Running head: CHAPTER 16 ARTICLE REVIEW 1
COMS 560: Chapter 16 Article Review
Liberty University
CHAPTER 16 ARTICLE REVIEW 2
CH 16 Review: Brokenness, Forgiveness, Healing, and Peace in Ireland
Smyth (2001) wrote about the journey of peace among the Ireland people after the North
Ireland Troubles. He began with a story of a wife who lost her husband during this time and how
she showed forgiveness at a time when many others would have been unwilling to forgive. This
hope was passed down to her children, because in her daily life it was her desire to overcome
evil with good. Smyth (2001) identified four movements into the journey of self-discovery and
change: becoming aware of the brokenness and alienation, letting go to forgiveness, life after
violence, and looking to the future. In step one, the author describes how we should scrutinize
our own righteousness to see how religion and political realms have alienated people. Step two
involves a willingness to embrace the pain in order to make room for hope. Step three explains
the steps taken by the community and church as a support in the reconciliation process. In step 4,
the Biblical story of the prodigal son is used to correlate the peace process in Ireland by
encouraging us to break free of self-perpetrating games of division.
Author’s Theories and Conclusions
The author believes that we are a divided people culturally, politically, and in religious
understanding and that many other divisions of people are overlooked. Society and economic
status have excluded people. Smyth (2001) believes that these exclusions have a bearing on our
political and religious experiences and the alienation that stems from them. He believes that self-
examination is necessary when evaluating our own religious and political identity. He concludes
that Christians should scrutinize the ideologies that set us apart from other religions and engage
in an open-minded dialogue with one another to be able to have a better world view.
CHAPTER 16 ARTICLE REVIEW 3
Personal Assessment
I agree with the author that we are indeed a divided people in many aspects. I find value
in diversity in many areas of my life, both personally and professionally. To be able to have a
peaceful dialogue with those that are different than oneself, will allow a person to become more
aware of others and their needs. This opens the door to understanding the best way to be used by
God to help make a difference in their life. I like how Smyth (2001) encourages us to self-
examine our life, ideologies, and motives. I think this is necessary in the Christian life and we
should participate in self-evaluation often. Although open- mindedness is encouraged in this
chapter, I do think it is something Christians today should be careful with. Unfortantely, in
today’s world, open-mindedness can mean the acceptance of all people, their behavior, and idea
without any regard to the truth of God’s Word. Christians should stand steadfast in their beliefs,
while trying to gain a better understanding of others. Ephesians 4:14 says “Then we will no
longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of
teaching…” (NIV). The author mentioned that this openness will cause “mutual sculpting of
each other’s identities.” I can see his perspective and I may be taking this too literal, but I think
focusing on God and his ideologies is what we should allow to sculpt us. That is not to sound
self-righteous, but I think we should be careful by what we allow to sculpt and change us. If a
person is a Christian, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, when we decide to follow Him.
Relationship to Conflict Management
This relates to conflict management on a global level. I cannot even begin to imagine the
struggle and path to forgiveness that Irelanders endured during this time. Smyth (2001) laid out a
thought-provoking path to hope and reconciliation. If politically, we managed conflict in this
Biblical guided way, I would be optimistic that we could gain some common ground and see
CHAPTER 16 ARTICLE REVIEW 4
peace as an option for the future. Just as in any conflict, both globally and on a small scale, we
must be willing to communicate. We must be willing to listen to the ideas and perspectives of
others and perform self-examination to see how we can be used to fulfill God’s plan of peace.
