Left to Tell

Left to Tell

Author: Immaculee Ilibagiza

Publisher: Hay House, Inc

Published: 2014-04-07

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1401944329

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Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.


Mirror to the Church

Mirror to the Church

Author: Emmanuel Katongole

Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM

Published: 2009-05-26

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 031056316X

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We learn who we are as we walk together in the way of Jesus. So I want to invite you on a pilgrimage. Rwanda is often held up as a model of evangelization in Africa. Yet in 1994, beginning on the Thursday of Easter week, Christians killed other Christians, often in the same churches where they had worshiped together. The most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. With a mother who was a Hutu and a father who was a Tutsi, author Emmanuel Katongole is uniquely qualified to point out that the tragedy in Rwanda is also a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Rwanda brings us to a cry of lament on our knees where together we learn that we must interrupt these patterns of brokenness But Rwanda also brings us to a place of hope. Indeed, the only hope for our world after Rwanda’s genocide is a new kind of Christian identity for the global body of Christ—a people on pilgrimage together, a mixed group, bearing witness to a new identity made possible by the Gospel.


God Sleeps in Rwanda

God Sleeps in Rwanda

Author: Joseph Sebarenzi

Publisher: Atria Books

Published: 2011-01-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781416575771

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Joseph Sebarenzi’s parents, seven siblings, and countless other family members were among 800,000 Tutsi brutally murdered over the course of ninety days in 1994 by extremist Rwandan Hutu—an efficiency that exceeded even that of the Nazi Holocaust. His father sent him away to school in Congo as a teenager, telling him, “If we are killed, you will survive.” When Sebarenzi returned to Rwanda after the genocide, he was elected speaker of parliament, only to be forced into a daring escape again when he learned he was the target of an assassination plot. Poetic and deeply moving, God Sleeps in Rwanda shows us how the lessons of Rwanda can prevent future tragedies from happening all over the world. Readers will be inspired by the eloquence and wisdom of a man who has every right to be bitter and hateful but chooses instead to live a life of love, compassion, and forgiveness.


Reconciling All Things

Reconciling All Things

Author: Emmanuel Katongole

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2009-12-09

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0830878300

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Conflict resolution and peacemaking are not enough. What makes real reconciliation possible? Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice work from their experiences in Uganda and Mississippi to recover distinctively Christian practices that will help the church be both a sign and an agent of God's reconciling love in the fragmented world of the twenty-first century.


Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Author: Marcel Uwineza, SJ

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2023-07-05

Total Pages: 443

ISBN-13: 1647123461

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The first comprehensive examination of the Catholic Church’s role in the genocide against the Tutsi and its attempts at reconciliation From April to July 1994, more than a million people were killed during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tutsi men, women, and children were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in churches and school buildings, and their lifeless bodies were left rotting in these sacred places under the deep silence of church authorities. Pope Francis’s apology more than twenty years later presents the opportunity to reimagine the essence of the Church, the missionary enterprise, theology in its multiple dimensions, the purification of memory, and the place of human dignity in the Catholic faith. Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda critically examines the Church’s responsibility in Rwanda’s tragic history and opens the dialogue to construct a new theology. Contributors to this volume offer moving personal testimonies of their journeys to reconciling the evil that has marred the Church’s image: bystanders’ indifference to the suffering, despite their claim as members of the Church. The first volume of its kind, Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda is a necessary step toward the Rwandan Catholic Church and humanity’s restoration of fundamental peace and lasting reconciliation. Catholic clergy, lay people, and human rights advocates will benefit from this examination of ecclesial moral failure and subsequent reconciliatory efforts.


The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide

The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide

Author: Sara E. Brown

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-22

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 100047190X

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The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide explores the many and sometimes complicated ways in which religion, faith, doctrine, and practice intersect in societies where mass atrocity and genocide occur. This volume is intended as an entry point to questions about mass atrocity and genocide that are asked by and of people of faith and is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, historical events, and heated debates in this subject area. The 39 contributions to the handbook, by a team of international contributors, span five continents and cover four millennia. Each explores the intersection of religion, faith, and mainly state-sponsored mass atrocity and genocide, and draws from a variety of disciplines. This volume is divided into six core sections: Genocide in Antiquity and Holy Wars The Genocide of Indigenous Peoples Religion and the State The Role of Religion during Genocide Post Genocide Considerations Memory Culture Within these sections central issues, historical events, debates, and problems are examined, including the Crusades; Jihad and ISIS, colonialism, the Holocaust, desecration of ritual objects, politics of religion, Shinto nationalism, attacks on Rohingya Muslims; the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, responses to genocide; gender-based atrocities, ritualcide in Cambodia, burial sites and mass graves, transitional justice, forgiveness, documenting genocide, survivor memory narratives, post-conflict healing and memorialization. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Genocide is essential reading for students and researchers with an interest in religion and genocide, religion and violence, and religion and politics. It will be of great interest to students of theology, philosophy, genocide studies, narrative studies, history, and international relations and those in related fields, such as cultural studies, area studies, sociology, and anthropology.


