Incredible Forgiveness

by Pollefeyt, Didier

• ISBN13: 9789042913172
• ISBN10: 9042913177
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-01
• Publisher: Peeters Pub & Booksellers

Summary

Christian ethics is threatened today by two opposite dangers: on the one hand, violence by moral and religious fanatics and on the other hand, too-easy forgiveness and cheap grace. The main challenge of Christian ethics in the present context is how it can invite people to react powerfully against moral evil without becoming fanatical on the one hand, and how it can bring the Christian message of forgiveness and reconciliation without creating in people an attitude of moral indolence on the other hand. Such questions call for a wrestling with the dilemmas between justice and forgiveness. It also asks for dealing with tensions like taking the perspective of victims and of perpetrators and choosing between remembrance of the past and a common hope for the future. In eight contributions, internationally recognized scholars in the field of Christian ethics offer ways to approach this tension and to integrate both moral passion and mercy. Topics such as tolerance, radicalism, terrorism, forgiveness, and non-violence are discussed from a Christian moral viewpoint.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Incredible Forgiveness	1	(6)
``Because You are Lukewarm, I Spit You Out of My Mouth!'' Foundations and Major Themes of Christian Ethical Radicalism	7	(46)
Roger Burggraeve
Ethical Recession and a New Ethical Conscientiousness	8	(14)
Ethical Recession on a Social and Political Level?	8	(2)
Resistance Against Contorted Social Technocracy	10	(4)
New Social-Ethical Conscientiousness	14	(3)
New Social Movements as Forms of Ethical Radicalism..	17	(5)
Christian Ethical Radicalism	22	(30)
From the Christian Profession of Faith in a `Sensitive' God	23	(4)
The Ethical Passion of God	27	(4)
The Passion for the Concrete Other	31	(3)
The Bodily Dimension of Christian Ethical Radicalism..	34	(4)
A God Who is also Enraged by Evil	38	(4)
The Radicality of `Holy Anger'	42	(6)
The Risk of Ethical Fanaticism	48	(4)
Conclusion	52	(1)
Christian Ethical Radicalism Without Fanaticism	53	(32)
Roger Burggraeve
Ethical Passion Needs Wisdom	53	(4)
Modesty Guards Ethics Against Fanaticism	57	(3)
Redemption as Erosion of Christian Ethical Radicalism?	60	(5)
Eschatology as Source of Ethical Lukewarmness or Radicality?	65	(3)
Ethical Radicalism as a Test of Faith in God	68	(4)
Is a Faith-Inspired Ethical Private Commitment Not Enough?	72	(5)
The Communitarian and Ecclesial Radicality of Christian Ethics	77	(5)
Conclusion: The Need for a Christianity with `Guts'	82	(3)
The Nonviolent Terrorist: In Defense of Christian Fanaticism	85	(18)
Stanley Hauerwas
On Being a Fanatic	85	(2)
The `Ethics' of Terrorism	87	(6)
Epistemological Crises and War	93	(6)
Witness as Theological Terrorism	99	(4)
Tolerance, Pluralism and Truth	103	(18)
Johan De Tavernier
Paul Ricoeur about Tolerance	104	(12)
The Institutional Level	106	(3)
The Cultural Level	109	(2)
The Religious and Theological Level	111	(5)
Tolerance, Ideology and Truth	116	(1)
Tolerance and Identity: to a Qualified Tolerance	116	(1)
Tolerance and Truth Question: to a Tolerant Claim on Absoluteness	117	(3)
Conclusion	120	(1)
Ethics, Forgiveness and the Unforgivable After Auschwitz	121	(40)
Didier Pollefeyt
First Paradigm: Diabolicisation: when the Evildoer is Turned into a Diabolical Figure and the Return of Revengeance	124	(7)
Second Paradigm: Banalisation: The Trivialisation of the Malefactor and the Inculpability of Evil	131	(5)
Third Paradigm: The Ethicising of the Evildoer and the Apology of Evil	136	(4)
Beyond Horror and Excuse: The Evildoer as Self-Deceiver and the Meaning of Forgiveness	140	(11)
A Post-Holocaust Interpretation of the Conception `Unforgivable'	151	(7)
Conclusion	158	(3)
Room for Forgiveness? A Theological Perspective	161	(22)
Frits De Lange
The Liberal Self	162	(2)
Cheap Grace / the Ecclesialisation of Forgiveness	164	(3)
A Human (Im)Possibility	167	(5)
The Structure of Forgiveness	172	(6)
The Church as a Forgiving Community / Forgiving as a Social Practice	178	(3)
The Politics of Forgiveness	181	(2)
The Integral Forgiveness: Healing, Forgiveness and Reconciliation?	183	(16)
Jean Monbourquette
Introduction	183	(1)
Current Appeal of the Concept of Forgiveness	183	(2)
Critique of the Various Theories on the Nature of Forgiveness	185	(8)
Therapeutic Forgiveness	185	(1)
Critique	186	(1)
Secular Forgiveness	187	(1)
Critique	188	(1)
Forgiveness as a Moral Prescription	189	(1)
Critique	190	(1)
Forgiveness and Christian Ethics	191	(2)
Presentation of a Model of Forgiveness: Complete Forgiveness; Healing, Forgiveness and Reconciliation	193	(3)
Why a Model for Forgiving?	193	(1)
The Principles which Have Guided the Construction of this Model	193	(2)
The Components of this Model for Forgiving	195	(1)
Conclusion	196	(3)
The Long Road to Peace: Truth, Justice and Forgiveness	199	(16)
Donald W. Shriver
The Public Political Context	201	(14)
Remembering	203	(5)
Restorative Justice	208	(3)
Empathy for Victims and Perpetrators	211	(4)
List of Contributors	215