The Im Possibility Of Forgiveness

The findings from this study go beyond biblical-theological scholarship on forgiveness. Dion Forster boldly succeeds in showing that creating conditions for deeper human connection transforms impossibility into possibility and shines a light on the face of "the Other", who can now be forgiven. --Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Professor and Research Chair of Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University Dion Forster refuses to accept the conclusion that understandings of forgiveness may be so different and complex across social, racial and cultural groups in South Africa that actual forgiveness may be impossible. Using Matthew 18:15-35 as a meeting ground, he gathers ordinary Methodist Christians for cross cultural, intergroup Bible reading. He draws upon the philosophical integral theory of Ken Wilber, the insights of intergroup contact theory and the methods of critical biblical exegesis to organize, analyse and understand this encounter. What emerges is a hopeful conclusion that differing conceptions of forgiveness - its challenges and possibilities - can be understood, shared and perhaps, actualized across social, racial and cultural barriers." --Bruce C. Birch, Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary Reading Dion Forster on the (im)possibility of forgiveness, I was once again struck by our desperate need to learn more about ourselves and one another, but also about the meaning of forgiveness in our respective communities. This is an excellent example of the potential of Intercultural Bible Reading. Forster not only makes an outstanding academic contribution with implications for New Testament studies, Systematic and Public Theology, but also for flesh and blood communities wrestling with the possibilities and perils of forgiveness. --Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament Studies and Head of Department, Chair of the Gender Unit, Stellenbosch University This book deals with contested and topical matters. Biblical hermeneutics has always been contested - how to read and understand Biblical passages. Things become even more contested when such passages are read inter-culturally; they become even more contested when the words are about contested personal and social issues, like Jesus' words on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Empirical studies like this show how deeply contested such readings truly are in the context of South African churches, with their painful histories of division and conflict. Future academic work will, therefore, benefit from the creative and careful methodological approach developed in this study. However, this book offers much more than academic promise - precisely because of the theme, so topical today and without doubt topical for a long time to come and in many other places in our contemporary world as well. Forster offers resources for reading and conversation for everyone concerned with public life today. This is public theology in action, showing how faith matters - without prescribing answers, but rather by invitation to join an informed discussion. --Dirk J Smit, The Rimmer and Ruth deVries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, Princeton Theological Seminary

Volume II of Vernon Press’s series on the Philosophy of Forgiveness offers several challenging and provocative chapters that seek to push the conversation in new directions and dimensions. Volume I, Explorations of Forgiveness: Personal, Relational, and Religious, began the task of creating a consistent multi-dimensional account of forgiveness, and Volume II’s New Dimensions of Forgiveness continues this goal by presenting a set of chapters that delve into several deep conceptual and metaphysical features of forgiveness. New Dimensions of Forgiveness creates a theoretical framework for understanding the many nuanced features of forgiveness, namely, third-party forgiveness, forgiveness as an aesthetic process, the role of resentment in warranting forgiveness, the moral status of self-forgiveness, epistemic trust, forgiveness’s influence on the moral status of persons, forgiveness in time, the status of Substance and Subject within a Hegelian framework, Jacques Derrida’s “impossible” forgiveness, and the use of imaginative “magic” to become a maximal forgiver. Readers will be challenged to question and come to terms with many oft-overlooked, yet important philosophical dimensions of forgiveness.

This interdisciplinary, empirical and theoretical approach to forgiveness and revenge considers the roles of truth, restitution and ritual in the promotion of forgiveness and deterrence of revenge in multiple contexts.

This book is concerned with the aporias, or impasses, of forgiveness, especially in relation to the legacy of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. Banki argues that, while forgiveness of the Holocaust is and will remain impossible, we cannot rest upon that impossibility. Rather, the impossibility of forgiveness must be thought in another way. In an epoch of “worldwidization,” we may not be able simply to escape the violence of scenes and rhetoric that repeatedly portray apology, reconciliation, and forgiveness as accomplishable acts. Accompanied by Jacques Derrida’s thought of forgiveness of the unforgivable, and its elaboration in relation to crimes against humanity, the book undertakes close readings of literary, philosophical, and cinematic texts by Simon Wiesenthal, Jean Améry, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Robert Antelme and Eva Mozes Kor. These texts contend with the idea that the crimes of the Nazis are inexpiable, that they lie beyond any possible atonement or repair. Banki argues that the juridical concept of crimes against humanity calls for a thought of forgiveness—one that would not imply closure of the infinite wounds of the past. How could such a forgiveness be thought or dreamed? Banki shows that if today we cannot simply escape the “worldwidization” of forgiveness, then it is necessary to rethink what forgiveness is, the conditions under which it supposedly takes place, and especially its relation to justice.

Reconsidering Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness presents a world-centric, ‘caring’ conceptualization of cosmopolitanism and forgiveness grounded in the thought of two radical, twentieth-century continental thinkers: Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida. It fundamentally re-evaluates what it means to care for the world in ‘dark times’ and develops a political theory of repairing, preserving and cultivating the relationships which constitute the human community. This interdisciplinary book reveals how cosmopolitanism and forgiveness each care for the powerful experience of human freedom: the power to begin new courses of political action with a plurality of people in the public realm. It not only casts new light on the political thought of both Arendt and Derrida but also contributes to ongoing debates about the nature of political spaces, the possibility for collective political action, and the importance of cultivating encounters with the unknown Other in today’s digitally interconnected world.

This philosophical monograph on forgiveness is the first of its kind to be written from a feminist perspective. Kathryn J. Norlock urges scholars to attend to gender when analyzing and recommending forgiveness in practice. She demonstrates that while many academics find the concept of forgiveness both complex and fascinating, they seldom pay attention to the fact that issue of forgiveness intersect with those of gender in many crucial ways. By redefining forgiveness and what constitutes as an act of forgiveness, Norlock encourages readers to consider new questions about the advisability of trying to have a single, universal set of conditions for forgiveness because of the multidimensional nature of its practice and application.

This is NOT just another book on forgiveness; this one provides the necessary tools to help you forgive profoundly, more or less instantaneously and with ease. First published in 1997, this 2nd Edition builds on the success of the first edition which has changed hundreds if not thousands of lives. The book will more than likely change your life. It will transform how you view your past and what is occurring for you in the present, especially where relationships are concerned. Unlike other forms of forgiveness, radical forgiveness is easily achieved and virtually immediate, enabling you to let go of being a victim, open your heart and raise your vibration. The simple, easy-to-use tools provided help you let go of the emotional baggage of the past and to feel the joy of living in total surrender to the process of life as it unfolds, however it unfolds. The result is vastly increased happiness, personal power and freedom.