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Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda
We learn who we are as we walk together in the way of Jesus. So I want to invite you on a pilgrimage. Rwanda is often held up as a model of evangelization in Africa. Yet in 1994, beginning on the Thursday of Easter week, Christians killed other Christians, often in the same churches where they had worshiped together. The most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. With a mother who was a Hutu and a father who was a Tutsi, author Emmanuel Katongole is uniquely qualified to point out that the tragedy in Rwanda is also a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Rwanda brings us to a cry of lament on our knees where together we learn that we must interrupt these patterns of brokenness But Rwanda also brings us to a place of hope. Indeed, the only hope for our world after Rwanda’s genocide is a new kind of Christian identity for the global body of Christ—a people on pilgrimage together, a mixed group, bearing witness to a new identity made possible by the Gospel.
177 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 8, 2009
29 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
Emmanuel M. Katongole
12 books18 followersEmmanuel Katongole earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain and a diploma in theology and religious studies from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
He is an expert in the study of Africa, the theology of reconciliation and lament, and Catholicism in the global South.
He is an expert in the study of Africa, the theology of reconciliation and lament, and Catholicism in the global South.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
February 8, 2022
Having read "Left To Tell"and other books by Immaculee Ilibagiza I was pleased to find a praiseworthy attempt by a Ruandan born Roman Catholic priest to examine the causes of the genocide she had lived through where,for a time,tribalism ran "deeper than the waters of baptism"and-as in many other places in the world-many Ruandan Christians were caught in a divided sense of loyalty.The author,Fr Emmanuel Katongole,deftly 'unties' the knots in our understanding that can tolerate division and violence and advocates,with the help of scripture,a very different approach.
February 21, 2021
Katongole's unsparing treatment of the Rwandan genocide as a mirror held up to Western Christianity is not easy. He doesn't shy away from the brutality of nearly 1 million people killed, but what is perhaps even more unsettling is the way he illuminates the role and responsibility of Western Christianity in originating and perpetuating the racial and other stereotypes that pitted Tutsi against Hutu in Rwanda (before Christian missionaries came to the country, the two "races" were not even a reality, they were created out of economic and political considerations), eventually culminating in the genocide. Nor does he spare the West and the church in castigating it for its utter abandonment of the murdered during the actual genocide. His stories about priests turning over refugees to be slaughtered, in one case actually encouraging death squads to go away and get bulldozers to destroy a church and kill some 3000 people inside, are so hard to stomach, and inflame a passionate anger against the Western apathy, typified by the UN's failure to label the killings genocide because that course of action required certain legal and political obligations. Instead, the US and other countries sent convoys to evacuate expats while men, women, and children were hacked to pieces around them.
There is hope amid the carnage. In little vignettes about priests or ordinary citizens who broke down racial barriers, sheltered refugees, died because of their refusal to turn them over, or used whatever they had at their disposal to interrupt the atrocity, Katongole shows glimpses of a truly Christian society where the titles and boundaries of society don't matter. For him, the only way forward for the Western church is to radically re-envision the world, and one another, and work to bring to pass justice in the world. To do so, we have to abandon the harmful ideas and ideologies that permeate our cultural, social, and political contexts, and transcend them to a place of solidarity with all of humanity.
There is hope amid the carnage. In little vignettes about priests or ordinary citizens who broke down racial barriers, sheltered refugees, died because of their refusal to turn them over, or used whatever they had at their disposal to interrupt the atrocity, Katongole shows glimpses of a truly Christian society where the titles and boundaries of society don't matter. For him, the only way forward for the Western church is to radically re-envision the world, and one another, and work to bring to pass justice in the world. To do so, we have to abandon the harmful ideas and ideologies that permeate our cultural, social, and political contexts, and transcend them to a place of solidarity with all of humanity.
