News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: Oct. 12, 1999
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director, 404-727-0643, or ejustic@emory.edu

Tutu's New Book Shares His Belief in the Triumph of Forgiveness

Archbishop Desmond Tutu never fails to elicit smiles wherever he is on campus. He told a small gathering late last week that "in South Africa during apartheid there were posters that said, 'Free Mandela.' But another said, 'Tutu half price." That drew a laugh from the faculty and staff at Candler School of Theology who gathered for a surprise cake-and-punch celebration in honor of the Archbishop's 68th birthday. Tutu, who is the William R. Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Theology, has plunged into a busy schedule this fall, teaching a seminar course at Candler on "Transfiguration, Reconciliation and Forgiveness" that echoes the title of his newly published book, "No Future Without Forgiveness." In it, Tutu shares lessons of forgiveness from his own life, from the people of South Africa, and from the country's attempt to deal effectively with its past.

The book also shares new information about the inner dynamics of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Tutu, from the crises that threatened it from within to the many difficult issues surrounding the TRC's process and outcome. Typical of the Nobel Laureate was his response when asked what he wants readers to get out of his book: "I want readers to be filled with hope. I want them to feel that despite all the horrendous things that have happened, and despite all the evidence of our inhumanity to one another, goodness and love and compassion and beauty and truth can triumph over their ghastly counterparts."

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