Drawing on his own experiences, including a brutal police interrogation, Miroslav Volf lectured on “Memory and Reconciliation” on April 29 at the Hesburgh Center Auditorium. The occasion was the annual John Howard Yoder Dialogies on Non-violence, Religion and Peace.”

The late Professor Yoder was a founding fellow of the Kroc Institute. Volf is Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe.

In his talk, Volf noted that traumatized people must not only remember their experiences, but integrate the memories into their life stories.

“Salvation, understood as personal healing, is accomplished not so much by remembering as it is by interpreting memories, inscribing them into a larger pattern of meaning. As I remember the humiliation and pain of my military police interrogation, I can tell myself that the suffering made me a better person…that it has drawn me closer to God or made me more empathetic to the suffering of others. Or I can come to believe that it has contributed in some small way to exposing the injustice of the regime that sought to control its citizens by repressive means.”

He also noted that memory can be destructive, as when the person who was tortured becomes a torturer. “What does it take to remember well?,” Volf asked. “How can we help memory to be a bridge between enemies instead of a deep and dark ravine that separates them?”

As is customary, the Yoder lecture was followed by lunch and a spirited discussion with audience members.

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