September 5, 2024
Captivating and convicting
This may be the most captivating book I’ve read this year. It was sitting in my library for some time before I eventually cracked it open and once I did I could not put it down. As the author suggests, the deadly tribalism that divided Rwanda during the genocide speaks deeply to the church today. No doubt, Father Katongole’s views on colonialism will divide opinion, but there are great lessons to learn here. Highly recommended.
This may be the most captivating book I’ve read this year. It was sitting in my library for some time before I eventually cracked it open and once I did I could not put it down. As the author suggests, the deadly tribalism that divided Rwanda during the genocide speaks deeply to the church today. No doubt, Father Katongole’s views on colonialism will divide opinion, but there are great lessons to learn here. Highly recommended.
August 19, 2017
This is not an easy book. I was on the verge of tears as I read it.
Katongole examines the genocide in Rwanda in a way that calls to account Western Christians, our attitudes toward the African continent, and the way we do missions, which often means spreading Western values and assumptions rather than the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which should transform all our lives.
This book, with its discussion of tribalism in the United States, became sort of a lens through which to view the events in Charlottesville, the need to identify with right or left, to defend hatred or at least rationalize the various factions.
As Christians, as followers of Christ, we should be different. Katongole says, "We are called to be strange in the same way that the early Christian communities were strange to the world around them. The community in Antioch brought together Jews and Samaritans, Greeks and Romans, slaves and free, men and women in a way that was so confusing that people around them didn't know what to call them. So they called them Christians."
If only Christians were seen this way today, as people who loved and accepted those who were different, those who were oppressed or rejected by the rest of society.
This is a challenging read and yet Katongole declares hope that as we begin to question the assumptions through which we view the world, the Church that Jesus died to establish would again embody a community of love.
Katongole examines the genocide in Rwanda in a way that calls to account Western Christians, our attitudes toward the African continent, and the way we do missions, which often means spreading Western values and assumptions rather than the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which should transform all our lives.
This book, with its discussion of tribalism in the United States, became sort of a lens through which to view the events in Charlottesville, the need to identify with right or left, to defend hatred or at least rationalize the various factions.
As Christians, as followers of Christ, we should be different. Katongole says, "We are called to be strange in the same way that the early Christian communities were strange to the world around them. The community in Antioch brought together Jews and Samaritans, Greeks and Romans, slaves and free, men and women in a way that was so confusing that people around them didn't know what to call them. So they called them Christians."
If only Christians were seen this way today, as people who loved and accepted those who were different, those who were oppressed or rejected by the rest of society.
This is a challenging read and yet Katongole declares hope that as we begin to question the assumptions through which we view the world, the Church that Jesus died to establish would again embody a community of love.
February 19, 2021
Katongole's prayerful consideration of the horror of the Rwandan genocide and the involvement of the West, colonialism, racism and Christianity is difficult to hear, but his insights are profound. He explores the interaction between bodies murdered through the genocide, the body politic and the body of Christ. He critiques the Christian church's (body of Christ) social engagement through a series of bodily postures he describes as piety, politics and pastoral. He understands that although these postures do much good, are not enough. They are not enough to transform the body, nor to heal the body, nor to allow the body to break through the patterns and systems with which they are bound.
He argues that it is the prophetic posture which erupts into the present and disrupts these existing patterns and systems we have all inherited. It is the posture which brings hope in the midst of despair and tragedy, that heals past wounds and ultimately bridges all that divides and dismembers the body through resurrections.
He calls his work mirror on the Church, and it certainly does this, but it is also a deeply disturbing mirror on the West.
A powerful Easter message of hope.
He argues that it is the prophetic posture which erupts into the present and disrupts these existing patterns and systems we have all inherited. It is the posture which brings hope in the midst of despair and tragedy, that heals past wounds and ultimately bridges all that divides and dismembers the body through resurrections.
He calls his work mirror on the Church, and it certainly does this, but it is also a deeply disturbing mirror on the West.
A powerful Easter message of hope.
