Reconciliation in International Politics

Friends:

As you may know, the Science and Religion Group of the Consortium is working on its “Platform for Peacebuilding.” They will approach this from an interdisciplinary point of view with an emphasis on recent scientific findings that can of help in this arena.

To provide context and insight for this work, the Group invited Ambassador Robert Hennemeyer to speak on the book he co-authored on Forgiveness in International Affairs. He summarized the key findings of the book and recent developments–and elaborated on past and recent events in the extended question and answer period that followed.

One element of his presentation that I have noted before is that mytho-history plays a large role in keeping conflicts alive. People are taught a past history that keeps ethnic and inter religious conflicts fresh. One key element in reconciliation is getting to the truth of the past. This, of course, has been a key in ecumenical reconciliation as well.

Peace,
John