Thinking and Practicing Reconciliation asserts that literary representations of conflict offer important insights into processes of resolution and practices of reconciliation, and that it is crucial to bring these debates into the post-secondary classroom. The essays collected here aim to help teachers think deeply about the ways in which we can productively integrate literature on/as reconciliation into our curricula. Until recently, scholarship on teaching and learning in higher education has not been widely accepted as equal to research in other fields. This volume seeks to establish that serious analysis of pedagogical practices is not only a worthy and legitimate academic pursuit, but also that it is crucial to our professional development as researcher-educators. The essays in this volume take seriously both the academic study of literature dealing with the aftermath of gross human-rights violations and the teaching of this literature. The current generation of college-aged students is deeply affected by the proximity of violence in our global world. This collection recognizes educators’ responsibility to enable future generations to analyze conflict – whether local or global – and participate in constructive discourses of resolution. Ultimately, Thinking and Practicing Reconciliation charts a course from theory to practice and offers new perspectives on the very human endeavor of storytelling as a way to address human-rights injustices. In their focus on pedagogical strategies and frameworks, the essays in this volume also demonstrate that, as educators, our engagement with students can indeed produce practices of reconciliation that start in the classroom and move beyond it.

How do we practice reconciliation in a world full of violence? How do we love someone at work who seems hell-bent on sabotaging a successful career? And how do religious people resolve differences when religious interpretations seem to lead to righteous indignation rather than reconciliation? We practice reconciliation, according to Michael Battle, by affirming that God is present and acting on that belief, even in the midst of something that looks more like the devil's work. Battle, who worked with Desmond Tutu in South Africa in the past, draws on his knowledge of biblical texts, as well as contemporary scholarship, to examine the ways in which each of us can practice being reconciling people.

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its Calls to Action in June 2015, governments, churches, non-profit, professional and community organizations, corporations, schools and universities, clubs and individuals have asked: “How can I/we participate in reconciliation?” Recognizing that reconciliation is not only an ultimate goal, but a decolonizing process of journeying in ways that embody everyday acts of resistance, resurgence, and solidarity, coupled with renewed commitments to justice, dialogue, and relationship-building, Pathways of Reconciliation helps readers find their way forward. The essays in Pathways of Reconciliation address the themes of reframing, learning and healing, researching, and living. They engage with different approaches to reconciliation (within a variety of reconciliation frameworks, either explicit or implicit) and illustrate the complexities of the reconciliation process itself. They canvass multiple and varied pathways of reconciliation, from Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, reflecting a diversity of approaches to the mandate given to all Canadians by the TRC with its Calls to Action. Together the authors — academics, practitioners, students and ordinary citizens — demonstrate the importance of trying and learning from new and creative approaches to thinking about and practicing reconciliation and reflect on what they have learned from their attempts (both successful and less successful) in the process.

In her classic books The Courage to Heal and Allies in Healing, Laura Davis helped millions cope with the trauma of child sexual abuse. Her supportive guide Becoming the Parent You Want to Be taught parents to create a vision for their families. Now, in I Thought We'd Never Speak Again, she tackles another critical, emerging issue: reconciling relationships sundered by betrayal, anger, and misunderstanding. With her trademark clarity and compassion, Davis maps the reconciliation process through gripping firstperson stories of people who have reconciled under a wide variety of difficult circumstances. In these pages, parents reconcile with children, embittered siblings reconnect, estranged friends reunite, and war veterans and crime victims meet with their enemies. Davis weaves these powerful accounts with her own experiences reconciling with her mother after a long, painful estrangement. Making a crucial distinction between reconciliation and forgiveness, Davis explains how people can make peace in relationships without necessarily forgiving past hurts. Step by step, she clarifies the qualities needed for reconciliation-including maturity, discernment, determination, courage, communication, and compassion. To help readers gauge their own readiness, she includes a self-assessment entitled "Are You Ready for Reconciliation?" as well as a special section called "Ideas for Reflection and Discussion." On each page of this inspiring and instructive book, Laura Davis offers hope and help for reconciliation between individuals, and in the larger human family, sharing essential keys for resolving troubled relationships and finding peace.

The revered Zen teacher presents Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices as tools for healing fraught relationships and difficult emotions—so we can move past childhood trauma. Based on Dharma talks by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and insights from participants in retreats for healing the inner child, this book is an exciting contribution to the growing trend of using Buddhist practices to encourage mental health and wellness. Reconciliation focuses on the theme of mindful awareness of our emotions and healing our relationships, as well as meditations and exercises to acknowledge and transform the hurt that many of us experienced as children. The book shows how anger, sadness, and fear can become joy and tranquility by learning to breathe with, explore, meditate, and speak about our strong emotions. Reconciliation offers specific practices designed to bring healing and release for people suffering from childhood trauma. The book is written for a wide audience and accessible to people of all backgrounds and spiritual traditions.

“Emotionally powerful and full of practical advice and resources.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Reconcile: Conflict Transformation for Ordinary Christians,by international mediator John Paul Lederach serves as a guidebook for Christians seeking a scriptural view of reconciliation and practical steps for transforming conflict. Originally published as The Journey Toward Reconciliation and based on Lederach’s work in war zones on five continents, this revised and updated book tells dramatic stories of what works—and what doesn’t—in entrenched conflicts between individuals and groups. Lederach leads readers through stories of conflict and reconciliation in Scripture, using these stories as anchors for peacemaking strategies that Christians can put into practice in families and churches. Lederach, who has written twenty-two books and whose work has been translated into more than twelve languages, also offers new lenses through which to view conflict, whether congregational conflicts or global terrorism. A new section of resources, created by mediation professionals, professors, and pastors, offers tools for understanding interpersonal, church, and global conflict, worship resources, books and websites for further study, and invitations to action in everyday life. Free downloadable study guide available here.

The two major schools of thought in Indigenous-Settler relations on the ground, in the courts, in public policy, and in research are resurgence and reconciliation. Resurgence refers to practices of Indigenous self-determination and cultural renewal whereas reconciliation refers to practices of reconciliation between Indigenous and Settler nations, such as nation-with-nation treaty negotiations. Reconciliation also refers to the sustainable reconciliation of both Indigenous and Settler peoples with the living earth as the grounds for both resurgence and Indigenous-Settler reconciliation. Critically and constructively analyzing these two schools from a wide variety of perspectives and lived experiences, this volume connects both discourses to the ecosystem dynamics that animate the living earth. Resurgence and Reconciliation is multi-disciplinary, blending law, political science, political economy, women's studies, ecology, history, anthropology, sustainability, and climate change. Its dialogic approach strives to put these fields in conversation and draw out the connections and tensions between them. By using "earth-teachings" to inform social practices, the editors and contributors offer a rich, innovative, and holistic way forward in response to the world's most profound natural and social challenges. This timely volume shows how the complexities and interconnections of resurgence and reconciliation and the living earth are often overlooked in contemporary discourse and debate.