Religion and Violence in Western Traditions

Religion and Violence in Western Traditions

Author: André Gagné

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-16

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1000409066

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This book examines the connection between religion and violence in the Western traditions of the three Abrahamic faiths, from ancient to modern times. It addresses a gap in the scholarly debate on the nature of religious violence by bringing scholars that specialize in pre-modern religions and scriptural traditions into the same sphere of discussion as those specializing in contemporary manifestations of religious violence. Moving beyond the question of the “authenticity” of religious violence, this book brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines. Contributors explore the central role that religious texts have played in encouraging, as well as confronting, violence. The interdisciplinary conversation that takes place challenges assumptions that religious violence is a modern problem that can be fully understood without reference to religious scriptures, beliefs, or history. Each chapter focuses its analysis on a particular case study from a distinct historical period. Taken as a whole, these chapters attest to the persistent relationship between religion and violence that links the ancient and contemporary worlds. This is a dynamic collection of explorations into how religion and violence intersect. As such, it will be a key resource for any scholar of Religious Studies, Theology and Religion and Violence, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Studies.


The Heaven Test in Rwanda in 1994

The Heaven Test in Rwanda in 1994

Author: Germain Muhirwa

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2020-10-23

Total Pages: 970

ISBN-13: 1664208151

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“For where two or more people are gathered together in my name; there am I in the middle of them: Matthew 18:20”. The 1994 Tutsis extermination developed over time and revealed how evil human beings can be! Rwanda was said to be like a “full glass of water if added even a drop would overthrow!” The exiled Tutsis were denied to return back home. The internal Tutsis were totally marginalized and taken on hostage by the majority Hutus. “Lord Almighty God allowed the October 1st, 1990 big war by the exiled Tutsis to defeat Satan as Rwanda had become sinful: Romans 3: 10-18.” The extremists Hutus sacrificed innocent Hutus with lies about the 1990 big war, which made the internal Tutsis the target for extermination as the exiled Tutsis chose Kigali as a destination! Only one motive was enough for Hutus to start Bagosora’ Apocalypse against Tutsis! The special killers known as “Interahamwe” and “Impuzamugambi were very well prepared and ready for the green light. The unexpected Habyarimana airplane crash on April 6th, 1994 became that motive, in which scenario nobody had ever imagined as Habyarimana used to call himself: “Ikinani” or “the invincible” as he was protected by France. This caused Hutus to prematurely put into action their “long-term” dream of Tutsis extermination from Rwanda. Over one million Tutsis, along with some thousands of Hutus of good hearts, got slaughtered to death just in a matter of 100 days! The killings spread rapidly due to hatred Hutus media such as the Kangura newspaper and the RTLM radio in which the Hutus were called on a daily basis to exterminate all the Tutsis from Rwanda. In 1982, the Blessed Virgin Mary openly warned Rwandans about all of these during her apparition, but Rwandans chose not to listen! The Hutus killed any Tutsi they could find; it was the who killed most Tutsis marathon or what I call the Tutsis killings “full-time job” during those 100 days! Thanks for your interest in my book and I would like to welcome you to visit my charity website: *** La prolongation de mon livre ce fait sur le site: www.emuhirwa.org ***


Forgiveness Makes You Free

Forgiveness Makes You Free

Author: Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Published: 2019-03-08

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1594718725

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“‘Jesus, where are you?’ I prayed every night as I wept . . . I felt I had failed as a priest, for I had preached love and the people made genocide. . . .Then I heard God speak to me. Jesus wanted me to use these experiences to evangelize later. It was then that I knew my life would be spared. God would make a way.” During the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga tells the dramatic story of how he survived while losing more than eighty of his family members and 45,000 of his parishioners in the killings. In the aftermath, Fr. Ubald experienced a renewed sense of purpose as a minister of reconciliation and a healing evangelist in his homeland and around the world. In Forgiveness Makes You Free, he offers five spiritual principles that can help those traumatized by the past to experience healing and peace in Christ. In 1994 the world looked on in disbelief and horror as Rwanda erupted in violent bloodshed. All across the landlocked African country, militant Hutus rose up to exterminate the Tutsi population, including women and young children. One hundred days later, a million bodies littered fields, streets, and even churches. Now, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, a powerful testimony emerges of the power of God to bring peace and reconciliation into hearts full of fear and hate. In Forgiveness Makes You Free, Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga shares his own dramatic story of how he survived the genocide and its traumatic aftermath. He testifies about how God spared his life so that he might help others with deep physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds to experience peace and healing. In retelling the story of how he forgave the man who killed his family and cared for the man’s children while he was in prison, Fr. Ubald demonstrates how showing mercy can facilitate true forgiveness even in the most painful circumstances of our lives. Throughout the book, Fr. Ubald teaches about five spiritual keys that draw us to Christ, the only source of lasting peace: be thankful and have faith choose to forgive denounce evil decide to live for Jesus claim the blessing Each chapter combines Fr. Ubald’s story with reflection questions that guide readers along their own path of healing: from fear to faith, from shame to freedom, from isolation to reconciliation, from resentment to mercy, and from conflict to peace. The final chapter offers a guided meditation to help those who need to experience the power of God to release those held in bondage by fear and hate and to find the secret of peace. An appendix contains information about “The Mushaka Reconciliation Project,” a catechetical tool that has been used successfully by parishes in Rwanda, and could easily be adapted by parishes in the United States, to mediate reconciliation between individuals and groups who have become estranged by violence, trauma, and ethnic or cultural divisions.