As We Forgive Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Audible Audio Edition) Catherine Claire Larson, Bahni Turnpin, Zondervan Books
Download As PDF : As We Forgive Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Audible Audio Edition) Catherine Claire Larson, Bahni Turnpin, Zondervan Books
Can a country known for its radical brutality become a country known for an even more radical forgiveness? More than a decade after the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan government has released tens of thousands of murderers back into the communities they ravaged. Survivors and perpetrators have had to learn to live again as neighbors.
Inspired by the award-winning film As We Forgive, this book explores the pain, the mystery, and the hope through seven compelling stories as victims, orphans, widows, and perpetrators journey toward reconciliation.
As We Forgive Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Audible Audio Edition) Catherine Claire Larson, Bahni Turnpin, Zondervan Books
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As We Forgive Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Audible Audio Edition) Catherine Claire Larson, Bahni Turnpin, Zondervan Books Reviews
A moving story of what may begin through desperate circumstances towards that which flourishes with hope. It would be easy to overlook the importance of this event. But we do it to our detriment and mankinds loss. The human tragedy in Rwanda is being reversed through the process of forgiveness, so intense is this phenomenon that a nation is being transformed from one divided to one unified.
Though it may be incomplete and imperfect, the lesson remains powerful. This is a case study the world cannot afford to miss. If we do, it will be to our own peril.
This books profundity is so deep, that it has the power to transform all human interaction and relationships.
This book is quite powerful and should be on a 'must read' for anyone wanting to learn more about the Tutsi genocide, but even more, about forgiveness related to genocide. One can ask, How is forgiveness even possible in this situation? Larson shows us how. I am a college professor and will require this in one of my writing courses. The book is well written with the author writing a chapter (separated by darker paper) and then the narrative in white. I recommend this book.
This is a book that will stay with you long after reading it. It will change your perspective on forgiveness and probably redefine for you what forgiveness actually is and isn't. It will give you peace in knowing that nothing you will experience is beyond hope of forgiveness.
Prior to reading this book, I had only an impersonal and fact based understanding of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. This book allowed me to step into the lives of a few of the survivors and to hear their stories. The author gives such a vivid portrayal of her meetings with the survivors that I felt like I was sitting in on the interview, hearing and seeing everything that she was observing. These stories are amazing, not only of what these survivors endured and lived to tell about, but how they eventually came around to healing their emotional wounds through forgiveness. This level of forgiveness is something I would never be able to fathom when imagining myself in these survivors' shoes.
This book is a must read. It is a book that can't help but change your outlook on many emotions and circumstances in life in a positive way.
What does forgiveness really look like? How can you forgive someone who seemingly took everything away that made life worth living family, homes, and trust? What kind of power is it that can look someone who has hurt you in the deepest way, and forgive them? This is what As We Forgive is about, specifically how do Rwandan survivors of the 1994 genocide forgive those who broke into their homes, chased them down in the wild and sought to wipe them out.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide, where Hutu attacked and murdered over 800,000 Tutsi's is hard to fathom in its brutality and suddenness. Larson, on staff with Prison Fellowship Ministries, writes of a defined process that leads to genocide and in reverse, of a process that leads forgiveness.
She has focused on seven specific individuals, in three chapter segments, to tell an arc of a story from before, during, and after the genocide. The three chapter segments are broken up by seven interlude chapters that reflect on what the real applications of forgiveness, comfort, and what repairing broken relationships looks like.
By telling personal stories in an engaging writing style, Larson does a fine job of taking the reader from the abstract to the very real and personal. She only introduces the political issues that motivated the genocide, and steps out of the way to tell of very human stories of brutality and in return peace and reconciliation.
The writing is never explicit when stories of the genocidal acts are told, but they are hard to read, especially when old neighbors and friends turn on each other. There are times after reading an especially difficult passage, I had to put aside the book for a day or so, because of the sheer horror involved. At the same time, reading of murderers reaching out to assist in rebuilding their victims lives, local justice that seeks to restore and not retribution, and victims seeking to point those that did so much evil to Christ is earth shaking in its own right.
Larson identifies eight steps that genocidal groups take to strip their victims of their humanity. By telling seven stories of reconciliation, forgiveness, she contrasts man's kingdom versus God's. The final step of genocide is denial. With powerful stories of reconciliation, she tells stories of truth that re-humanize victim and perpetrator alike.
As We Forgive needs to read as a testament to a group of people who are changed by otherworldly power, in the hope that the same power that saved them from an ongoing spiral of evil will do wonders around the world.
If you are looking for a book that details the causes of genocide, this is not the book for you. But if you are looking for a book to inspire you, guide you and help you overcome unforgiveness, then this is definitely the book for you. The author alternates between the stories of survivors from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, both during the genocide and afterwards, with discussion on the theory and practice of forgiveness in general. Working in tandem, the two sections present both evidence and theory for the power of forgiveness, as well as helpful steps in achieving it yourself.
This is not a rose colored book, however. Forgiveness's painful elements and continuing problems are dealt with frankly in this book and not ignored. Nor is forgiveness forced on anyone. This is a decidedly Christian book, and while forgiveness is universal, some of the advice and stories might not resonate as well with non-Christians.
Finally, do not be concerned that this is a book on genocide. The accounts of the atrocities, while honest and horrifying, are not glorified or dwelt on. They are told so that we can empathize with the people involved and better understand what it took for them to forgive. An amazing book and well worth a read.
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