Reevaluating religious understandings of reconciliation: a study in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT Religious discourse on reconciliation significantly influenced many past and present peacebuilding efforts. However, the concept of reconciliation is also often criticized on two main counts: 1) for promoting unrealistic visions of harmony among former enemies, and 2) for pressuring victims to grant forgiveness and leave the past behind. In this paper, I suggest a re-evaluation of these claims in light of theoretical sources and interviews with religious leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Theological understandings of reconciliation are inherently pluralistic. Religious leaders are inspired by prospects of reconciled humanity at the end of time, but they are also wary of too hasty reconciliation-projects, especially when reconciliation might harm other values, such as truth and justice. Proper understanding of religious traditions is thus essential for honest and realistic collaboration on peacebuilding projects between secular and religious actors.