The Black Reconciliation: Finding Restoration through Healing Circles in a Racialized World

This thesis will examine the ways in which African American communities can engage in a healing process that will produce personal, relational, communal, societal and global restoration. This project will specifically identify and examine the trauma and brokenness that African Americans experience in a racialized society. To accomplish this, a theological foundation will be established that will help to develop strategies, tools, and skills that can support the process of healing and restoration. In addition, this thesis will explain how current models of reconciliation are not adequate to address the deeply rooted complexities that people of color face in America. To achieve this the following question will be explored in this thesis: Will Christian healing circles begin the restoration process for African American individuals and families who have experienced the trauma of living in a racialized society and foster wholeness and renewal in their relationship with others? This thesis is based on the belief that the responsibility of healing is the African American community’s obligation in the journey of reconciliation, in order to reach its full God given potential as agents of transformation, restoration and social justice