Directions are in each file.
CHAPT5T S l' , t, .. ,lr ,,:. ,-:r .= An OPening Cos* privotely, think of sn i*stonce in which you hov* b*en harmcd' or in which you hove h*rmed on*ther. Then imogine thst ifi relurn you ore oble |o give bock whot you goi, or thot you got bock exoctly whot ycu deserved. Shore your feeli*gs ll the smctl grouf ' Do you leel sofer? Less vulnerqble? Hqs that relciionship be*n heoied? Now thot lhe score hus been "evened"' ore you recanciled? Then priv*tely imogine ho* *t**unts of the proctice knaw* os f*rgiveness might reform llrot scen*rio' Agoin, 'ho'e yo" refle*|iorr* wlth your Srct;P' ln?roduction futany *f the iss*es rhat rvr rvill take r.rp in rhis b**k iv*uld lo*k quite difterent if forgiveness l{.ere C()fi1mr:np}ace, both interpersonally *'*d'nt*tn*'ionntl1'' Christiaas !:elitve that lse all *tand in need of forgiventss and that rvs ,lre gr'tcerl dailV b:' the fr:rgi'et":ess of others' In this' Christiarrs believe \,1,s sef the grace of Gorl *perating in the r.rrcrid. forgluing us and allo$'ing us to live' in turn, in rvays that are fc*rgi"lng *# and open t* retoncillatinn rvith others' suppose we recognized th*t the inequallt:es of the rvealth-v and the poor' of the Nonh and South, are human .o'r',r,..r.riorrs in *'hich ;;;t' pard-Y to*piiti'rather than realities imposed try fate. Supp*se rnre asked t* he forgir'"r-fot'i* X;t"iit*' {rot'r *o'hith rl'e pr.fit' and perhaps even continue to per*etrat*, and ir*stearl begar: tr: make amt*cls? Frequerrtly it is the CaSe that /J 74 Pcrt I : Whsi Mokes ilfhics Ctrristior? the ,,problem" linked to ftrgiveness has to do e.ith its tultivatir:n in the stubborn, hardness of our own heans. Butfargivenessismarallycomplexinotherlva}rsaSr+,e11'Recentlyu'ehaver+'iinessednations asking the ?orgiveness of athers. The U$ goverr:me*t asked Japanese Americans for fbrgiveness, b*.*** their civil righ$ were vinlatr:ri by the confiscation of their businesses and homes and by their invotuntary internment in concentration camps orr the r+'*st caast during the Second Wsrld War. The Uaited Church of Canada h*s asked forglveness from the aboriginal [ln**an) peoples becar*se they system*tically erased nativt culturt in the name *{Christ in their boardi*g schools. We have seer-: whofu groups of people apen tLemseh'es tc recor*ciliati*r:. South African blacla and mixed-race peoples have f*rgiver: thc Afrika*er and the British for their perpetua- tion of apartheid. But the question arises: Shoul,J forgiveness be requested or granted apart from a truthffll confession, e=p..ssior.,. of regret, and e commitmertt to make amends cr reparation? A-,d rr-hat should h*pp*r, rvhrn the 1+'ror1g thrrt is sullered calnot be rep*ired? Should the terrorist attarks of g/l i Le forgirren? Ar* we **t obligated to seek retri*:utive justict fbr all those rsho died that day? AnrJ f*r iheir families and friends r+.ho c*rtinue to s*ffer from the ioss? Might forgiveness someti:n*s enable abuse to cantinue? In tltls chapter, H.e address a cl*ster of c*mplex ethical issues u:rder the rubric of forgiveness' Nct too long ago, ffiany ffi65tians would have been surprised to see forgiveness identified as a moral problem, **."pt p.rhaps in the sense that f*rv Christians r'sere able to embody it Martin Luther identified it as a virt*e second in importance for Christians *nly to faith' Nour rvhether this is the best way to respond to evil is the topic of much philosophical, psychological, and theol*gical debate. Man-v for.