Thesis advisor: Stephen J. Pope / Transitional justice responds to injustices and violations of human rights following a period of repressive rule or civil war. This dissertation argues that the needs of post-conflict societies are best served by local, participatory approaches to transitional justice. In the case of Guatemala, it was essential for the nation to embrace its common religious narrative as a resource for rebuilding the republic. The Guatemalan Catholic Church worked to build peace out of the ashes of state sponsored terror. It demonstrated the prophetic role of the Church by offering a collective voice condemning those in positions of authority for their neglect of the basic human rights of the majority of Guatemalans. The CEG also highlighted the reconciliatory function of the Church by promoting forgiveness and reconciliation within the public square. This experience calls for theological ethical reflection on how the Catholic Church could best serve the needs of civil society in the wake of nearly forty years of political violence. Responding to the need for critical theological reflection, this dissertation proposes a transformationalist understanding of the relation of love to justice for transitional justice. It draws its inspiration from a selective reading of Augustine and Augustinian scholarship. An Augustinian approach to transitional justice brings together the high moral ideas of love, justice, forgiveness, and peace while at the same time acknowledging the ever-present reality of sin and human weakness. It attempts to transform a post-conflict society into a moral community whose citizens are on a journey toward the destination of temporal peace. It realizes that we may never reach our destination of temporal peace, but we can glimpse it from afar. This dissertation offers the following ten Augustinian insights as a framework for a theological approach to transitional justice. 1) Charity is the motivating force for transitional justice and the pursuit of socio-political reconciliation; 2) Charity transforms our understanding of justice from noninterference and retribution to rehabilitating and reconciling; 3) Transitional justice ought to be contextual, paying attention to the unique concerns of a given post-conflict society; 4) Distinguishing, without bifurcating, the ends of the temporal and celestial commonwealths offers a positive, but not naïve, evaluation of the Church’s potential to be an instrument of social transformation; 5) Post-conflict societies need to foster conditions that allow for pluralism and social cohesion through civic friendship; 6) Post-conflict societies must develop social practices to train citizens in the civic virtues of love, justice, and friendship; 7) Transitional justice requires an ethical retrieval of the truth through the healing of memory; 8) Transitional justice upholds the moral obligation to admonish and correct sinful social behavior; 9) Transitional justice ought to foster the just and prudential protection of society through the use of coercive force on behalf of society’s most vulnerable citizens; and 10) Post-conflict societies need to cultivate and sustain an ethos of active hope that, far from inducing political passivity, promotes civic engagement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

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During the 1960's Guatemalan stability began to falter due to a political and social breakdown; guerilla violence and government repression emerged from this decade as common occurrences. In response to the instability within Guatemala, the US focused on providing significant financial aid to bolster a weak economy, while simultaneously working with the Guatemalan police and military to create more efficient and modern internal security forces capable of combating Communist subversion. Despite US attempts to foster stability, in 1963 President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes was removed from office by a military coup organized by his opponents within Guatemala. The Lyndon B. Johnson administration continued to support the Guatemalan government and continued to provide economic and military assistance. Despite US assistance, the internal social and political divisions in Guatemala continued to result in violence. In the midst of the escalating violence, elections were held in 1966 and the center left candidate Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro was elected as the new president of Guatemala. The election of a politically left president further radicalized the Guatemalan right, which resulted in attempted coups and acts of terror. The violence from the leftist guerillas and the radical rightist elements forced Mendez Montenegro to allow the military to use harsh counter-terror strategies to bring the country under control. Despite negative developments, the US consistently tried to help build Guatemalan stability. Unfortunately, its policies ignored the socio-economic inequalities, and internal division which was the biggest problem facing the nation. The internal political division that created the violence and instability made it impossible for any US assistance to have a meaningful impact. During the 1960's these developments in Guatemala paved the way for the violence and genocide of the 1980's and solidified a policy of US involvement that was inadequate and ineffective.

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