Amidst the cacophony of claims made about forgiveness, this book serves to aid in an effort to put “forgiveness in perspective.” Marieke Smit and Christopher R. Allers have collected here ten essays written by twelve authors from around the world and across the disciplinary spectrum including philosophers, practitioners, psychologists, literary theorists, and prison chaplains. All the essays offer a perspective on forgiveness and put forgiveness in perspective whether by tracing what forgiveness “is,” how this religious inheritance is worked out in our secularizing societies, how forgiveness works in our quotidian experience, or a particular manifestation in a particular context such as marriage, prison, or after an abortion, to name a few. The multi-disciplinary character of this book provides a multi-disciplinary appeal as well as a resource to enlarge one’s own perspective on this perplexing, enigmatic, and wonderfully complex concept of forgiveness.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Christopher R. Allers and Marieke Smit: Introduction: Putting Forgiveness in Perspective: Some First Words, No Last Word Forgiveness between Past and Future Steve Larocco: Forgiveness: A Quiet Assault on the Malicious Christopher R. Allers: Undoing What Has Been Done: Arendt and Levinas on Forgiveness Alisa L. Carse and Lynne Tirrell: Forgiving Grave Wrongs The Right to Forgive Linda Radzik: Moral Bystanders and the Virtue of Forgiveness Regan Lance Reitsma: If God Cannot Forgive, What Becomes of Harmony? The Strength of a Victim’s Moral Prerogative Not to Forgive Forgiveness and the Judeo-Christian Tradition Danielle Celermajer: From the Religious to the Political Apology: How the Religious Prehistory of Apology Makes Sense of Collective Responsibility Fergus Hogan: In Search of Forgiveness: Men and Abortion in Post-Catholic Ireland Narratives of Forgiveness Carla S. Ross: Reconciling Irreconcilable Differences Through Forgiveness Marieke Smit: Prisoners and Forgiveness Barbara Flood and Christina Tomacic-Niaros: The Community Response To Violence: Do Rituals of Healing Support Forgiveness?