Before Forgiveness
The Origins of a Moral Idea
$49.99 (C)
- Author: David Konstan, Brown University, Rhode Island
- Date Published: April 2012
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781107680203
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In this book, David Konstan argues that the modern concept of interpersonal forgiveness, in the full sense of the term, did not exist in ancient Greece and Rome. Even more startlingly, it is not fully present in the Hebrew Bible, nor again in the New Testament, or in the early Jewish and Christian commentaries on the Holy Scriptures. It would still be centuries-- many centuries-- before the idea of interpersonal forgiveness, with its accompanying ideas of apology, remorse, and a change of heart on the part of the wrongdoer, would emerge. For all its vast importance today in religion, law, politics, and psychotherapy, interpersonal forgiveness is creation of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Christian concept of divine forgiveness was finally secularized. Forgiveness was God’s province, and it took a revolution in thought to bring it to earth and make it a human trait.
Read more- Presents the novel idea that interpersonal forgiveness is a modern idea
- Argues that the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome, Jews and Christians, did not develop a concept of interpersonal forgiveness
- Concludes that modern forgiveness may be understood as the secularization of divine forgiveness in the Judaeo-Christian tradition
Reviews & endorsements
“David Konstan’s superb book is the first comprehensive and critical examination of the early history of Western ideas of forgiveness. Konstan’s magisterial grasp of the relevant texts and thinkers from the ancient Greek and Roman periods through early Christian and Judaic sources to the Church Fathers is extraordinary. Contemporary discussions of forgiveness often make a number of unexamined assumptions about the historical sources of this crucial moral idea, and these influence how it is understood. It turns out, in Konstan’s view, that the modern notion of interpersonal forgiveness – and with it a supporting web of ideas about morality, the emotions, and the self – is of quite recent vintage. Konstan also sheds light on crucial modern treatments of the idea such as those found in Shakespeare, Molière, Butler, Kant, and Derrida, among others. His remarkable book will challenge readers to rethink their assumptions, and therefore to sharpen their answer to the much-debated question – what is forgiveness? – that lies at the heart of his inquiry.” – Charles L. Griswold, Boston University
See more reviews“This book is nothing less than brilliant. Every one of its chapters contains a startlingly unexpected message, and the range of the book as a whole is enormous. At every point, David Konstan makes one think philosophically about different concepts and hence about the concept of forgiveness itself. The philosophical insight he provides is based on his perceptivity about an incredible range of texts.” --Richard Sorabji, King’s College, London and New York University
"...this is a thought-provoking work. The author is at his best in summarizing contemporary philosophical analysis of forgiveness as a concept, and in disabusing modern readers of reading "forgiveness" into ancient texts." --Choice
"The main point made in this fine monograph is that the modern notion of interpersonal forgiveness, which is quite important today in religion, law, politics, and psychotherapy, was altogether absent from the classical world, both Greek and Roman. What is more, it seems to have not been fully developed in the Bible, ancient Judaism, or early Christianity either, where the focus was more on God's forgiveness than on human, interpersonal forgiveness. In fact, according to the author, the birth of the modern concept of forgiveness should be traced back just to the past three or four centuries. ....This volume makes for fascinating reading and is a remarkable scholarly achievement. -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
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×Product details
- Date Published: April 2012
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781107680203
- length: 208 pages
- dimensions: 226 x 150 x 15 mm
- weight: 0.29kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. What is forgiveness?
2. Before forgiveness: Greeks and Romans on guilt and innocence
3. Did they forgive? Greek and Roman narratives of reconciliation
4. Divine absolution: the Hebrew and Christian bibles
5. Humility and repentance: the church fathers
6. Enter forgiveness: the self transformed.
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