Deification, Demonization and Dispossession

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منو

" Deification, Demonization and Dispossession "
Allan A. Boesak

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1069624
Doc. No	:	LA113253
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15697320-12341366‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Allan A. Boesak
Title & Author	:	Deification, Demonization and Dispossession [Article]\ Allan A. Boesak
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	International Journal of Public Theology
Date	:	2014
Volume/ Issue Number	:	8/4
Page No	:	420–444
Abstract	:	Many regard South Africa’s reconciliation process as a model for a search for peace in and among nations. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission played an admirable part in this. However, problems remain in continuing and completing this reconciliation project. For many the failure to secure social justice through reconciliation remains one challenge. At issue is also how South Africans deal with their fractured and painful past. This article revisits issues of culpability and responsibility by asking whether a primary obstacle towards reconciliation might be that South Africans, instead of taking personal and collective responsibility for reconciliation, have hidden behind two major and completely opposite South African figures: Nelson Mandela and Eugene De Kock. It is argued that the ‘deification’ of Mandela and the ‘demonization’ of De Kock pose an important obstacle for the acceptance of culpability and responsibility for addressing historic wrongs with a view to true reconciliation. Many regard South Africa’s reconciliation process as a model for a search for peace in and among nations. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission played an admirable part in this. However, problems remain in continuing and completing this reconciliation project. For many the failure to secure social justice through reconciliation remains one challenge. At issue is also how South Africans deal with their fractured and painful past. This article revisits issues of culpability and responsibility by asking whether a primary obstacle towards reconciliation might be that South Africans, instead of taking personal and collective responsibility for reconciliation, have hidden behind two major and completely opposite South African figures: Nelson Mandela and Eugene De Kock. It is argued that the ‘deification’ of Mandela and the ‘demonization’ of De Kock pose an important obstacle for the acceptance of culpability and responsibility for addressing historic wrongs with a view to true reconciliation.
Descriptor	:	culpability
Descriptor	:	deification
Descriptor	:	demonization
Descriptor	:	reconciliation
Descriptor	:	responsibility
Descriptor	:	suffering
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15697320-12341366‬