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Article: The core of the faith.(Christian churches need a vision that deals with the social aspects of reconciliation)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- March 4, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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At the very beginning of her new book, Reconciled Being: Love in Chaos, the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, highlights the words of the Apostle Paul: "All this has been the work of God. He has reconciled us unto himself through Christ and has enlisted us in this ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). For her, reconciliation is not simply an event between "the soul and its God"; it has social and political dimensions.
For centuries, Christians have been hesitant to make this move. Hence the Christian tradition offers very little wisdom on the social meaning of reconciliation. The omission is pernicious. The churches were often impotent before their ...