Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Adherents to reconciliation, restorative justice, and related approaches to dealing with social conflict are well known for seeking to minimize punishment, in favor of offenders hearing out victims, making an apology, and effecting compensation for wrongful harm as well as victims forgiving offenders and accepting their reintegration into society. In contrast, I maintain that social reconciliation and similar concepts in fact characteristically require punishment but do not require forgiveness. I argue that a reconciliatory response to crime that includes punitive disavowal but not necessarily forgiveness is supported by an analogy with resolving two-person conflict and by relational facets of human dignity. I also specify a novel account of the type of penalty that is justified by reconciliation, namely, burdensome labor that is likely to foster moral reform on the part of wrongdoers and to compensate their victims, which would serve neither retributive nor deterrent functions. I illustrate this under-considered conception of punishment in contexts that include having cheated on an exam at a university, engaged in criminal behavior such as robbery, and committed atrocities during large-scale social conflict.

On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof opened fire at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In sum, he massacred nine people, including the pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pickney. Several days later at Roof’s first court appearance, relatives of the slain victims had the opportunity to confront the gunman. As many news stories noted, the relatives of the victims offered Roof their forgiveness even while articulating the pain and suffering of their loss. At the hearing, Nadine Collier spoke the powerful words “I forgive you,” to Dylan Roof (Izadi 2015). Collier’s testimony hinted at a theological imperative that is fundamental to Christianity, namely the notion of forgiveness. Forgiveness from the perspective of African American Christianity is composed of both reconciliation and justice. The aim of this chapter is to blend the pragmatic principles of Charles Sanders Peirce and W.E.B. Du Bois to understand the meaning of forgiveness centered on the perspective of Christianity from African Americans.

Presentation delivered as a guest seminar at the University of Cape Town's Department of Political Science (9th September, 2014). The presentation discusses a path of post-authoritarian transition in Poland, and it asks questions about similarities and differences between Polish case and South African democratization after the fall of apartheid regime. It focuses on three comparative categories: reconciliation, truth and forgiveness, and national unity.

Recognition that societies will not be able to build a future as long as they do not face the 'demons of the past' has become a kind of universal truth over the last decades of the 20 th Century (Gibney et al., 2008, p. 1). This view, though challenging and ambiguous, is reflected in the globally present attempts to improve or rebuild relations within and between different communities at the domestic and international level. The question concerning, on the one hand, the essence and most essential elements and, on the other hand, the instruments and the limitations of rebuilding relations, as well as the political implications of those processes have become the broad area of interest and the discourse leading to significantly different ideas and solutions. The article aims at presenting different approaches referring to dealing with the conflicted and traumatized past both at the domestic and international level. Some selected instruments and methods which enable movement from a divided past towards a common future are discussed namely the strategy of engagement with the past versus the strategy of avoidance of the past. The special attention is paid to the notion of reconciliation understood as a process of rebuilding of relations through the multi-dimensional transformation of former adversaries after the period of violence and repression.

The meaning and the need for pure forgiveness in our world today becomes more complicated as well as meaningless to many people. Moreover, some other people strongly believed that authentic forgiveness is unattainable in this present world. We observe that reports coming from reputable media houses all over the world are replete of heinous acts of inhumanity against humanity like various forms of rape, war, terrorist attack, kidnapping, willful murder, modern day slavery or human trafficking, genocide, jungle justice, oppression, mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds. The reminiscence of these diabolic acts is so strong and painful for many victims like ulcerous wound that refuses to heal; some others may battle with the aftermath of such horrible events for the rest of their lives. The need for a victim to forgive an offender and who actually deserved forgiveness are enmeshed in a complex and ambiguous practices. Vladimir Jankelevitch gives a philosophical cum theological understanding of forgiveness that is far different from all forms of pseudo forgiveness. There is need to review his opinion on the features that characterized an authentic forgiveness and the kind of person that merits such forgiveness.