March 17, 2020
This book was an excellent call to reflect on a massive failure of Christianity by taking an honest look at western missionaries' and the church's role in causing the genocide by turning casual, changeable socioeconomic status terms into permanent "ethnicity"/castes and enforcing them in churches. It is an important topic for westerners and Christians to understand and explore, and this book covers it comprehensively.
It caused me to reflect on (1) the toxicity of my assumptive lens when I approach the world through western lens and try to help people, but don't question the systems in place and operate only within assuming truth of existing societal norms; as well as (2) the perils of development work and how no matter how good your intentions, you may unintentionally be doing harm so it's essential to be thoughtful of your greater impact.
4 stars only because it got quite repetitive, otherwise an excellent read.
It caused me to reflect on (1) the toxicity of my assumptive lens when I approach the world through western lens and try to help people, but don't question the systems in place and operate only within assuming truth of existing societal norms; as well as (2) the perils of development work and how no matter how good your intentions, you may unintentionally be doing harm so it's essential to be thoughtful of your greater impact.
4 stars only because it got quite repetitive, otherwise an excellent read.
July 20, 2021
This is an invaluable book. Normally I’m wary of books written with a religious lens but it offered a truly unique perspective of a “gospel pragmatist” regarding the Rwandan Genocide. The author effectively evaluated how Rwanda is a mirror to the church (Catholic, Protestant, evangelical) of the world and offers realistic solutions and a new framework for seeing the world.
I would recommend this book to any Christian and any person wishing to evangelize anywhere. Of course I would recommend to anyone living in a society with Christians too
A truly relevant book to all society.
I would recommend this book to any Christian and any person wishing to evangelize anywhere. Of course I would recommend to anyone living in a society with Christians too
A truly relevant book to all society.
January 11, 2025
Remarquable coup de massue porté aux coeurs incrustés par les idoles du nationalisme, du racisme, du colonialisme et l’idéologie du marché en plus de toutes leurs fausses histoires (en gros, il s’adresse à chacun de nous). Ça faisait longtemps que je n’avais pas lu un essai aussi prophétique et nécessaire. Katongole est définitivement un homme à connaître auprès des chrétiens francophones!
April 4, 2023
Beautiful and sad story. Loved the highlighted stories of people who interrupted the tribalism and reminding us how much our identity drives us. Lots to apply to other groups we say we belong to.
April 13, 2025
Every Christian needs to read this book.
March 23, 2009
The author is a Rwandan who grew up in Uganda who is now a Catholic priest. He has spent six years (as of the writing of this book) as a professor at Duke University.
The first half of this book is about the Rwanda genocide and the history leading up to it. The information was good, but the author tended to skip around in time and digress into side narratives that made it difficult for me to follow his main point. That point seemed to be: Hutu Christian slaughtered Tutsi Christian neighbors--people they worshipped together with in church--and American Christians abandoned Tutsi Christians. So, he says, to avoid this we must ask ourselves if our identity as Christians is stronger than our loyalty to other cultural labels. It's a good question, and I would have recommended the book if the book stopped at page 80.
However, in the first part of the book, the author says that the Belgians came to Rwanda, made faulty categorizations of the population after only a brief stay in the land, and that this lead to the genocide. Yet, in the second part of the book, he tries to neatly place American Christians into categories based on what he's seen during his relatively brief stay here.
Based on my own lifetime of research, none of his explanations for our American cultural identities seemed accurate to me because they miss the nuances. Also, I don't know a single Christian who fits into the neat categories he makes for us. Basically, I rather felt he was making the same mistake that the Belgians did of trying to categorize a culture and failing because he missed the many nuances.
I also felt like he made several assumptions that I couldn't agree with. First, he doesn't seem to recognize that we live in a sinful, fallen world. In the second half of the book, his argument seems to suggest that if everyone in the world just picked one identity and we were all loyal to that one identity above all others, then all divisions--and therefore all evil, pain, suffering, starvation, etc.--would be eradicated.
