is the Director of the School of Restorative Arts and holds the M B Engebretson Chair in Evangelism & Justice at North Park Theological Seminary, while also serving as the associate pastor of New Community Covenant Church in Chicago. She holds a PhD from Loyola University in the Sociology of Religion, with a focus on multiracial church congregations and their role in societal transformation.