| View Larger Image | As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda | Paperbackby Catherine Claire Larson (Author)
| List Price: | $15.99 | | Price: | $11.51 | | You Save: | $4.48 (28%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Zondervan | | Page Count: | 288 Pages | | Publication Date: | February 01, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 23,734rd |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780310287308
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
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. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 17 reviews)
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The Miracle of Forgiveness by Trevin Wax  5 Stars
June 11, 2009
In As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Zondervan, 2009), Catherine Claire Larson tells two sides to the story of the 1990's Rwandan genocide. On the one hand, she documents the horrific scenes of mass murder. On the other hand, she describes the moving accounts of forgiveness that have taken place between victims and their abusers.
Larson begins her book by laying out a chronology of events. Readers who are unfamiliar with the history of the genocide in Rwanda will find the historical context helpful for understanding the individual stories that follow.
In short, the seeds of the genocide were planted in the bitterness between the Hutu and the Tutsi regimes. In the mid-1990's, Hutus began a systematic slaughter of Tutsis. Over 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days. The most chilling fact about this genocide is that, in most cases, neighbors were killing neighbors. The Hutus were not roaming the countryside killing strangers with machetes. These were people slaughtering people they knew.
But As We Forgive does not concentrate primarily upon the atrocities that took place during the genocide. Instead, Larson focuses upon the incredible acts of forgiveness that have since followed.
Within the past several years, more than 100,000 of the killers have been released back into society. One may wonder: How have the victims coped with these new societal developments? These are people who lost parents and siblings and children. They are people who even today bear the physical scars of violence or the emotional scars of rape. How have the Rwandans been able to co-exist with the very people who caused them such pain?
Christianity provides the answer. Larson tells the stories of several victims and perpetrators, and offers a few additional insights into the nature of Christian forgiveness.
As you read these powerful stories, you quickly come to realize that forgiveness does not come easy. The Rwandan victims do not minimize the sin by ignoring it or sweeping its consequences under the rug.
Larson is unflinching in her portrayal of evil. The line of evil runs through both victim and killer. It is not as simple as "bad" versus "good." One woman recounts how she was rescued by a man who kept her safe from the threat of death for a period of time, even as he occasionally raped her.
Larson believes that when we look at a murderer, we look at ourselves. The victims need to offer forgiveness, but even they need forgiveness from God.
The struggle to forgive is palpable at times. One woman cries out to God to forgive her for failing to forgive:
"Oh, God, forgive me for dwelling so much on the past, for pushing others away and feeling lonely, when I didn't have to feel that way. And most of all forgive me for not thinking of you, or what you have given me today. Help me, God; to start living and to start being truly thankful for the ways you are working in my life." (84)
Moments later, Larson provides the key to the entire book:
The more she had come to understand the significance of the Bible's teachings on Jesus Christ's death, the more forgiveness seemed possible. She learned how Christ had been executed in a horrible manner, more horrible than some of the things she had seen in the war. And she learned how he willingly died to pay the penalty for her wrongdoing and for anyone else who would give up their bad ways and look to him. If Christ could forgive her, if he could forgive the people who tortured him, then Joy knew she could forgive too. (86)
One might think As We Forgive would be a depressing book. It is not. It is deeply inspiring. The accounts of forgiveness help us move past the petty grievances we hold towards others.
There is also an inspiring account of a group of students who refused to divide into Hutus and Tutsis. "All of us are Rwandans here," they declared, and paid for their boldness with their lives.
My only quibble with this book is its quick dismissal of the idea of retributive justice in favor of a type of restorative justice. I am not sure that these two types of justice are incompatible. Of course, there is not enough room in this kind of book to develop some of these concepts, which makes me wonder why they were alluded to in the first place.
As We Forgive succeeds in telling a powerful story. We read of pastors and church leaders returning to Rwanda to encourage forgiveness, even as they suffer great personal cost for their decisions. We read of people sacrificing their own desires for the good of others. We read of people so engulfed in their own guilt and despair for the past sins that the offer of forgiveness becomes a liberating act of sheer grace.
