CHICAGO, IL (October 14, 2013) — Allan Boesak, who played a key role in ending apartheid in South Africa, and Curtiss Paul DeYoung, a professor of reconciliation studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, will speak on the topic of their new book, Radical Reconciliation: Beyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism, at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 21, at North Park Theological Seminary in Isaacson Chapel.

The presentation will be webcast live at CovChurch.tv/live.

The pair also will engage in discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, in Olsson Lounge at the seminary.

Boesak is currently the Desmond Tutu Chair of Peace, Global Justice, and Reconciliation Studies at Christian Theological Seminary and Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 1982 Boesak persuaded members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to declare apartheid a heresy and to suspend membership of the white South African churches. He served as president of the alliance from 1982 to 1991.

He helped organize the United Democratic Front in 1983, which is a multiracial association of all manner of groups opposed to apartheid, and in 1984 he and others organized a massive boycott of the national elections. Boesak was arrested a number of times for his participation in demonstrations, and his movements and speech were restricted.

He has received numerous awards, including the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Award.

DeYoung has traveled to South Africa on nine occasions to speak on reconciliation and the multiculturalism of the Bible. Prior to his current position at Bethel University, he served for 17 years in urban multicultural settings in Minneapolis–St. Paul as the president of the Twin Cities Urban Reconciliation Network (TURN), the executive director of the City Gate Project, and the senior pastor of a multiracial congregation.

He also served congregations in Washington D.C. and New York City, and worked at the Covenant House Times Square shelter for homeless and runaway youth in New York City.

DeYoung is author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books on reconciliation and social justice.

For more information, email Velda Love at vlove@northpark.edu or call (773) 244-5764.