Unreconciled? - Ann Richards

Christians often pray for, and try to work towards peace and reconciliation, but are we really aware of the need all around us? We pray for the war torn places of the world without a second thought for the damaging row we had just with our teenage children; we give money to alleviate the plight of others while nodding to our neighbour whose name we don't know and whose problems we are not aware of. The Unreconciled are around us and among us, and, because they don't make the headlines, we assume they are coping and don't need our help.This book seeks to raise awareness of the Unreconciled for whom reconciliation seems a long way off: people in prison, people who look a little bit different, people who are victimised, people who keep being told to forgive but just can't, not yet, maybe not ever. In each chapter this book looks at a group of Unreconciled people, finding out more about them and why our efforts in Christian reconciliation barely scratch their surface or miss them altogether. They are not unusual people, and they include ourselves. This book also contains two theological chapters on humanity and God, and heaven and hell, providing a context for what we mean by reconciliation.This fully referenced book will appeal to theological educators and students, but also to clergy and laity interested in mission and outreach and all those concerned with peace, conflict resolution and reconciliation studies. It also includes complete activities and questions for individual or group study with an emphasis on programmes for action and what is going to change.