The problem I have with this is that people need to be transformed by Jesus in order to not act self-first like they did in Rwanda. Just calling ourselves Christians and shedding all other identities won't work. Having one unifying national identity has been tried before with no success. Even if everyone who called themselves Christians were totally transformed by Jesus and dropped all divisions, the world isn't made up totally of Christians. Evil would still occur.
Basically, his points in the first half of the book are good, but, in my opinion, the book falls apart in the second half because it fails to recognize the true source of the problems in this world.
The first half of this book is about the Rwanda genocide and the history leading up to it. The information was good, but the author tended to skip around in time and digress into side narratives that made it difficult for me to follow his main point. That point seemed to be: Hutu Christian slaughtered Tutsi Christian neighbors--people they worshipped together with in church--and American Christians abandoned Tutsi Christians. So, he says, to avoid this we must ask ourselves if our identity as Christians is stronger than our loyalty to other cultural labels. It's a good question, and I would have recommended the book if the book stopped at page 80.
However, in the first part of the book, the author says that the Belgians came to Rwanda, made faulty categorizations of the population after only a brief stay in the land, and that this lead to the genocide. Yet, in the second part of the book, he tries to neatly place American Christians into categories based on what he's seen during his relatively brief stay here.
Based on my own lifetime of research, none of his explanations for our American cultural identities seemed accurate to me because they miss the nuances. Also, I don't know a single Christian who fits into the neat categories he makes for us. Basically, I rather felt he was making the same mistake that the Belgians did of trying to categorize a culture and failing because he missed the many nuances.
I also felt like he made several assumptions that I couldn't agree with. First, he doesn't seem to recognize that we live in a sinful, fallen world. In the second half of the book, his argument seems to suggest that if everyone in the world just picked one identity and we were all loyal to that one identity above all others, then all divisions--and therefore all evil, pain, suffering, starvation, etc.--would be eradicated.
The problem I have with this is that people need to be transformed by Jesus in order to not act self-first like they did in Rwanda. Just calling ourselves Christians and shedding all other identities won't work. Having one unifying national identity has been tried before with no success. Even if everyone who called themselves Christians were totally transformed by Jesus and dropped all divisions, the world isn't made up totally of Christians. Evil would still occur.
Basically, his points in the first half of the book are good, but, in my opinion, the book falls apart in the second half because it fails to recognize the true source of the problems in this world.
March 25, 2021
"The good news of God’s kingdom will force you to question social norms. Jesus will put you at odds with the economic and political systems of our world. This gospel will force you to act, interrupting the world as it is in ways that make even pious people indignant." (116)
so good!!! how does one get to go on a pilgrimage to Rwanda with Katongole because I gotta put my name down on that list.
this is definitely something to come back and re-read once I'm a few years out of Wheaton.
so good!!! how does one get to go on a pilgrimage to Rwanda with Katongole because I gotta put my name down on that list.
this is definitely something to come back and re-read once I'm a few years out of Wheaton.
January 15, 2021
Katongole offers Rwanda as a mirror and warning to the wider church. When baptismal allegiance runs shallower than our political or social allegiances, tremendous dehumanization and violent is possible. He then calls Christians to take a prophetic posture, living into New Creation now. This is an insightful and important book!
June 24, 2021
I am glad that I came across this book. I am trying to gain a better understanding on the effects of colonization, and during my exploration I found out that what I had heard about the Rwandan Genocide before was an incomplete truth. Katongole shows that the "tribalism" that the mainstream believes was the cause of the genocide did not exist in Rwanda until the Germans came in. Indeed, there were 3 classes of people, including the Hutu and Tutsi, but they were divided economically rather than racially and it was easy for people to change between the groups by changing their economic situation. When the Germans came, they determined that there was racial differences between the groups and identified the Tutsi minority to be the superior group, even using Biblical references (particularly the sons of Noah after the flood) to solidify their claims. This laid the foundation of unrest between the two groups that ultimately led to the Rwandan Genocide. I knew nothing about this history before reading this book.