These stories are Christianity-in-action. Highly recommended.
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A Beautifully Written, Deeply Touching, Powerfully Moving Chronicle by FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) 5 Stars
June 10, 2009
Few stories of cultural transformation are as compelling as the story of Rwanda's ongoing recovery from the unthinkable brutality the country suffered in the spring of 1994. As the 15th anniversary of the horrific genocide approaches in April 2009, a number of books, films and documentaries are being released not only to remind people of the horror but also to show them the remarkable progress toward reconciliation and healing that the country is experiencing today.
That progress is nothing short of a miracle --- not by the trite use of the word "miracle" that has been cheapened by overuse and misapplication, but miracle in the purest sense: a change brought about by divine intervention in human affairs.
The reasons for the Rwandan genocide are complex and tangled up in a web of international interference in the country's government, but the result of the massive killings is clear: hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi tribe were slaughtered, raped, dismembered and tortured in other ways by Hutu tribe members who had once been their friends and neighbors.
No family was unaffected. What the survivors experienced and witnessed left unimaginable scars. And then, in a desperate attempt to ensure the survival of the nation and its people 10 years later, the post-conflict Rwandan government asked the seemingly impossible of the surviving Tutsi refugees who had returned to their homeland: allow some 50,000 Hutu war criminals to return to society and live among them.
This is the story Larson tells so compellingly in AS WE FORGIVE, the story of radical forgiveness sought by the perpetrators and extended by the victims. What sets Larson's book apart from others commemorating the anniversary is the personal faces of forgiveness that she portrays. Larson tells the stories of more than a dozen Rwandans, some killers, some survivors, who are all struggling to move forward even as they are unable to erase the memory of the past.
The stories are difficult to read --- the account of a four-year-old huddled in the brush, hiding with her mother and baby sister as their home is torched and her father is butchered by a machete-wielding neighbor; a young teenage boy's memory of the night his sleep was shattered by a grenade that left his mother bloodied and mangled and by the sound of soldiers brutally raping his older sister; and so many more. But in reading them, readers see the miracle, the hand of God in the lives of those Rwandans who chose forgiveness over revenge and so many other possibilities.
Larson wisely intersperses these stories with reflections on various aspects of forgiveness, providing a much-needed break from both the profound sadness and incomprehensible hope the stories convey. Larson's is no academic, historical account; it's a beautifully written, deeply touching, powerfully moving chronicle of lives once torn apart that are now on the path to restoration.
AS WE FORGIVE is among the best of the many books on Rwanda. Highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford
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a powerful story of good overcoming evil by Jason A. Greer (the Carolinas) 5 Stars
June 09, 2009
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.
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Powerful Stories of Tragedy, Pain, Healing, and Forgiveness by Debbie (Alpena, AR United States) 5 Stars
April 12, 2009
This book tells seven personal stories of experiences during the genocide, its aftermath, and how they came to forgiveness. These accounts are intense, vivid, and powerful. The people in these stories came from different areas and had different experiences, giving the reader a good idea of what happened during the genocide and afterward. The book is worth reading for these stories alone.
The narratives effectively show the struggle of how to forgive and gain peace. However, after each story, the author also comments on various methods of forgiveness and reconciliation and on restorative justice. To me, those comments felt distant and clinical in contrast to the intensely intimate view of pain and forgiveness given in the narrative. Except for one chart/argument given by the author in the first section (which I felt tried to make a complex subject too simplistic and neat), the information she gives is useful and relevant. This information is geared toward anyone, no matter their religion (or lack of one).
Though the author doesn't focus on Christian principles of forgiveness, the Rwandans described in these accounts are Christians or become Christians and this is what allows them to forgive.
The violence described during the genocide is not explicit or gory in detail, though it is still heart-rending at times. I'd recommend this powerful book to anyone struggling with forgiveness or who wants to know more about the Rwandan genocide and what's happening there now.
Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews
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A "must read" by Sara Koenig 5 Stars
April 03, 2009
When I purchased _As We Forgive_ I was not sure quite what to expect. I knew enough about the Rwandan genocide from having watched "Hotel Rwanda" to know that it probably wouldn't be a pleasant read. But, the promised underlying message of hope drew me in and compelled me to take a look. What I found was life-changing.
The personal stories of genocide in this book are certainly difficult to read. They are vivid, and immensely disturbing ... but, they are real. As I read, I grieved alongside these people who had lived out my worst nightmares. At times I wept openly and wanted to turn my eyes away. But had I done that, I would have missed the beauty of this book ... Had I not wept over these stories of senseless killing and unfathomable cruelty, how could I fully rejoice over the miracles of grace that are now occurring in these same lives? How could I truly appreciate the weight and importance of the forgiveness extended by these victims toward the very people who murdered their families or left them for dead? How could I understand the impact of reconciliation that is now being carried out across Rwanda? I once heard a pastor say that we will never know the enormity of God's grace toward us until we understand the depth of our own sin. Catherine Claire Larsen does a skillful job of revealing the horrors of the genocide through personal stories, as a means of pointing the reader to the miracle of forgiveness as it revolutionizes lives and changes the course of Rwandan history.
But, this is not just a book about other people's journeys to forgiveness. Each story is followed by a section of application ... walking through the components of true forgiveness and reconciliation and calling the reader to exercise forgiveness in his/her own life story. After having read the details of these stories, many of my wounds that I have nursed so carefully seem as insignificant scratches in comparison ... and the forgiveness I once thought impossible seems to come within reach in light of the healing examples found in this book. Many of us will never experience firsthand the depth of cruelty found in the Rwandan genocide, but we can all relate to offense, insult, abuse, hurt, and - as a result - broken relationships. We all play the part of the offender and the offended ... on a daily basis. We see the havoc that such wrongs wreak in our lives, and we long for healing. This book holds out the hope of real and lasting healing through forgiveness and reconciliation. We would do well to learn from these examples, fleshed out before our eyes ... evidences of God "redeeming the years the locusts have eaten." (Joel 2:25)
Very well written, challenging, and life-changing. Well done.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda
by Emmanuel M. Katongole (Author), Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (Author)
In 1994, the most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. The tragedy was in Rwanda, but what happened was a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Yet by looking at what happened and why, we can find hope for the global body of Christ.
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| A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It
by Stephen Kinzer (Author)
A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It is the story of Paul Kagame, a refugee who, after a generation of exile, found his way home. Learn about President Kagame, who strives to make Rwanda the first middle-income country in Africa, in a single generation. In this adventurous tale, learn about Kagame’s early fascination with Che Guevara and James Bond, his years as an intelligence agent, his training in Cuba and the United States, the way he built his secret rebel army,...
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| Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda
FRONTLINE marks the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide with a documentary chronicling one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. In addition to interviews with key government officials and diplomats, the two-hour documentary offers eyewitness accounts of the genocide from those who experienced it firsthand. FRONTLINE illustrates the failures that enabled the slaughter of 800,000 people to occur unchallenged by the global community.
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| As We Forgive
Starring: Narration Mia Farrow
Directed By: Laura Waters Hinson
Directed by Laura Waters Hinson and narrated by Mia Farrow comes the award-winning documentary of two Rwandan women who struggle with the face-to-face encounter with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide. These women and men speak for a nation still wracked by the grief of a genocide that killed one in eight Rwandans. Overwhelmed by an enormous backlog of court cases, the government released 50,000 perpetrators back to the very communities they helped to destroy....
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| Beyond the Gates
Starring: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz, Louis Mahoney, Nicola Walker
Directed By: Michael Caton-Jones
Based on true events during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, an exhausted Catholic priest (John Hurt) and a young idealistic English teacher (Hugh Dancy) find themselves caught in a literal and spiritual crisis. They have to choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred or to flee for safety.
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