Embodying Forgiveness: A Theological AnalysisA 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. |
Contents
The Cost of Forgiveness | 3 |
Gods Forgiveness and the Practices of Christian Community | 9 |
Is Forgiveness Effective? The Struggle against Encroaching Darkness | 23 |
Therapeutic Forgiveness | 35 |
Problems with Forgiveness in Modern Western Culture | 37 |
The Triumph of the Therapeutic | 39 |
Forgiving Hurts We Dont Deserve | 47 |
The Revelation of Judgment | 53 |
The Dynamics of Forgiveness and Repentance | 150 |
The Woman Who Showed Great Love | 160 |
Practicing Forgiveness | 163 |
Who Am I? | 166 |
Remembering the Past in Hope for the Future | 175 |
Sustaining Permeable Boundaries | 182 |
Living in the Power of God | 197 |
The Craft of Forgiveness | 207 |
Rethinking Sin | 59 |
Therapy and the Churchs Eschatological Gospel | 64 |
Forgiveness Eclipsed | 71 |
Forgiven No More | 73 |
Can Violence Be Unlearned? | 77 |
Engaging the Pervasiveness of Sin and Evil | 83 |
Forgiven and Forgiving | 91 |
Characterizing the God Who Forgives | 101 |
Judaism Jesus and Forgiveness | 105 |
The Father Who Wills Communion | 113 |
The Advents of Jesus Christ | 119 |
New Life in the Spirit | 129 |
Forgiveness Repentance and the Judgment of Grace | 135 |
The Absence of Gods Presence | 137 |
The Judgment of Grace | 145 |
Whose Forgiveness Is It Anyway? | 210 |
Parables of Christian Forgiveness | 219 |
Crafting Human Forgiveness | 225 |
Loving Enemies | 241 |
The Moral Significance of Anger Hatred and Retribution | 243 |
Gods Forgiveness Gods Vengeance and Ours | 251 |
Loving Enemies on the Path of Christian Forgiveness | 262 |
Punishment and the Politics of Forgiveness | 270 |
Is This a Story to Pass On? | 279 |
Simon Wiesenthals The Sunflower | 281 |
Ivan Karamazovs Protest | 290 |
Producing Holy People | 296 |
303 | |
Common terms and phrases
account of forgiveness Alasdair MacIntyre anger argument baptism Barth Bonhoeffer's Brothers Karamazov called chapter cheap grace Christ's forgiveness Christian community Christian forgiveness Church communion confession context Cost of Discipleship craft of forgiveness death Dietrich Bonhoeffer discern discipleship discussion embody forgiveness eschatological Ethics eucharist evil example forgiven forgiveness and reconciliation forgiveness and repentance Further God's forgiveness God's Kingdom gospel Gustavo GutiƩrrez habits and practices Hazel healing Hence Holy Spirit hope human involves issues Jesus Christ Judaism judged judgment of grace Karl Barth lives loving enemies moral hatred Munny N. T. Wright narratives Nazis ness Nicholas Lash parable particular person perspective political practice of reconciling practices of Christian practices of forgiveness priest punishment recognize reconciling forgiveness redemptive relation response resurrection Rowan Williams seek sense significance sins situations Smedes social specific story struggle suffering suggest theology therapeutic transformation Triune Triune God truth understand unlearn vengeance victims violence Wise Blood