I also appreciated the author's perspective as a Catholic priest as he recounted this story. Rather than blaming the Germans for the genocide, he instead uses this tragedy to talk about the shortcomings of the church today and proposes ways in which it can better itself. While I did find many of these insights to be fascinating and useful, I did feel like the first half of the book was much stronger than the second half of the book.
The book is a short read, which is also helpful, but it did leave me wishing that the author went deeper into history behind the genocide and the motivations behind it. I still do not feel that I have a clear enough picture as to why one group of people could suddenly rise up against their own neighbors and fellow churchgoers and brutally murder them with machetes. Certainly Kantongole touches on the motivations, but I feel like he just scratched the surface.
I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those who identify as Christian. 4 out of 5 stars because it is worth the read and is a great book, but could have gone deeper.
I also appreciated the author's perspective as a Catholic priest as he recounted this story. Rather than blaming the Germans for the genocide, he instead uses this tragedy to talk about the shortcomings of the church today and proposes ways in which it can better itself. While I did find many of these insights to be fascinating and useful, I did feel like the first half of the book was much stronger than the second half of the book.
The book is a short read, which is also helpful, but it did leave me wishing that the author went deeper into history behind the genocide and the motivations behind it. I still do not feel that I have a clear enough picture as to why one group of people could suddenly rise up against their own neighbors and fellow churchgoers and brutally murder them with machetes. Certainly Kantongole touches on the motivations, but I feel like he just scratched the surface.
I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those who identify as Christian. 4 out of 5 stars because it is worth the read and is a great book, but could have gone deeper.
June 5, 2020
Emmanuel Katongole’s Mirror to the Church really does hold the image of the Rwandan genocide up to the American Church and ask, Do you recognize yourself? Do we see recognize that yesterday should have been out breaking point? How long, O Lord? It is a necessary interrogation of what Dr. King exposed as Samaritan Christianity that will tend to broken bodies without challenging the world that broke them. Katongole’s is a ‘bodied’ discipleship, one that adopts the tactics of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount rather than the strategies of armchair theologians. His is a thoroughly readable, convicting, and inspiring book. Not even two weeks from George Floyd’s murder and with the country in an uproar, Katongole continues to ask, How long?
One passage in particular speaks to 2020 America. And hopefully, prayerfully, the dead church will come alive:
“Simon never stops to ask why Jesus is being crucified. He does not question the twisted authority that would kill the Author of life. No, Simon’s pious posture prevents him from seeing that there are times when we are called to stand up against injustice and not bow to earthly authorities. Simon carried the cross obediently.” (98)
And, for a bit of biting humor, I’ll end with this brilliant paragraph:
“I do not think it is any accident that the civil rights movement in the United States grew out of black churches where people were used to worshipping Jesus for two, three, even four hours at a time. Christians who cannot imagine worshiping God for that long may want to reconsider their cost/benefit analysis of discipleship. Jesus said that whoever followed him would suffer as he did. The promised reward, so far as I can tell in Scripture, is only that we get to worship God forever. If we can’t imagine that as good news on earth right now, I don’t suppose the idea of eternal life is good news.” (138)
One passage in particular speaks to 2020 America. And hopefully, prayerfully, the dead church will come alive:
“Simon never stops to ask why Jesus is being crucified. He does not question the twisted authority that would kill the Author of life. No, Simon’s pious posture prevents him from seeing that there are times when we are called to stand up against injustice and not bow to earthly authorities. Simon carried the cross obediently.” (98)
And, for a bit of biting humor, I’ll end with this brilliant paragraph:
“I do not think it is any accident that the civil rights movement in the United States grew out of black churches where people were used to worshipping Jesus for two, three, even four hours at a time. Christians who cannot imagine worshiping God for that long may want to reconsider their cost/benefit analysis of discipleship. Jesus said that whoever followed him would suffer as he did. The promised reward, so far as I can tell in Scripture, is only that we get to worship God forever. If we can’t imagine that as good news on earth right now, I don’t suppose the idea of eternal life is good news.” (138)
October 13, 2017
Fr. Katongole holds up a mirror to the church, addressing what the Rwandan genocide tells us about our failure to embody a spirit of reconciliation in the way of Christ. Katongole critiques various ways Christian's engage the world (pious postures, political postures, and pastoral postures) and argues instead that we take up a role of prophetic disruption
There are stories of horror here, and a few hopeful stories of martyrs and faithful witnesses. There is lament, always lament. And always hope.
