The Geography of Good and Evil by Andreas Kinneging

Author:Andreas Kinneging
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery Gateway
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

5

For that we must turn to Christianity. In this respect, Christianity presents a deep rift with both the Jewish scriptures and Greco-Roman thinking. The Gospels especially allot forgiveness a key role, so much in fact that one might even argue that justice disappears from the scene. The Gospels, of course, are primarily concerned with the forgiveness man requires, and receives, from God. Yet it is also a moral value in the relations between people. For example, in Luke 17:3–4 we read, “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”12 It also plays a central role in the Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”13 Here forgiveness is considered not only God’s privilege but also a moral duty incumbent upon man.

The question then becomes when forgiveness is called for. This can be inferred from the above passage from Luke. Forgiveness no longer requires a peace offering from man, as was the case in Homer; it requires repentance. That is crucial. But what exactly is the argument here? Repentance nullifies the demands of justice: settlement, retribution, and Wiedergutmachung. Repentance replaces the quid pro quo of justice. Forgiveness, then, does not operate alongside the precept of justice, nor does it act as a supplement. In the Christian view, forgiveness outranks justice—it is the higher value.

That is all well and good, you may say. It is a lofty view, but in practice, justice is of more use to us. How often do we really encounter repentance? Is it not more realistic to strive for justice? I am inclined to believe that this criticism is the result of a misunderstanding, which brings me once more to an assessment of the facts.

Contrary to appearances, forgiveness is a more realistic option than justice. After all, who among us could ever say of himself that he is wholly just, that he never causes any harm, that he unfailingly gives each his due? There are many who make that claim, but they are wrong. Anyone who faces reality to even a small extent will be confronted with his own failures, his injustice, his guilt. Since such guilt can never be fully expiated, we are all in dire need of forgiveness from our fellow men. We simply cannot afford to rely on their sense of justice alone. It thus behooves us to grant forgiveness when others have done us an injustice, if only because life might otherwise be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”—even, or perhaps especially, in a world that views justice as the highest and only value.

Forgiveness is a necessary addendum to justice: both to ask and to grant forgiveness. Without the willingness to do so, inner peace and social harmony are impossible. The exclusive attention to justice that characterizes our age is therefore highly inadequate, because justice cannot make and maintain peace by itself—not in the soul, not in the domestic sphere, not in society at large.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.