In-group and superordinate identities are key predictors for intergroup forgiveness, albeit with opposite effects. To investigate the identity-forgiveness relationship, we included perceived compatibility between in-group and superordinate identities as a predictor; and tested in-group bias and outgroup attributions of responsibility as mediators. As respective parties of an armed conflict in Turkey, Turkish majority and Kurdish minority respondents (N = 227) were interviewed in Turkey and Belgium. The results supported the path through in-group bias for all groups: in-group (Turkish/Kurdish) identity was associated with more bias and in turn less forgiveness; superordinate (Turkish citizenship) identity was associated with less bias and in turn more forgiveness. Compatibility, however, was associated with less bias only for the Kurdish minority. The path through outgroup blame was significant only for the Turkish majority: in-group identity predicted more outgroup blame and in turn less forgiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of these pathways to forgiveness are discussed.

Damaged intergroup relations in post-conflict contexts marked by histories of war and human right violations constitute a major obstacle to peace-building and reconciliation. In addition, intergroup relations are also affected by polarized narratives about the past. Recent research has shown that the positive consequences of intergroup contact are often inhibited by polarizing issues about the past. In this paper, we have examined the effects of contact intervention containing the narrative of moral exemplars on reconciliation in the post-genocide setting of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results from two studies show significant positive changes after the contact interventions, which accentuated documented stories of individuals (moral exemplars) saving the lives of the “other". We found that a focus on moral exemplars increased reconciliatory intentions due to enhanced forgiveness. The second intervention confirmed the positive effects of such interventions on more specific affective, cognitive and behavioral aspects of reconciliation among both former victims and perpetrators. We discuss the importance of the historical narratives used in intervention programs in post-conflict settings and draw practical implications from our results.

Apologies are morally significant with regard to their form, function, and freight. Nevertheless, little work in Christian ethics considers apologies. Philosophical and social scientific literature on apologies focuses on the conditions for making valid apologies and the efficacy of apologies in moral repair, but ignores the import of apologies for the offender. This literature is ill equipped to specify the relation between persons and their moral failures, minimizes the difficulty of understanding our own moral failure, does not adequately treat the relationship between explanation and apology, and neglects the way that apology-making may comprise a process of moral repair for the offender. Relevant resources in Christian moral tradition can inform and enrich ethical consideration of apologies.

Pur essendo generalmente valutate in termini moralmente positivi, alcune azioni e attitudini morali non sono considerate come strettamente dovute, né tantomeno esigibili: si tratta delle attitudini e delle azioni che rientrano nell’ambito, vasto e molteplice, dell’amore.
La tradizione morale ha coniato un termine tecnico per indicarle: “supererogatorio” (o “supererogazione”). Rispetto al minimo necessario di ciò che non può e non deve mancare – l’ambito di ciò che è appunto esigibile – il supererogatorio configura un “massimo”: va oltre ciò che è strettamente esigibile ed è dunque generalmente considerato eccedente la sfera e le competenze dell’etica. L’ambizione di queste pagine è di mostrare come questo massimo sia anch’esso in qualche modo “necessario” e come – al contempo – dal ripensamento di questo massimo derivi un nuovo sguardo sull’etica in generale e sul dovere in particolare. Quel massimo eccede una certa figura del dovere, ma non il dovere in sé: configura dunque, a tutti gli effetti, un fenomeno etico.

There are two dominant theories that elucidate the broad choice of transitional justice mechanisms available to societies with a history of gross violation of human rights, the realist and idealist theories of transitional justice. While realists advocate for the use of political processes such as the adoption of truth commissions, idealist believe in the supremacy and primacy of the law in dealing with past human rights abuses. This paper discusses the two theories’ applicability to Zimbabwe while positioning endeavours of citizens who are using their everyday
modes of life such as family healing mechanisms to seek historical accountability and reconciliation. When both
law and politics fail to initiate mechanisms that deal with histories of gross violations of human rights, it can be said
that ‘natural’ alternatives emerge. The conclusion of the paper is that there is need to conceptually broaden the
scope of transitional justice away from presenting it as competition between peace/justice, realist/idealist, politics/
law toward an inductive one that recognises an array of everyday activities that have turned into transitional
justice mechanisms.