There are stories of horror here, and a few hopeful stories of martyrs and faithful witnesses. There is lament, always lament. And always hope.
January 18, 2022
This book goes beyond the story of Rwanda and asks the question - is your identity as a Christian through your baptism deeper than the color of your skin, your “tribe,” your economic leanings, your nationalism? It’s a question I’ve been thinking about the last many years - how am I a Christian first before being an American? Rwanda was 95% Christian and a model of evangelization used by the church. Celebrating Easter Mass on Sunday and slaughtering fellow Christians by Tuesday. It is a fascinating and the questions asked are absolutely relevant to every faithful person.
February 13, 2021
Encouraged and convicted by this very necessary and relevant word that Emmanuel Katongole brings. It's scary how relevant this mirroring story of Rwanda's genocide is to the broken American/Western church today and why we need to lament and hold a prophetic posture. He defines Christian social engagements postures (pious posture, political posture and pastoral posture), although good and compassionate in some ways, are not enough to the who, how, where and why we are called to be.
September 10, 2017
An indispensable book for anyone who seeks a way forward in faith in a world full of brokenness. It is thoughtful and well articulated while also beautifully written and moving. I personally visited Rwanda and this book gave words to many of my own experiences in a way that pushes for kingdom transformation.
May 7, 2020
Some great perspectives here to ponder and some excellent correlations made. A few minor points fell flat, mostly due to their abrupt mentions, but overall this was a powerful piece worth digesting and exploring even after the last word has been read. I wonder what the author thinks about Pope Francis’ actions and situation in which he found himself in Argentina years ago?
December 22, 2021
A horrifyingly relevant read, Katongole forces readers to confront the question, “Does Christianity really make any difference?” by holding up the genocide in Rwanda, the most “successfully evangelized” country in post-colonial Africa, as a mirror to the global—and more specifically western—church.
July 15, 2024
Read this for a one-shot Sunday school this past week. Hard but really good book that challenges Christians to ask why it seems like Jesus didn't make a difference in the Rwandan genocide and how Jesus makes a difference in our world today. The particular challenge to American Christians that I got from the book was to prioritize faithfulness over effectiveness.
August 5, 2020
This book does a good job of helping you see where your identity and loyalty lie. In using the mirror that is Rwanda, I am able to reflect on how my faith as a believer in Christ does (or does not) shape my identity. It is humbling.
January 27, 2018
Every once and a while you read a book that challenges every inch of your thinking. Mirror to the Church does exactly that. Katongole’s book deeply moved me.
March 18, 2019
A short but powerful reflection on the relationship between the Rwandan genocide and the way the Church and christians deal with questions of identity in face of 'tribalism'. Higly recommended.
September 5, 2019
A book I've read more times than any other. Very pertinent to the American church today. I quote Katongole more than just about any author.
January 11, 2020
Eye opening. Scary in light of our current political situation.
August 5, 2020
Read for church book club. Looking forward to discussing.
January 19, 2021
Book about Christianity and how it failed Rwanda and the 1994 genicide resulted. Discusses Christianity in America and elsewhere and problems in really being Christian.
March 22, 2022
Important, challenging, and insightful about the church in Africa and in the world.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews