Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A topic unjustly neglected in contemporary theology, forgiveness is often taken to be either too easy or too difficult. On the one hand is the conception of forgiveness that views it mainly as a move made for the well-being of the forgiver. On the other hand, forgiveness is sometimes made too difficult by suggestions that violence is the only effective force for responding to injustice.
In this exciting and innovative book, L. Gregory Jones argues that neither of these extreme views is appropriate and shows how practices of Christian forgiveness are richer and more comprehensive than often thought. Forgiveness, says Jones, is a way of life that carries with it distinctive concepts of love, community, confession, power, repentance, justice, punishment, remembrance, and forgetfulness.
In Part 1 of Embodying Forgiveness Jones first recounts Dietrich Bonhoeffer's own struggle against the temptation to make forgiveness either too easy or too difficult in his thought and, even more, in his life and death at the hands of the Nazis. Jones then considers each of these temptations, focusing on the problem of -therapeutic- forgiveness and then forgiveness's -eclipse- by violence. Part 2 shows why a trinitarian identification of God is crucial for an adequate account of forgiveness. In Part 3 Jones describes forgiveness as a craft and analyzes the difficulty of loving enemies. He deals particularly with problems of disparities in power, impenitent offenders, and the relations between forgiveness, accountability, and punishment. The book concludes with a discussion of the possibility of certain -unforgiveable- situations.
Developing a strong theological perspective on forgiveness throughout, Jones draws on films and a wide variety of literature as well as on Scripture and theological texts. In so doing, he develops a rich and comprehensive exploration of what it truly means to embody Christian forgiveness.
Table of Contents
The Cost of Forgiveness. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the reclamation of a Christian vision and practice -- Therapeutic forgiveness. The Church's psychological captivity in Western culture -- Forgiveness eclipsed. Is violence the master of us all? -- Characterizing the God who forgives. The triune God and Christian life -- Forgiveness, repentance, and the judgment of grace. The word that transfigures us in the spirit -- Practicing forgiveness. Trinitarian community and the hope for a new humanity -- The craft of forgiveness. Traditions, parables, and making and remaking responsible human life -- Loving enemies. Living with others in the absence of reconciliation -- Is this a story to pass on? Forgiveness, holiness, and the politics of memory.