This guide supports viewers in understanding the legacy of the Holocaust, the nature of atrocity, and how to respond to atrocities.

FILM SYNOPSIS of Inheritance: Inheritance is the story of Monika Hertwig, the daughter of mass murderer Amon Goeth, and her efforts to come to terms with her "inheritance."

​*Served as one of the guide producers.

I propose  the peace-making efforts of the missionaries, the printing and distribution of Bible books in te reo (the Maori language) and the eagerness of many chiefs to embrace the example of Jesus Christ (Ihu Karaiti),  were pivotal in countering the 'Musket Wars' killing that wiped out up to 20 percent of the Maori population.

(Dutch follows English:)
How can personal identity be determined in such a way that developments, experiences and other dynamic and context-dependent aspects of that identity can be taken into account? For several decades now, the narrative, the story, has often been referred to in answering this question as a cognitive instrument that can adequately deal with those aspects. The monologue thus appears to present itself as a medium in which personal or autobiographical identity is formed. However, what happens when we place the identity narrative in a dialogue: when two people with very diverse backgrounds have a dialogue that touches on their identity? Does this perhaps provide an entirely new challenge and enrichment of that narrative, which can have a major impact on both the individual and the relationship? I want to explore these questions in this article, motivated by both the philosophical perspective and my experiences as co-initiator of the "Keti Koti Table", in which such a dialogue plays a central role. To this end, I will first discuss the dynamic aspects of the narrative, in which the phenomenon of "refiguration" as presented by Ricoeur is key. This is then discussed in the context of the dialogue. In § 4 I discuss the specific dialogue method that we have developed for the Keti Koti Table. Subsequently, in § 5, some experiences of participants are discussed, whose identity refigurations are analyzed under the influence of the dialogue in § 6. It is concluded with a brief conclusion about the special significance of the dialogue for the narrative self-constitution in a diverse society.
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Hoe kan persoonlijke identiteit bepaald worden op zo'n manier dat rekening kan worden gehouden met ontwikkelingen, ervaringen en andere dynamische en contextafhankelijke aspecten van die identiteit? Sinds enkele decennia wordt voor de beantwoording van die vraag vaak verwezen naar het narratief, het verhaal, als een cognitief instrument dat adequaat met die aspecten kan omgaan. Daarmee lijkt de monoloog zich te presenteren als een medium waarin persoonlijke of autobiografische identiteit wordt gevormd. Wat gebeurt er echter wanneer we het identiteitsnarratief plaatsen in een dialoog: wanneer twee personen met een heel diverse achtergrond een dialoog voeren die raakt aan hun identiteit? Levert dit misschien een geheel nieuwe uitdaging en verrijking van dat narratief op, die zowel voor het individu als voor de relatie een grote impact kan hebben? Deze vragen wil ik in dit artikel onderzoeken, gemotiveerd door zowel het filosofische perspectief als door mijn ervaringen als mede-initiatiefnemer van de ‘Keti Koti Tafel’, waarin een dergelijke dialoog centraal staat. Daartoe zal ik eerst ingaan op de dynamische aspecten van het narratief, waarbij het fenomeen ‘refiguratie’ zoals Ricoeur dat presenteert centraal staat. Vervolgens wordt dit besproken in de context van de dialoog. In § 4 bespreek ik de specifieke dialoogmethode die wij voor de Keti Koti Tafel ontwikkeld hebben. Vervolgens komen in § 5 enkele ervaringen van deelnemers aan bod, van wie de identiteits-refiguraties onder invloed van de dialoog geanalyseerd worden in § 6. Afgesloten wordt met een korte conclusie over de bijzondere betekenis van de dialoog voor de narratieve zelf-constitutie in een diverse samenleving.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: We are looking for a characterization of the processes of reconciliation lived in contemporary Europe in order to try to establish whether there is a historical pattern in those lived in the continent in the last two centuries, especially in the last one. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: In order to do so, we resort to identifying the main causes of the violent confrontations experienced in Europe at this time. We follow a historical method: chronological order of events and establishment of causal relationships that allow the construction of a narrative about the dynamics of confrontation and reconciliation.

