Jeremy Bergen
Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theological Studies
United by a common focus on church apologies for historical wrongs and related themes, eight scholars came together at Jeremy Bergen’s invitation to write a book. “I am convinced that as churches wrestle their complicity in causing harm, and figure out what repair and reconciliation looks like, they need a wide range of perspectives,” said Jeremy. “Those in this project embody diversity in terms of ethnic/racial experience, gender and sexual orientation, church affiliation, and areas of scholarly expertise.”
“Public apologies provide one lens for examining particular histories of complicity, the nature of the church, collective responsibility for past wrongs, forgiveness, the agency of victims/survivors, reparations, and trauma,” explained Jeremy. The group’s key question is “What do actual practices of apology by churches for past and present wrongs reveal about how churches understand their own complicities and responsibilities, and how they ought to go about the work of repentance, repair, and reconciliation?”
After several years of online meetings to discuss approaches, topics, and common threads, the team looks forward to a symposium at Grebel next year where they will present drafts of their chapters to each other and give feedback. Ultimately the consortium will produce an edited book “in service of churches seeking to be more just.”
