Avowing Truth, Embodying Justice
A Theological Analysis of Truth-Telling and Transitional Justice in South Africa
Ryno Louis van der Riet
This book presents a theological inquiry into telling the truth for justice. An analysis is made of the hermeneutical and ethical challenges of truth-telling in the pursuit of justice within the context of transitional justice in South Africa. These challenges are explored as enacted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in Reformed public theologies in South Africa, in conversation with the work of Michel Foucault and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The practice of confession is shown to be a quintessential form of avowing truth and embodying justice, with implications for public theology engaging issues of Christian anthropology.