This chapter sketches some central features of Kierkegaard's discussion of forgiveness. It focuses on the relationship between the divine forgiveness of sins and interpersonal forgiveness between human beings; the difficulties of accepting, as well as offering, forgiveness; and the importance of love to our understanding of forgiveness. Neighbour-love incorporates, for Kierkegaard, a certain way of seeing the other, which highlights the need for certain other virtues or spiritual qualities, such as generosity of spirit, humility and hope. Kierkegaard, I suggest, is interested in what it means to be a forgiving person, as an aspect of what it means to be a loving person. The chapter also summarises some secondary literature on Kierkegaard and forgiveness published in recent years.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg) has accomplished an amazing feat in her forthcoming book, "As We Have Always Done." She confronts colonialism from the perspective of Indigenous nationhood, but goes beyond arguing for changes in politics, writing in a way that enacts changes in our thinking about politics. Simpson articulates Indigenous nationhood as "a radical and complete overturning of the nation-state's political formations." This reiterates what others have found when they dig to the roots ['radical' comes from Latin 'radix': root]: Indigenous reality in and of itself challenges Western modes of thinking and acting. Simpson deploys the content of this insight in the process of her writing. She writes—rather than writes about—Indigenous nationhood.

Nelson Mandela is one of the most appreciated political leaders of the last century, who fought for human dignity and for the reconciliation between the black and the white people in South Africa. After almost fifty years of the domination of Apartheid, the society was very divided, and many people suffered from racial discrimination. Even though Mandela faced 27 years of detention in this regime, he was prepared to change the society though his personal example and his policies. The way he forgave his former opponents and his example of reconciliation after becoming South Africa's president, made Mandela a model of forgiveness, reconciliation and hope. Many people question what the pillars of Mandela's policies were and whether the Christian values stood at the base of his approach. If his faith was the source of his public policies, why was Mandela so reluctant in publicly affirming his faith? This article is examining these questions based on Mandela's affirmations, what his closest collaborators mentioned about him, and analyzing some of the biographies written about Nelson Mandela.

Forgiveness is a topic that will never go away, not in this world. In substance use treatment the topic of forgiveness is guaranteed to come up sooner or later. This is especially true after you start digging deeper into the hurt, trauma, resentment and pain that often can help start or sustain and addiction.

This guide supports viewers in discussing the history of slavery in the United States, confronting hard truths and emotions around the legacy of slavery, the importance of having difficult conversations, privilege, “repair” and reconciliation, and how some people still hold economic power and social privileges over others.

FILM SYNOPSIS: First-time filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery — her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history.

*Served as one of the guide producers.

Recientes hallazgos de investigación no sólo contradicen el supuesto de que la vejez es una etapa sólo de pérdidas, sino que aportan evidencia acerca de múltiples ganancias. Siendo la optimización de los vínculos interpersonales una de ellas, el perdón se muestra como una capacidad valiosa en las últimas etapas de la vida. Diversos estudios han indagado esta capacidad a lo largo del curso vital en situaciones hipotéticas o reales, pero son escasos los que la evaluaron como una disposición. Objetivo: Identificar si existen diferencias significativas entre las de las dimensiones de la capacidad de perdón entre cuatro grupos de edad. Metodología: Se aplicó la escala CAPER que indaga Perdón a Uno Mismo, a Otras Personas, a Situaciones de la Vida y las Creencias que Determinan el Perdón. La muestra estuvo conformada por 160 adultos  de 4 grupos de edad: adultos jóvenes (20 a 30 años), adultos de mediana edad  (40 a 50 años), adultos mayores (60 a 70 años) y adultos mayores de edad avanzada (80 a 90 años).  Resultados: Los resultados revelan diferencias significativas entre los diferentes grupos de edad sólo en la dimensión de “Creencias que Determinan el Perdón”, no así en el resto de las dimensiones. Conclusiones: Este conocimiento permite revisar antecedentes de investigación en función de las disonancias y consonancias con otros estudios similares y resulta de gran importancia para el desarrollo de intervenciones adecuadas para  cada grupo de edad.

