Reconciliation, Nations and Churches in Latin America Nations And Churches in Latin America

This book examines the recent phenomenon in Latin America of national Truth and Reconciliation commissions. Few studies have examined the role of Churches or religion in political processes that proclaim valued theological terms as their agenda - truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation. This book questions the role of religion, specifically of established Churches. The impact of such reconciliation commissions on Indigenous Native Americans is also examined, as is the role of women and how both commissions and Churches or religions were challenged by their experiences. The contributors offer differing perspectives on one or more national truth and reconciliation processes and thus offer a collection that serves as valuable source for the disciplines of Religious Studies, Ethics, Theology, Political Science, Social Sciences and Women's Studies.

Part 1 Nations and Reconciliation; Chapter 1 Truth and Reconciliation: Hope for the Nations or Only as Much as is Possible?, Iain S. Maclean; Chapter 2 The Mesa de Diálogo and the Fate of the Disappeared in Chile 1999–2000: National Forgiveness Without Political Truth?, Mario I. Aguilar; Chapter 3 Unspeakable Violence: The UN Truth Commissions in El Salvador and Guatemala, David Tombs; Chapter 4 The Maya ‘Greening Road’ of Reconciliation: the Pan-Maya Movement in Guatemala, Brett Greider; Chapter 5 Reinventing Life and Hope: Coming to Terms with Truth and Reconciliation Brazilian Style, Margaret Eletta Guider; Part 2 Churches and Religious Reconciliation; Chapter 6 1 Originally published in Revista Eclesiástica Brasileira, (REB) Volume 46, Fasc. 182 (June 1986), 272–314, as ‘O Tema da Reconciliacáo e a Teologia na Américan Latina’. Translated and reproduced by kind permission of the author, Padre Prof. João Comblin, and Padre Piva, the editor of REB. The editor of this volume, and translator, wishes to thank Sr. M. Guider and Carlos Viana, S.J., who checked the translation., José Comblin; Chapter 7 Social Sin: Social Reconciliation?, Margaret R. Pfeil; Part 3 Nations and Churches in the Future; Chapter 8 Living in the Wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: A Retroactive Reflection, Charles Villa-Vicencio; Chapter 9 Truth and Reconciliation: From Chile to South Africa, Michael Battle; Chapter 10 Reconciliation as a Contested Future: Decolonization as Project or Beyond the Paradigm of War, Nelson Maldonado-Torres;

Iain S. Maclean is Associate Professor of Western Religious Thought at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.