*, acc$unt for tLis sea chunge' Trvo seem partici:larly :elevant to the essays collected h.r.. Fir*t, debates about forgiveness havt moged ont of the interpersonal sphere and int* more public c*mmunal *renas; for exn*pl., i:tto conversati**s abaut crkninal iustice and nation-b.ri1dir*g. Second, rhis las highlighted the difficult question: How far should forgivexess g*? bho.rgh lorgiverr.r, is never restricted in Scripture to the domestic sphere, ma*y Christians stiil assoiate fo.giveness only rvith the individual's perscnal resp$nse to betray*I, deception, aduiteqi hypocrisy, and so *n. it has rrot tsditianally been associated n'ith a communal response to,,ordinary" crimes like clergy sexual ab*se or domestic violence; it is almost unimaginable as a response to massivr ***lties likt th*se of the Khmer Rauge' Ho',vever, late in the twextieth centu4., a palitical eve*t of extra*rdinary moral courage and imagirrstion occurrcd' A nation decided to stake its fut*re on recanciliati*n. The st*ry *f $outh Afric*'s "n*nviolent" re'oluticn is iong and blo*dy, bur lve lvill jump into it n ith Prrsident Fredtrik\.?illem de Klerk's decision in I9891c, avoid outright civil *" bi: dissoiving aparthtid and moving Ssuth Africa toward a "ont persofi, one vote" fJr* of d.**rrucy" This eventually resulted in the 1994 election erf Prtsidtnt Nelson Mandela and the decision tc establish on a trarlsitianal basis a ?uth and Reconciliation commission [here*fter TRC]. South Afric*'s TRC had the pawer to extend amiesty to all those rvho requested it, even for gross human rights violations and atr*citie$, o'' the condition that these crimes against humaniiy were done {or palitical reas*ns and that the fulltf*th sbout them 75 Chopier 3: Forgiveness r+"as rlisclosed. No remeirse, fiot evfr recognition of the hrutalities $s evii' *nd nc rec0{npeilst ilr ttX;ffi:- [H[.};i:iX ::"llt.ffi;X"s was rvirlespreed sanrt r*o*.s the newlv eafr*nchised majority sought reparations, tf t"i-o"""ive r*trib*:ion' An* u'ithin the Afrikaner comrnuni,-v,some-J"i*n-;i[5:T*f f**n3;f ;f ;:,1:;:Tff]l'*"X:ii1: It-T::,:":3::ffi::?-ff::T;ru11, ,,*ro' ''f uh"r"jn"[ n"u' o"l-v 1{ th* prcicess were ft*ture oriented. Eveqrone-r'ictim 'nJ ""t'*t'er alike-had to !:e ilcluded i'r the circle af concern that grounde$ the process' ,n"f'fit'},"0 D*'*'*ntl Tr*tu stanc*s out as one of the manl' architects of this ne\q apprllach to nati'n;'-t-"-**'ction r+'ha proclaimed that thert co*ld be * I:::t ll;;l:HT""ffil .thi.ul questions rbout the appropri*teness o{ t:*rgiveness have *lread-v occurred t* you. D*es.this *-r;";;r" ,r- o"n.iii*rik atlorved "to get a*'a,v r'-ifJ't murder,,?orrr,'orse7,vr,.r.u,theright.o*,t."suchadecisitn?Isitrnorallyrqisetodcso?.I,he Christian case ftr **Oir*rr, on recJncili*tion rather tharr r*'enge is h*sed on faith' 1t is rooted in the experience J',il'*t#;;;f*;i;;;;:;,.h simultaneti*slv convicts r*s rrf r:ur sin vet spares us lrom th-;;;;;-:"1: i-**;; **i-r.,r j+'v' Christians imitate Ged ln rvavs that recognize rhat we *[,,., Co* a.,d 'f'*'*"' i*t]n" limii* a''"1 '*"11*rthi]*ties n-rean ]\re must take ;;m-*;llt"-Jil5'-ffi ffr:l? ;;;earses rhe murcleroL,s ramp*Be that killeri the Yo.tngr girls at the Nickel ;;;;; *i"**,*r*r-, *.t *irn Pen*sv*'ania' D*nald xravbill traces the wav the extraardinary rrsp$nse of the ,orrorrrrdl''g Amish r'ommunity ta this event imitates God anr{ explores lts cleep rr:ots in the theolcgy of "1''*t'*ti*n" *poh**t'*un like Jr:hn F{orsard Yoder' 1n his essay, J*hn Kekes m**nts a blistering ;;;;;;;;oi.,,t "fo'sioe,,ess,,' peeling alfn-v anv illusion that an easy reconciliati*n ran occur "hin th*'* are ter:sions betrveen the dem+nds of justice' understood in terms of retrihutio", ,"i';;- ''"t;;s a*d gift ul **"'' ;: the rtext essay' Daniel philpott tells the $tories of three Ro"1"n C*thllit l'i*hup'' one *{ whom lr':rs murtlere* **r his efforrs, who advocatecl rec*ncilirtion l" the face o{ }to'rifc i,riustice and hrutaiiqi Philpott's aim is to glcan from their efforts at peactmakir]g "lessons in merc-l;" built an a foundati*n in r'vhich reconciliati*n is rrnderstood to l,* .o,."'*;lt' of * g""':i""lrl h*Iistic notian *f justice' Finally' IVliroslav Volf examirres hor'v the experience of Christiar: esch*tol*gital hop* tnah*s some to .,let gn" of their rnemories of treing t*'ong*d aad of rvr*nging others a:rd tl"rere*-*re to taste' as it ***.J, .o**thing of risen lile in the r+-ortd to cotne' Imita;ing God: Nickel Mines, Forgiveness, and Yoder Donald B. Kroybill he astonishing stor-Y of forgiveness in the wake of a shooting at the Nickel |vlines Amish schooi in Octc'ber ?006 quickly cap- tured worldwide *ttentiaa.r TLe tragedy occurred when a *on-Amish neighhor tcl*k ten girls, ages six to fourteen, hostage in a one* r*om school near a rural crossroad known as Niekel Mines, a lew miles southwest of Para- dist, Pennsylvania. Tht intrudtr barricaded himself into the school houst, tied the arkles of the studertts together, tnd f*rctd them to lie on the flc*r in front o{ the blackboard' Soor"r after tht pclite arrived, Charies Carl Raberts lV opened fire, shocting his hostages in rxecution style and then kiliing himseif as police forced their r,vay into the scho*l' R*berts did it, he said, because he rvas stili angry at Go* fbr the premature de*th of his firstborn daughter i*'ho had died nine years earker. By the end of the ordeal, five of the girls were dead and the other five were taken hy helicopters to sevcral hospitals where they underwent effiflrgency surgery. Faur of thc srrvivors recovered and are norv able to par- ticipate in the activiti*s of normal living. One, however, is constrained to a lvheelchair at hame ar:d is unable to {ted herself requiring constant care. Within six ho:rrs of the shc'oting, several Amish people t'alked to the home of the parents of Robtrts's widow in the village af Genrgetown about a mile from the school, *r'here the-v expressed words of grace, com- fort, and forgiveness to her and her parents' At ahorrt the s*me time, several miles arvay, other @ Full text first puhlished as ,,lmi$ting cocl; Nickel ivlines, Forgiveness, and Ycrder," hy Donald B. Kraybili, in Bre#trllrr Lifu StTh*ught 54, no' 4 (Fal1 2009): 1-t3' 76 77: ilhopier 3: Iorgiveness = Amish people went to the hcme of Roberts's parellts and spent several hours ttrere offer* ing simllar words of campassi*u end forgive- nels. Th. story of Amish forgiveness quicki-v became news and rvas retold in som* 2'40S ierss stories arou*d the rt'orld in the d*y after the shoating. The expressions of grace tr:d forgiveness were immediate, spontafleous, aad inftrmal' fu one An-rish blshop tr:ld me, "Forgiveness was s decided issue." It rvas decidtd by "our histor-v and aur beliefs; it's what Jesus tells us tc da,'' ln other s'ords, it needed *o discussi*n' no m*etings, no ofscial action' The ambassad*rs of forgiveness werr not *sked o: appoir':ted by .hrr.h officials to c*rrY rhe good news' They acted on their trvn, but they acted qxickly- within six haurs *f the carnege in the school house. And it rgas the stunning speed of their response that turned this simple st*ry af grace in a qu*int, rural village intc an internation*l st*ry of fbrgiveness. if {orgiveness ha* arrived ,"u.rn1 weeks or moaths after the traged-v' it would rrot have been newsro'orthY or merited inttrn*tional attention' . . . frlultipl* Stronds of Forgiven*ss Forgiveness is a htghi.v esteemeei virlue endorsed by Jesus and rvidely *cclaimed by Christians irs well as mentai he*lth proles- sionals. Applaurling forgiveness csmes easy, but defining and practicing