Political reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and settler nations is among the major ethical issues of the twenty-first century for millions of Indigenous peoples globally. Political reconciliation refers to the aspiration to transform violent and harmful relationships into respectful relationships. This essay discusses how efforts to achieve reconciliation are not feasible when settler nations and some of their citizens believe Indigenous peoples to be clamoring for undeserved privileges. Settler colonialism often includes the illusion that historic and contemporary settler populations have moral grounds for their mistreatment of Indigenous peoples. This illusion masks historical and ongoing practices of settler colonialism that thwart effective practices of reconciliation.

This article explores how mission, forgiveness, and reconciliation have shaped the ministry and work of Desmond Tutu. As much as space permits, it tries to glean the ways in which Tutu has lived out his understanding of mission, forgiveness, and reconciliation in his various roles as lecturer of theology, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants … following the example of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Church needs to offer its own special gift to this country-the gift of eschatological faith. In common language this is the gift of imagination. .. This is what Archbishop Tutu managed to do for us when, in the midst of the violence of the 1980s and the 1990s, he held out a mirror of a different country, of a better people whom he called "the rainbow people of God." 1 1

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498592079/Reparative-Environmental-Justice-in-a-World-of-Wounds

Podcast Interview, Thought About Food:
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-vgrp2-f419b7

Interview with Raquel Garcia-Alvarez, Forest Preserves of Cook County:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yvdsh68zuzeeuw0/Book%20Conservation%20with%20Ben%20Almassi%20author%20of%20Reparative%20Environment%20Justice.mp4?dl=0

For years, the anniversary of Operation Storm (August 1995) was the trigger that would torpedo any efforts at
improving relations between Croatia and Serbia, even after progress had been made in the months prior to the
commemoration/celebration. Inevitably, however, the weeks leading up to 5 August would be filled with media
speculation and political manoeuvring that always boiled over on the unbearably hot streets of Knin. Due to these
diametrically opposed official commemorations there seemed to be little hope for a reconciliatory breakthrough
in memory politics. However, the Croatian government, which included members of the largest Croatian Serb
political party in its ruling coalition, initiated the most reconciliatory commemorative policies in the summer of
2020 since the war ended twenty-five years ago. This contribution analyses the role of the Operation Storm commemoration in Croatia’s collective remembrance and its potential for long-term symbolic reparations, both within Croatia and regarding bilateral relations with neighbouring countries.

After decades of armed conflict in Colombia, how do those most affected by that conflict understand forgiveness? While others have researched Colombians’ views of forgiveness, this study is the first to do so through discussion of a narrative of forgiveness. Readings of the biblical narrative chosen for this study, the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor (Mt 18:21–35), can enable North Atlantic scholars to discover dimensions of the parable revealed by those who live lives that mirror the realities of the parable, unlike such scholars. The study aims to understand how conflict survivors, especially internally displaced persons (IDPs), understand forgiveness and its relation to politics. The study also aims to identify how these women and men read Matthew 18:21–35 differently from academics. Groups in eight locations around Colombia discussed Matthew 18:21–35. Researchers led lectura popular de la Biblia [people’s readings of the Bible], inviting participants to say how the parable rel...

T he historical authenticity of Jesus' prayer to God to forgive his enemies (Luke 23:34a: Πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς) is still debated by New Testament scholars. The disputed textual tradition underlying the verse and the ambiguous status of the internal arguments in favour of the logion have meant that a definitive answer to its authenticity remains elusive. 1 Where Luke 23:34 is accepted as an authentic Jesus logion, 2 scholarly discussion largely revolves around the identity of those whom Jesus forgives (Jews, Romans, or both?) and the 'ignorance' motif (Luke 23:34; cf. Acts 2:36; 3:17; 13:17; 17:30). Significant investigations of ἀφίημι and ἄφεσις have been undertaken, 3 but this discussion has not been brought into dialogue with the variegated understanding of forgiveness in antiquity and its dominant terminology (συγγνώμη; συγγιγνώσκω). The time is long overdue for a reappraisal of the authenticity and the import, socially and theologically, of the logion.

