Embodying collective memory : towards responsible engagement with the 'other'

In view of the current challenges to reconciliation and unity between the DRC and the URCSA this article attempts to join in the transdisciplinary discourse on cultural trauma and collective memory in order to find a way of dealing collectively with past traumas in a constructive way. It argues that the concepts of cultural trauma and collective memory are significant in dealing with distresses of the past, in order to create a collective memory, which implies taking responsibility for the present and the future. It further introduces a collective pastoral hermeneutics to assist both churches to take responsibility for the past by embodying collective memory shared with the 'other' in order to transform the past in the present for the future.