Forgiving and Forgetting

Theology and the Margins of Soteriology

edited by Hartmut von Sass and Johannes Zachhuber

Book cover: Forgiving and Forgetting

Extent: 225 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Philosophy, Religious Studies

Series: Religion in Philosophy and Theology

Series volume number: 82

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(December 2015)

ISBN: 9783161540813

Price: $112.00

In stock

Forgiveness has traditionally been associated with a duty to remember in order for reconciliation to be possible. Human failure, evil, and atrocities could thus only be forgiven on the basis of a saving memory. Forgetting, by contrast, had to be excluded in the interest of a truthful and genuinely new beginning. Historical experience, it seemed, supported this account. The essays collected in this volume seek to challenge this traditional picture – by elaborating on the notion of forgetting, by reappreciating its constructive or even necessary impact on our lives, by paying heed to the potential obstacles for reconciliation due to an unforgiving remembrance, by clarifying the relationship between remembrance and forgetting, which is not necessarily complementary, and by finding new ways of relating forgiveness to forgetting ultimately leading to the precarious question of whether even God forgets when he forgives. Contributors: Aleida Assmann, Agata Bielik-Robson, Brigitte Boothe, Paul Fiddes, George Pattison, Simon D. Podmore, Hartmut von Sass, Lydia Schumacher, Philipp Stoellger, Bradford Vivian, Johannes Zachhuber

  • Edited by Hartmut von Sass
  • Edited by Johannes Zachhuber