I recently wrote about the relationship between the oppressed and the perpetrators, sharing that those who have been oppressed have to be willing to surrender their notions of being a victim in order for true reconciliation and healing to be achieved. But why in the world would people who have experienced such injustice want to do that? …
Continue reading Victimhood: Are You a Card Carrying Member?
A few days ago, I posted a blog post asking for some feedback about some thoughts I had on reconciliation. Christena Cleveland, a fellow blogger and Twin Citan (go Twin Cities!) tweeted this: I agree with Christena in that reconciliation does involve a great amount of risk and vulnerability on the part of those who …
Continue reading The Cost of Reconciliation: Adding Insult to Injury
I am currently reading Exclusion and Embrace by Mirslov Volf and came across this powerful thought about reconciliation: "The work of reconciliation should proceed under the assumption that, though the behavior of a person may be judged as deplorable, even demonic, no one should ever be excluded from the will to embrace, because, at the …
Continue reading A Few Thoughts about Reconciliation. Feedback Please!
I am presenting a paper on reconciliation at a conference in a few short weeks where I could use some personal stories and statistics. In the paper, I argue that racism, sexism and other forms of societal injustices have had an adverse impact of people's faith. Specifically, I contend that a history of oppression, exploitation …
Apartheid is a form of racial segregation that affected South Africa for decades. Most effective during the period of 1948 and 1982, the Nationalist party’s aim was to divide the country into separate states based on race. Undeniably, these actions led to many fiscal and economic disparities in the black parts of the country. Places …
Continue reading Exploring Communion as a Means of Reconciliation
Ebony Johanna 