The Difference Between Forgiveness and Reconciliation

I'm thinking a lot about this as I've been reading Religion and Reconciliation in South Africa to prepare for my sabbatical in South Africa next spring.  The sabbatical's theme is "Buiding Community Through Reconciliation & Prayer" and I want to see how the churches in South Africa are helping to build community in the wake of apartheid.

As Americans, Christians, and Anglicans, I think we tend to have a very romantic perception of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in bringing healing and fostering peaceful transition to post-apartheid South Africa.  Yet, as I read more and more South African literature, I'm disocvering a fair amount of ambivalence. 

It appears to be almost universally accepted that the TRC did its job in uncovering the truth of apartheid abuses (although there are some perceptions - distinctly minority -  that the TRC uncovered truths desired by the politcal needs of the time).  But what about Reconciliation?

Of all the Truth commissions that have existed since 1974, South Africa's is the first to include Reconciliation in its mandate.  As a Christian, that excited me no end. As an Episcopalian and Anglican, I burst with pride that Abp Desmond Tutu was it's chair.  But 15 years after the dismantling of apartheid, and after the end of the TRC's work, where does Reconciliation stand?

Chile was the first to includ reconciliation under the mandate of Truth Commission, but their commission's approach was to uncover truth for the purpose of reconciliation.  In other words, telling the truth would be the first step in longer process of healing, but the purpose of truth-telling was not an end of itself, but to make reconciliatio possible.

So, where is South Africa?  I don't know.  I'll know more when I get there.  But I find it a sobering reminder that reconciliation is a process that has to be addressed on many level - individual, community, and institutional among others.

Very perceptively, Audrey Chapman, one of the co-editors of the book Religion & Reconciliation in South Africa, observes that reconciliation is more than just a "willingness to let go of the past and not seek vengeance."  Reconciliation looks to the future as well, with a commitment to repair and re-establish relationships; and, ultimately, "to create and sustain a network of understanding and relationships necessary to shape and support a new and common future."  (p. 13).

So, it seems that truth must come before anything (truth told and accepted by all parties), that forgiveness may draw to a close the power of the past, but that reconciliation is about building a future. So, as I go to South Africa, I will be excited to see what kind of future is being built.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation

- 2 Corinthians 5:17-18