«God always forgives, man sometimes, nature never». This well-known proverb contains what we can call a metaphysics of forgiveness, in which we can distinguish three kinds of being: the infinite being of God who is the source of all forgiveness, the finite being of man, which is capable of forgiving because he is endowed with freedom, and the equally finite being of nature, incapable of forgiving because he only obeys physical or psychical laws. In human forgiveness there is the coexistence of all three: nature as the cause of the psychic processes that must be overcome (revenge or remorse), man as a subject that offends or is offended and, above all, God as the origin and ultimate goal of forgiveness.

Previous research studies indicate that procrastination is often related to higher negative emotions and overall distress. Self-forgiveness, on the other hand, has been shown to be associated with lower distress and improved mental health. Therefore, the primary goal of our study was to test the relationship between self-forgiveness and procrastination and the potential mediating effect of emotions. Participants were 217 university students who completed an online survey assessing their level of procrastination, self-forgiveness for procrastination, shame-proneness and guilt-proneness, and positive and negative emotions. Higher self-forgiveness for procrastination was found to be associated with lower procrastination. The relationship between self-forgiveness and procrastination was mediated through the presence of higher positive emotions. Our second goal was to test the relationships between emotional components of self-forgiveness - shame-proneness and guilt-proneness - with procrastination. The correlational analyses showed a positive relationship between procrastination with shame-proneness, but no relationship between procrastination with guilt-proneness. In addition, the relationship between shame-proneness and procrastination was fully mediated through the presence of negative emotions. Overall, we propose that an individual who forgives himself/herself for his/her procrastination might be more motivated to accept responsibility, less motivated to avoid this behavior in the future, and therefore procrastinate less. We highlight the potential benefits of self-forgiveness for increasing positive emotions and thereby for reducing procrastination. Interventions that promote self-forgiveness could be beneficial for students who procrastinate.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified 1,181 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women 1980-2012 (2014). The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund identified that there have been 58 separate studies with over 700 recommendations from 1996 to 2015. The LEAF report notes that the root causes have been similar across the studies, yet little policy action has been undertaken to address any of these recommendations. The persistent ability of various governments to obscure recommendations and reports works to situate colonial solutions through future action and avoid direct implementation of past recommendations. By creating these temporal breaks, these narratives preclude analysis of past moments of violence alongside the present.  I argue that the institutional and policy discourses operating around violence against Indigenous women work to both erase historical violence and establish conceptual limits for what can be understood as colonialism.

La perspectiva de Vladimir Jankélévitch ha abordado ampliamente el “perdón” como problema filosófico, ético-moral y político. Atento a los acontecimientos que marcaron a fuego el siglo XX, sus reflexiones reescribirán tanto la vivencia de la Segunda guerra mundial, que lo proscribe profesionalmente y lo compromete en la Resistencia francesa, como la experiencia de formar parte de una sociedad que, años más tarde, abrirá el debate acerca de la “prescriptibilidad” de los crímenes contra la humanidad. La hipótesis que organiza este artículo es que habría dos momentos, dos tiempos del perdón en la perspectiva de este autor, que estarían atravesados por estas experiencias biográficas e históricas. Estos dos tiempos, no secuenciables, marcarían, de un modo más profundo e insondable, una tensión paradójica que atravesará el pensamiento de V. Jankélévitch: el perdón, verdadero y puro, puede ser concebido en el horizonte de una ética hiperbólica, pero, también es legítima la posibilidad de no perdonar como modalidad política de la justicia. De esta manera, enmarcando este estudio en una articulación entre filosofía y vida, exponemos una heurística profunda de distintas fuentes bibliográficas primarias y secundarias, a fin de reconocer los ‘dos tiempos’ en el modo de abordar la cuestión del perdón en la perspectiva jankélévitchiana.

The issue addressed in this essay is under what circumstances, if any, can evil be forgigiven.  I make up the case of a ficticious Nazi whom I call Adolph Damascus-Paul who after 50 years of anonymously giving millions to Jewish foudations voluntarily turns himself in to the courts in Israel.