ABSTRACT
Reconciliation is not often the basis for the resolution of an immediate conflict, and indeed may not even accompany it; but it is the aspect of peacemaking that arguably has the most significant long-term effect. This chapter focuses on some late antique Latin dialogues — styled altercationes — in which the designated hero wins the day for orthodoxy, but in which the defeated party is treated with what seems a surprising level of empathy. Modern dispute resolution theory tends to recognise the need to balance the assertion and maintenance of one's own positions and interests and an awareness of and an empathy towards the positions and interests of other parties. It is not entirely surprising that Jerome's dialogue should express some sympathy for the Luciferians, since the two sides had much in common and that their dispute could be understood as a procedural matter — and since it ends in a reconciliation.
