The Journey of Reconciliation: Groaning for a New Creation in Africa by Emmanuel Katongole (review)

Emmanuel Katangole reiterates the popular view that the increasing number of books on reconciliation is indicative of the growing interest on the subject. This keen interest, according to Katongole, is not devoid of meaning; it reifies a deep "longing for peace and healing in an increasingly violent and conflict-ridden world" (p. ix). As much as this kind of desire aims at mitigating the harm done by past atrocities, it is also one that hopes to deal with equally vicious cases in the future.

Katongole wonders why Christianity is more often than not overlooked in reconciliation programs, projects, and recommendations. He feels that this absence suggests that many believe that the value of the Christian faith in this all-important human quest for personal, social, and political healing is dubious. Thus, in this book, Katongole is on a mission to make explicit the difference Christianity can make in how the world understands and practices reconciliation as the global community comes to terms with how those processes play out on the African continent.

The book's underpinning theme is the exposition of reconciliation as a journey that is undertaken not by individuals but by God with his creation, a journey that is rooted in his initial commitment to restoration after the fall of humanity. This divine gesture, according to Katongole, is at once a gift and an invitation to mankind to make the same commitment. That, in essence, is both the theory and the biggest challenge of reconciliation.

Katongole establishes five key themes related to the Christian journey of reconciliation: the telos or end, sorrow, hope, leadership, and conversion. The twelve chapters are divided into three parts. Part one is the theoretical component that deals with reconciliation as a gift, the invitation to reconciliation, and the limitations of the search for political justice in Africa. This section also highlights the silence in Rwanda after genocide as indicative of the sorrow over the destruction of certain aspects of the foundations of human and social existence and an unspoken attempt to recreate those elements. Part one also brings together the various strands of the message of reconciliation in the Africae Munus Pope Benedict sent to the second synod of the bishops of Africa.

Part two explores the religious and institutional dimensions of reconciliation through varied narratives that establish that the church matters in the reconciliation project in Africa. Among others, the gift and telos of reconciliation is the reiteration that a new creation or a "new we" is possible, especially within the context of the ethnic diversity of Africa. Paradoxically, part two also discusses the subversive, practical, social, and political character of the church in the context of Africa's politics of ethnic tensions, albeit with surprising brevity. One of the strengths of this book is the author's indication that martyrdom is never in vain, that martyrs bequeath to the living, in the most concrete, dynamic, and exemplary ways, a reason for reconciliation and that the church reinforces that hope in its memorializing of those who gave up their lives.

Part three deals with examples of new post-reconciliation creations in the lives of those aptly described as ambassadors of reconciliation in a divided world. The stories of these faith-peace activists illustrate personal journeys of spirituality, and practical discipline that actualize the larger theme of the church as a field hospital.

This book is relevant for peace and reconciliation studies and for religious studies. The beautiful and intricate weaving of strands of the sacred and the secular makes this book unique.