CyberGroup Discussion - Spiritual Innovators

	Before 1990, Archbishop Tutu's vigorous advocacy of social justice made him a figure of controversy. Today he is seen more as an elder statesman with a major role to play in reconciliation, and as a leading moral voice.
	Each of the ClickToSee websites below opens in a new window. When done, close new window to return to this page.
	The Nobel Record of Desmond Tutu's 1984 Peace Prize. This includes a marvellous 20 minute video of his acceptance speech. You may see and hear it by clicking his picture above, or by clicking "Nobel Symposia" and then "Closing Speech" near his picture at the Nobel site. If you click the picture, an empty screen appears while the video loads. Close when done. 20 minutes. It's absolutely marvellous and perfectly addresses the issues of this course about the human condition today.
	The Amazon.com link to Tutu's book Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu. Worth a visit for the opinions and review, and excerpts . "... this book speaks volumes about the ways in which conflicting human identities can be approached and addressed in theory and practice. In this age of mounting emphasis on issues of diversity and multiculturalism, a more relevant and timely work is unthinkable.".
	A biography from Encyclopedia of a World Biography
	Desmond Tutu's Golden Rule. An Article by Michael Valpy from the Globe and Mail that describes how the Zulu concept of Ubuntu gave Tutu the concept underlying his Peace and Reconciliation process.

Quotations

The Connectivity of Justice: Desmond Tutu spoke at the Univ of Toronto on Feb 15. He spoke of his Truth and Reconciliation Commission's approach of "restorative justice": "We South Africans believe in Ubuntu -- the essence of being human, that we are caught up in a delicate network of interdependence. We say 'A person is a person through other persons.'"

"I have gifts that you do not have, so, consequently, I am unique. You have gifts that I have, so you are unique. God has made us so that we will need each other. We are made for a delicate network of interdependence."

"We are bound up in a delicate network of interdependence because, as we say in our African idiom, a person is a person through other persons. To dehumanize another inexorably means that one is dehumanized as well... Thus to forgive is indeed the best form of self-interest since anger, resentment, and revenge are corrosive of that summum bonnum, that greatest good, communal harmony that enhances the humanity and personhood of all in the community." ... No Future without Forgiveness

"When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land."

"Just as those who have been capable of the most horrendous atrocities turn out to be ordinary human beings like you and me, so too those who have demonstrated noteworthy instances of the capacity to forgive could easily be the man or woman living down the street. Wonderfully, forgiveness and reconciliation are possible anywhere and everywhere and have indeed been taking place, often unsung, unremarked."

"Children are a wonderful gift . . . They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are. "

Class Notes by: Sally Hodges
Questions: **

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