Redeeming the Past: My Journey From Freedom Fighter to Healer - Hardcover

Michael Lapsley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1570759928 ISBN 13: 9781570759925

Publisher: Orbis Books, 2012

Synopsis

In 1990, Fr. Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest and monastic from New Zealand, exiled to Zimbabwe because of his anti-apartheid work in South Africa, opened a package and was immediately struck by the blast of an explosion. The bomb suspected to be the work of the apartheid-era South African secret police blasted away both his hands and one of his eyes. His memoir tells the story of this horrendous event, backing up to recount the journey that led him there particularly his rising awareness of the radical social implications of the gospel and his identification with the liberation struggle and then the subsequent journey of the last two decades. Returning to South Africa, Lapsley saw a whole nation damaged by the apartheid era. So he discovered his new vocation to become a wounded healer, drawing on his own experience to promote the healing of other victims of violence and trauma. As he writes, My visible brokenness creates a bond with others whose brokenness is often less visible but just as real. The truth is that pain unites human beings. In my work as a healer, many people say they can trust me because I know pain. In the end, though, what matters most is whether we are able to transform pain into a life-giving force.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Lapsley was born in New Zealand and ordained a priest in Australia after joining the Society of the Sacred Mission. The society sent him to South Africa as a missionary in 1973. There he became chaplain to Anglican university students and became active in the anti-apartheid movement, ultimately joining the African National Congress. Exiled to Zimbabwe, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Later, he returned to South Africa and participated in the transition to the post-apartheid era. In 1998 he founded the Institute for Healing of Memories, a project that has taken him around the world to work with victims--as well as perpetrators--of violence and trauma. Stephen Karakashian is an American psychotherapist who has spent a number of years working with Fr. Michael and the Institute in South Africa. He lives in Portland, OR.

Edition details

• Publisher: Orbis Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1570759928
• ISBN 13: 9781570759925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256