Reconciliation Theory: Examining the Concept of Reconciliation in Christianity

This paper examines the concept of reconciliation in regards to Christianity, the relation of reconciliation with God, and the demonstration of the result of the god’s decision of sacrificing his son to bring peace and harmony among people.

Running head: RECONCILIATION THEORY
Reconciliation Theory
NAME OF THE STUDENT:
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY:
AUTHOR NOTE:

1RECONCILIATION THEORY
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................2
1.1 Background of the study..................................................................................................2
1.2 Statement of the problem:................................................................................................2
1.3 Rationale of the research:.................................................................................................3
1.4 Research aims and objectives:.........................................................................................3
1.5 Research questions:..........................................................................................................4
Chapter 2 Literature Review:..........................................................................................................4
2.1 Reconciliation..................................................................................................................4
2.2 Demonstration of God’s love through sacrifice...............................................................5
2.3 Reconciliation through Demonstration God love through sacrifice................................5
2.4 Presence of Jesus in the contemporary era.......................................................................6
Chapter 3 Methodology...................................................................................................................7
3.1 Research philosophy........................................................................................................7
3.2 Data collection method....................................................................................................7
3.3 Data analysis method.......................................................................................................7
3.4 Sampling method.............................................................................................................8
3.5 Ethical issues....................................................................................................................8
3.6 Time horizon....................................................................................................................9
Chapter 4 Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................11

2RECONCILIATION THEORY
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
The religion has been an essential part of society; it has its way of nourishing values,
behaviour and norms. There have been numerous studies previously done on theology
revolving around different lessons and teachings of the bible. One such research is ‘From “a
Theology of Genocide” to a “Theology of Reconciliation”’1. The present study has been done
majorly to find out the meaning of reconciliation in theology. Reconciliation is a necessary
part of the Christian religion that describes the relationship between god and human2. This
paper is aimed at the concept of reconciliation in regards to Christianity. The relation of
reconciliation with God has been discussed. The paper also examines the demonstration of
the result of the god’s decision of sacrificing his son to bring peace and harmony among
people.
1.2 Statement of the problem:
In recent times, people have become accustomed to bible’s words to an extent where
it has started to lose its value. The Bible teaches people about love, peace, friendship, values
and relationships with the world. However, the words have been used many times and in
recent times resulted in habituated human beings of the impacts of the words. The problem is
people’s behaviour today, knowing the sacrifice made by God by sending his son so the
relationships could be mended and reconciled. Therefore, to evaluate the result of the god’s
decision this paper has been constructed.
1
Schliesser, Christine. "From “a Theology of Genocide” to a “Theology of Reconciliation”? On the Role
of Christian Churches in the Nexus of Religion and Genocide in Rwanda." Religions 9.2 (2018): 34.
2Calvin, John, and Anthony Uyl. Institutes of the Christian religion. Lulu. com, 2016.

3RECONCILIATION THEORY
1.3 Rationale of the research:
In this contemporary era, the world today is different than how it was in the times of
Jesus. However, what remains the same is the fact that the people were and are living in
society along with other people. Being a social animal humans need to depend on each other.
It is the relation between people that made god decide on sending Jesus on earth. God
sacrificed his son to bring peace and unity among people. However, the question that arises
is, if the demonstration of God's love for his son made any change in the people’s
relationships and if it still has the existence. The reason for conducting this research is to find
out the impact of the sacrifice of Jesus existing on people in the contemporary era.
1.4 Research aims and objectives:
The aim of the study is to demonstrate the end product of God love, by the act of
giving his Son to come on earth and die for humanity. The action of letting his son die was
done by God to bring the human beings close to him without any fear. The process has
established harmony between God and humanity.
The objectives of the study are:
•To discuss and emphasise the concept of Reconciliation.
•To examine the necessity and importance of the reconciliation in the Christian life.
•To identify the way reconciliation can be brought to the dying world.
•To find out the consequences one will experience without reconciliation
•To investigate the reason for God's sacrifice for humanity by sending his only son
•To find out the Church duty with regards to reconciliation.

