Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference - Hardcover

Desmond M. Tutu; Mpho A. Tutu

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061706590 ISBN 13: 9780061706592

Publisher: HarperOne/HarperCollins Publishers, 2010

Synopsis

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has witnessed some of the world's darkest moments, for decades fighting the racist government policy of aprtheid and since then being an ambassador of peace amidst political, diplomatic, and natural disasters. Yet people continue to find him one of the most joyful and hopeful people they have encountered. In Made for Goodness, Tutu shares his source of strength and optimism. Written with his daughter, Mpho, who is also an ordained Anglican minister, Tutu argues that God has made us for goodness, and when we simply start walking in the direction of this calling, God is there to meet us, encourage us, embrace us. God has made the world as a grand theater for us to work out this call to goodness; it is up to us to live up to this calling, but God is there to help us every step of the way. So tackling our worst problems takes on new meaning and is bostered with hope and the expectation that that is exactly where God will show up. Father and daughter offer an inspiring message of hope that will transform readers into activists for change and blessing.

About this title

About the Authors

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. In 1986 he was elected archbishop of Cape Town, the highest position in the Anglican Church in South Africa. In 1994, after the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela, Tutu was appointed as chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid-era crimes. His policy of forgiveness and reconciliation has become an international example of conflict resolution and a trusted method of postconflict reconstruction. He is currently the chair of The Elders, where he gives vocal defense of human rights and campaigns for the oppressed.

The Reverend Mpho A. Tutu is currently the executive director of The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.

From the Back Cover

We know all too well the cruelties, hurts, and hatreds that poison life on our planet. But my daughter and I have come together to write this book because we know that the catalogue of injuries that we can and do inflict on one another is not the whole story of humanity, not by a long measure. We are indeed made for something more. We are made for goodness.
—from Made for Goodness

Over the years the same questions get asked of Desmond Tutu, the archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and veteran of the moral movement that ended apartheid in South Africa: "How can you be so hopeful after witnessing so much evil?" "Why are you so sure goodness will triumph in the end?" This book is his answer.

Now, more than any other time in history, our world needs this message: that we are made for goodness and it is up to us to live up to our destiny.

We recognize Archbishop Tutu from the headlines as an inspirational figure who has witnessed some of the world's most sinister moments and chosen to be an ambassador of reconciliation amid political, diplomatic, and natural disasters. Now, we get a glimpse into his personal spirituality—and a better understanding of the man behind a lifetime of good works. In this intimate and personal sharing of his heart, written with his daughter, Episcopal priest Mpho Tutu, Tutu engages his reader with touching stories from his own life, as well as grisly memories from his work in the darkest corners of the world. There, amid the darkness, he calls us to hope, to joy, and to claim the goodness that we were made for. Tutu invites us to take on the disciplines of goodness, the practices that are key to finding fulfillment, meaning, and happiness for our lives.

Reviews

Nobel Peace Prize–winner Desmond Tutu, who lived through South African apartheid and helped to clean up its criminal consequences by chairing the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, could write a grocery list and people would get something out of it. With his daughter Mpho, an Episcopal priest in Washington, D.C., the retired Anglican archbishop writes a relatively personal book about his fundamental, faith-based beliefs about human nature: people are basically good because they are made in God's image. He maintains this in the face of the horrific events he has witnessed in his country and elsewhere, and he bases his belief in part on simple experiences throughout his life that have involved family and, significantly, his failures. Tutu's humility is striking; he is comfortable in his own skin despite being raised in a culture that officially deemed his skin color second-class. This book is not nearly as dramatic or compelling as No Future Without Forgiveness, based on his work with the Reconciliation Commission; on the other hand, it is heartening to know, or remember, that faith can be learned, reinforced, and expressed as much around the dinner table as in the public square.
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As head of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Tutu reached a world audience in his call for forgiveness for apartheid perpetrators who confessed to horrific evil and said they were sorry. Writing here with his daughter, also a minister, he insists that, with all the horror he has heard about and witnessed, We are fundamentally good. Racism has to be learned. It is not an instinct. Sin is real. But goodness is normative. Even readers not focused on the religious debate will be drawn to this account for the insider’s view of the history and the personal struggle with forgiveness. Inspired by heroes of many faiths, including Father Trevor Huddleston; Afrikaaans cleric Beyers Naude; the kids in the 1976 Soweto riots; the parents of murdered Amy Biehl; and, of course, by Mandela, Gandhi, King, and Mother Teresa, Tutu is also haunted by his own failure to forgive his father before he died. The personal perspective will spark discussion about the bigger issues of morality, politics, and religion. If God is all-powerful, why do we suffer? --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperOne/HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061706590
• ISBN 13: 9780061706592
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Douglas C. Abrams