William H. Lemaire

Reconciling Broken Societies Through a Theology of Forgiveness: Seeking Reconciliation in Post-apartheid South Africa Through a Theology and Idiom of Forgiveness William H. Lemaire

Forgiveness, typically viewed in terms of personal relations or the church confessional, is largely or wholly absent from todays public and foreignpolicy discourse. However, for South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), forgiveness, framed in Christian theology and expressed inreligious idiom, became the metanarrative that characterized the TRCs formula for national reconciliation. The efficacy of evoking personalforgiveness and interpersonal reconciliation in conflict resolution arenas is explored in this monograph. It especially examines the question ofwhether forgiveness is a sufficiently robust motive force to break or interrupt intractable cycles of violence. Accordingly, its examination yields new insight into whether or not this unique fusion of secular agency and religious values holds promise for future efforts in post-conflictreconciliation.