4RECONCILIATION THEORY
1.5 Research questions:
RQ1. What is reconciliation?
RQ2.Why is reconciliation necessary in our Christian life?
RQ3. How can we bring reconciliation to the dying world?
RQ4. What consequences will a person experience without reconciliation?
RQ5. Why did God sacrifice for humanity by sending his only son?
RQ6. What is the Church duty with regards to reconciliation?
Chapter 2 Literature Review:
2.1 Reconciliation
The meaning of the term Reconciliation is related to the relationship. The name
defines as restoration of friendly relations and the action of making a person believe to be
compatible with another3. However, the in-depth root of reconciliation is from the word
conciliation which means the act of making a person stop becoming angry4. It means a
change of a bitter relation between two people who have been separated or become opposed
to each other. Once the relationship is restored, there is peace. There are things that one can
do without the expectation of any return and only for the sake of love. People being in a
relationship of anger or enemies gains peace once it is reconciled. The process of getting back
in a broken relation or the change in the relationship with forgiveness and love is
reconciliation.
3
Gordon, Bruce. John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Biography. Princeton University
Press, 2016.
4Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. Christ and reconciliation: A constructive Christian theology for the
pluralistic world. Vol. 1. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013.

5RECONCILIATION THEORY
2.2 Demonstration of God’s love through sacrifice
Often the death of Jesus is questioned; it is asked how a father could let his son die
who did not commit any sin. People find it challenging to understand Christianity in
reconciling love and death. Also, some people do not believe in god, find the concept of a
loving god disapproving, as being a father god let his son die on earth5. God loves his son,
Jesus and therefore, this concept has been epitomised as pure love. Although it has been
painful to watch his son suffer and go through the pain, he let his son die the horrific death.
This decision of sending Jesus on earth was indeed a heart-breaking decision of Jesus since
he made the decision fully aware of what was going to happen on earth. The decision was not
imposed on Jesus, Jesus made a conscious decision to obey God and come on earth. The
question is why a father willingly sends Jesus, his only son to die? Like Jesus, God loves
each person immensely therefore he wanted each person to spend forever in his presence.
Human beings are not good enough to live in the existence of God as they perform sinful
acts. The reason for having an improper relationship with God is due to human beings
making poor choices with selfish nature. Therefore, God sent his only son on earth to teach
selfless love and care for each other. He let his son pay the price for human mistakes so that
he could be with every person. At the end of all the sufferings and death, God raised his son
from death proving it as an act of love.
2.3 Reconciliation through Demonstration God love through sacrifice
In the Christian theology, reconciliation is a component of salvation. The
reconciliation refers to the result of atonement. It is the end of isolation that is occurred due to
the sin between God and humanity. According to John Calvin, reconciliation is the peace
between God and humanity that is caused by the propitiation of God's wrath and atonement
of religious sin. Every person should be reconciled to god for the broken relationship they
share with Him. Every person’s relationship with God is broken according to bible, as the
5
Wright, Nicholas Thomas. Who was Jesus?. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014.

6RECONCILIATION THEORY
bible says about the relationship between sinners and god therefore it has no peace and
fellowship. Every person should be reconciled to god because Christ died to destroy the
barrier of sin6. Every person should be reconciled to god because the relationship with god is
waiting to be reconciled. However, god is holy, and sinners are unholy. According to the
bible, all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sinners have broken God's
moral law in their thought, deed and word. In this was humans had proved themselves as
God's enemies. Therefore, god and man need the reconciliation between each other to bring
peace and heavenly friendship. Also, the critical part is when humans were God's enemies,
human have reconciled to god through the death of his son.
2.4 Presence of Jesus in the contemporary era
The demonstration of God's love has been shown by Jesus. Jesus paid for the sins of
everyone so he could stay with everyone. There have been changes all along the time which
has now been seen. The church is facing problem in many ways which makes the purpose of
God's sacrifice diminish7. There have researches where the reconciliation done by God is
studied and written by scholars. However, there has been a shift in the paradigm where we
can see the reconciliation is now not been accepted. The church faces challenges in biblical
literacy and there are only handful people reading the bible. People visit church less and
present themselves less times for the need of church. Therefore, it is bringing a change where
the reconciliation is done by God is merely a story in the bible and not practised in real life.
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research philosophy
The belief about the method in which data about a phenomenon should be collected,
analysed and utilised is research philosophy in the research. The term epistemology consists
6
Cochrane, Charles Norris. Christianity and classical culture. Ravenio Books, 2015.
7Webb, Eugene. "René Girard and the symbolism of religious sacrifice." René Girard and Creative
Reconciliation (2014): 165.

