{"id":42158,"date":"2025-09-19T01:17:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=42158"},"modified":"2025-09-19T01:17:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:17:44","slug":"reconciliation-is-still-a-wicked-problem-to-work-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/reconciliation-is-still-a-wicked-problem-to-work-at\/","title":{"rendered":"Reconciliation is still a wicked problem to work at"},"content":{"rendered":"

In <\/span>Exploring Wicked Problems, <\/span>Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth introduced us to the predicament of wicked problems. They state, \u2018they are confusing, dynamic, ill-structured, and ambiguous; they are complex, many-faceted, intricate, and bewildering. They have no final solutions, only temporary arrangements. Yet most of the important problems we face in our lives are wicked rather than tame.\u2019 [1] The work of reconciliation is certainly one such problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alec Russell\u2019s <\/span>After Mandela<\/span> is an expos\u00e9 on the impossible struggle in the aftermath of Apartheid, hindered by internal political strife, the ping-pong match between idealism and reality, and the pull towards populism and cronyism. In his introduction, Russell asserts what has developed as a result is that \u201cthe \u2018rainbow nation\u2019 has long since lost it sparkle\u2026 Beyond the small multiracial elite, South Africa is a country of polite polarization.\u201d [2] Sociologically, the wide gaps between rich and poor as well as educated and uneducated are still replete with tension. In my time in South Africa ahead of our advance, I learned of the ongoing struggle which looks to me like a \u2018pendulum swing\u2019, where in the face of affirmative action and black advancement, white South Africans are left feeling insecure. The need for reconciliation is ongoing, complex and evolving. <\/span><\/p>\n

Theologically, complexity also rears its head. In <\/span>Reconciliation as a Controversial Symbol: An Analysis of a Theological Discourse in South Africa<\/span>, Demaine Solomons explores the contested concept of reconciliation in the post-Apartheid era, with how reconciliation was interpreted moralistically, was used to neutralize a prophetic critique, and demanded forgiveness without addressing systemic injustice, which was never comprehensively defined so as to garner unity [3]. <\/span><\/p>\n

While reconciliation is ongoing in the post-Apartheid era, the Church can and ought to keep the challenge of Hebrews 10:23 before us: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”<\/span><\/p>\n

________________<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth, <\/span>Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are and Why They Are Important<\/span>, (IN: Archway Publishing, 2020), 24.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Alec Russell, <\/span>After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa<\/span>, (London: Windmill Books, 2010), xx.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Demaine J. Solomons, <\/span>Reconciliation as a Controversial Symbol: An Analysis of a Theological Discourse in South Africa<\/span>, (Langham Publishing, 2024, Kindle edition).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Exploring Wicked Problems, Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth introduced us to the predicament of wicked problems. They state, \u2018they are confusing, dynamic, ill-structured, and ambiguous; they are complex, many-faceted, intricate, and bewildering. They have no final solutions, only temporary arrangements. Yet most of the important problems we face in our lives are wicked rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2969,3477],"class_list":["post-42158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp3","tag-russell","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158\/revisions\/42159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}