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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:God in the public domain: life giver, protector or indifferent sleeper during the Rwandan tragedies?
Author:Gatwa, TharcisseISNI
Year:2014
Periodical:Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context (ISSN 0166-2740)
Volume:43
Issue:4
Pages:313-338
Language:English
Geographic term:Rwanda
Subjects:Christian theology
genocide
1994
External link:https://doi.org/10.1163/1572543X-12341335
Abstract:Every successful enterprise would lead Rwandans to pay tribute to God. At the end of every other failed try the Rwandan would say,'ahasigaye ni ah'Imana' - I have done what I could, the rest belongs to God. This God celebrated by the triumphant 'Christian kingdom' came under fire attacks during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, many of them being slaughtered in churches and public buildings. Had God, the life Giver and the protector, become a cynical destroyer, an executioner, or simply a sleeper who did not care for his creatures? The post 1994 genocide Rwandan religious era was imbued with another form of triumphalism, in which God was called, celebrated, and inaugurated as the One who showed the way to new charismatic movements to bring about a spiritual revolution in the country whilst traditional Christianity remained ambivalent towards the moral guidance they were expected to provide. Yet many survivors continue to tell of their deception about such a 'silent and cynical' God, or at the best they wonder if their fate was sealed with His consent and that of His heralds on earth. This paper takes the view that God was not absent. He did not thwart or mend human responsibility but kept on remaining close to the victims of the tragedies. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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