7RECONCILIATION THEORY
of multiple philosophies of research approach. The process of converting the believed ideas
into things that are known is the primary purpose of science. There are two major research
philosophies, the positivism and interpretivism. In this research, both interpretivism and
positivism have been used.
3.2 Data collection method
This present study will consist of both primary data and secondary data. Primary data
are the original information collected first hand. These are the original data that are collected
for the first time. The information that has been gathered previously is considered. These data
are consists of data accumulated from secondary sources. Since the study will make use of
content analysis which is a secondary source of data and a case study method which is a
primary source of data, it will use the primary and secondary data respectively.
3.3 Data analysis method
To carry out this present study, the researcher will use the qualitative method of data
collection. Qualitative data are the information regarding qualities, information that cannot
be measured. Primarily it is exploratory research used to gain understanding. It gives insights
into a problem and develops ideas8. There are many methods that fall under the category of
the qualitative method of research, however, in this particular research, the content analysis
and case study method will be used.
3.4 Sampling method
Sampling is a method of choosing a selective group from the population. Sampling is
of two types, firstly, probability sampling and secondly non-probability sampling. A
sampling process where every individual has the equal chance of getting selected is known as
the probability sampling. In non-probability sampling, on the basis of specific criteria that are
convenient as per the researcher and the research topic the samples are selected. This study
8
Bryman, Alan. Social research methods. Oxford university press, 2016.

8RECONCILIATION THEORY
would use non-probability sampling. The purposive and convenience sampling method would
be adapted for this research with a sample size of 50 people belonging from Christianity
religion people.
3.5 Ethical issues
While conducting the investigation, this research process will follow strict ethical
rules. Following simple rules of good principle are the ethics of research9. The first and the
most important is maintaining the confidentiality of the respondents. While conducting the
study, the privacy of the respondents will be given priority. The researcher will preserve the
discipline of gaining the consent of the respondents before proceeding to any aspect that is
required. There will be careful attention, so no person is harmed. There will be no participant
involved without the consent, and voluntary participation would be encouraged. The
researcher will keep its responsibility toward the environment and nature also the researcher
will think about the right and wrong in its best possible way accordingly.
9
Babbie, Earl R. The basics of social research. Cengage Learning, 2013.

9RECONCILIATION THEORY
3.6 Time horizon
Research
Activities
0-2 Weeks 3-6 Weeks 7-8 Weeks 9-10 Weeks 14th Week
Selection Of
Research Topic 
Review Of
Literature 
Data
Collection 
Data Analysis 
Final Research
Thesis 
Chapter 4 Conclusion
The concept of reconciliation is about mending a broken relation and earn the peace
back. There is no question about the love God has for his son Jesus. However, it is also true
that God loved each one equally like he loves his son Jesus. The reason for conducting this
research is to find out the demonstration of god’s love through the death of Jesus is justifiable
or not. Through the research, the researcher will find out the concept of reconciliation and its
importance in the contemporary era. The research will find out importance of reconciliation
in the Christianity and its role in the religion. The ways one can bring change in the world
that is dying through reconciliation is ought to be the result at the end of the research. If
reconciliation holds importance, what can be the consequences for a person who is not

10RECONCILIATION THEORY
experiencing reconciliation? Also, amidst all the changes, ways the social institution church
is playing its roles and the challenges it faces.

11RECONCILIATION THEORY
Bibliography
Babbie, Earl R. The basics of social research. Cengage Learning, 2013.
Bryman, Alan. Social research methods. Oxford university press, 2016.
Calvin, John, and Anthony Uyl. Institutes of the Christian religion. Lulu. com, 2016.
Cochrane, Charles Norris. Christianity and classical culture. Ravenio Books, 2015.
Gordon, Bruce. John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Biography. Princeton
University Press, 2016.
Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. Christ and reconciliation: A constructive Christian theology for the
pluralistic world. Vol. 1. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013.
Neuman, W. Lawrence. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Pearson education, 2013.
Punch, Keith F. Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches.
sage, 2013.
Schliesser, Christine. "From “a Theology of Genocide” to a “Theology of Reconciliation”?
On the Role of Christian Churches in the Nexus of Religion and Genocide in
Rwanda." Religions 9.2 (2018): 34.
Webb, Eugene. "René Girard and the symbolism of religious sacrifice." René Girard and
Creative Reconciliation (2014): 165.
Wright, Nicholas Thomas. Who was Jesus?. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014.