As Northern Ireland moves from conflict to tentative peace, ongoing violence and unrest underline that the province remains a turbulent and troubled society. This book brings together contributions from those directly affected by the Troubles who work for peace and reconciliation in their communities. The issues they raise are given poignancy and power by being grounded in human experience, and provide a necessary starting point for exploring the tensions which arise in the struggle to reconcile forgiveness and remembrance in order to create a more purposeful and meaningful future. They have important implications not only for Northern Ireland but also for other societies emerging from conflict.

Northern Ireland has a complex urbanism with multilayered socio-spatial politics. In this environment, issues of communication, self-representation and expression of identity are central to the experience of urban space and architecture where the dichotomy of division and shared living are spatially exercised in everyday life. Unlike other studies in the area, this book focuses on the everyday experiences of local communities in both public and private spheres - issues of ‘shareness’ - challenging conventional approaches to divided cities. The book aims to layer its narratives of architectural and social developments as an urban experience in post-conflict settings over the past two decades.

Stephen Cherry's Michael Ramsey Prize shortlisted Healing Agony argues that one of the most profound challenges a human being can ever face is how to forgive in the aftermath of injury, hurt or violation. This book explores the theology of forgiveness alongside a number of contemporary forgiveness stories in order to glean insights for those facing just this challenge. While God's forgiveness is revealed to be a simpler matter than is sometimes imagined, forgiveness between human beings is shown to be far more difficult, enigmatic and open-ended. This book offers a map of the rugged terrain that victims of serious harm, or those who seek to accompany them, will need to navigate if they embark on the venture of trust we call forgiveness. A Group Study guide for this title is available at http://religion.cherry.continuumbooks.com

Based on interview material with a wide range of Protestant clergy in Northern Ireland, this book examines how Protestant identity impacts on the possibility of peace and stability and argues for greater involvement by the Protestant churches in the transition from conflict to a 'post-conflict' Northern Ireland.

Taking Northern Ireland as its primary case study, this book applies the burgeoning literature in memory studies to the primary question of transitional justice: how shall societies and individuals reckon with a traumatic past? Joseph Robinson argues that without understanding how memory shapes, moulds, and frames narratives of the past in the minds of communities and individuals, theorists and practitioners may not be able to fully appreciate the complex, emotive realities of transitional political landscapes. Drawing on interviews with what the author terms "memory curators," coupled with a robust analysis of secondary literature from a range of transitional cases, the book analyses how the bodies of the dead, the injured, and the traumatised are written into - or written out of - transitional justice. The author argues that scholars cannot appreciate the dynamism of transitional memory-space unless they first engage with the often silenced or marginalised voices whose memories remain trapped behind the antagonistic politics of fear and division. Ultimately challenging the imperative of national reconciliation, the author argues for a politics of public memory that incubates at multiple nodes of social production and can facilitate a vibrant, democratic debate over the ways in which a traumatic past can or should be remembered.

"Forgive and forget" is the mantra. But what if the path to true peace is "forgive and remember"? This is the radical and liberating truth shared by two authors who bridge the Catholic-Protestant divide. Together they show that true forgiveness lies the other side of grace-filled remembering, not denial-laden forgetting. Seldom the work of a moment, the path of forgiveness does not run straight and its many difficulties can leave us trapped in a cycle of hate and despair. Forgiveness Rememberssensitively shows how God's grace can break this cycle and instead catch us up in a spiral of hope that leads into the freedom and compassion of God. This book is for anyone who struggles with forgiveness--with grace that seems so unfair--but who longs to know God's grace and continue the journey into His heart.

Simpson offers a reflective and theoretical explanation of the ways in which unionists conceive of the past in the present post-conflict environment. He considers the ways in which scholarly literature has often painted an outdated and inaccurate portrait of a highly complex people.