“Complex truth, fragile reconciliation – learning wonder, heartbreak and hope in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
Nov 11th, 2007 by Gideon Strauss
Lectures I gave for Wheaton College’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics this week, at the invitation of my friend Vincent Bacote.
Lecture One: Rage and repentence in the interpreter’s booth (slides)
Lecture Two: Open eyes for justice (slides)
Lecture Three: Promise and deliverance. (slides … although I did not, in the end, show them, the first few slides did serve as a rough framework for my lecture.) The third lecture took place in Wheaton’s pub-like Stupe, and I shared the evening’s work with singer-songwriter Tiffany Thompson.
My thanks to Vincent, to Wheaton, to Ms. Thompson, and to a very patient and generous audience, including in particular those people who engaged me in longer conversations in-between and after the lectures.
In my lectures I drew on testimony before the Commission by four people, none of whom I know personally, but all of whose testimony affected me deeply when I interpreted for the Commission: Zainab Ryklief, Johannes Frederick Van Eck, Johannes Petrus Roos, and Andrea Langford.
November 11th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I’d love to listen, but 22MB files aren’t dial-up friendly. It’s too bad the practice of serving both high- and low-kbps audio is ending.
November 13th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Listened to no1, will listen to no2 soon. Thanks for the “Iris” film tip.
I’ve just deleted what I was going to post here; it didn’t seem appropriate on a blog. Next time our paths cross we must go drinking.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Loved both talks. This is powerful stuff. You’ll have give a summary of the third talk, as I imagine it complete’s the story.
I’d love for you to talk more about aethetics the beauty and ugliness of wonder, heartbreak and hope.
I have just picked up Coupland’s The Gum Thief… thanks.
November 18th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Lecture One listened to.
I’m so short on experience. How to have ideas, ideals, without having them tested out in the world?
December 1st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Please do let us know if no. 3 becomes available.
December 1st, 2007 at 7:00 pm
[...] third lecture is now available online. I have amended the earlier blog entry by adding the [...]
December 27th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Thanks so much for putting these on the web. Vince Bacote is an old friend of mine as well… we dormed together at seminary.
January 1st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
[...] 2. I hope to finish work on the text of a book I am hoping to make of the lectures I gave in 2007 for Wheaton College’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics. [...]