Protestantismo em Revista, volume 09 (Ano 05, n.1) - Faculdades EST

Revista Eletrônica do Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisa do Protestantismo (NEPP) da Escola Superior de TeologiaVolume 09, jan.-abr. de 2006 – ISSN 1678 6408Reconsidering the Roads to Reconciliation: Looking Back at‘die Wende’ with Theologians From the Former DDRBy Kjetil Hafstad *Thinking about ReconciliationOne of the advantages of doing theology is that we can raise the greatquestions of life without people being much surprised – that is our job anyway. Inthe academic world, the great questions are often substituted by a lot of very smallones, because small questions are possible to handle in a more secured scientific way.I will now try, not only to raise a huge question on reconciliation, but also allow for acritical examination of the deep structures of reconciliation between individuals andpeople. I will humbly ask whether our thinking on this field is dominated byestablished habits and heavy traditions, and perhaps in this way is kept at a certaindistance from everyday experiences. Is it possible, at least in some cases, to simplifythe very way we think about reconciliation?I am well aware of that only raising this question will call for a host ofobjections, well established in moral discourse and church preaching and praxis. Iwill not be able to discuss the objections in this chapter. I want to discuss limitedparts of the field. As a start I will only present an argument in favour of trying andexperiencing some ways to reconciliation, much simpler than the traditionaltheological understanding of penitence, through confession, repentance, judgement,sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation.* Kjetil Hafstad is Professor of Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. E-mail:kjetil.hafstad@teologi.uio.noDisponível na Internet: http://www3.est.edu.br/nepp 104