Matthew Ichihashi Potts
Yale University Press, 288 pages | Published November 22, 2022
“Forgive and forget” may be helpful advice for those struggling with little lapses in courtesy or missteps, but are “good” Christians required to forgive, even when perpetrators have caused irrevocable harm or grief?
In Forgiveness, Episcopal priest and Harvard Divinity School professor Matthew Potts shows that a theology of demanding forgiveness (and even reconciliation) with wrongdoers can spiritually harm those who’ve been wronged. Perhaps, Potts wonders, a healthy approach to Christian forgiveness is to forge a middle path — firmly against an eye-for-an-eye style of retribution (because retaliating does nothing to heal our wounds) but also against simply forgetting (because failing to confront wrongdoing is also a profound moral failure). He takes seriously Christ’s call to both love our enemies and hold them accountable, recognizing this as a paradox of our faith. After all, “(f)or all the Christian talk about unconditional forgiveness, in this foundational example of divine forgiveness God does not forgive for free.”
Forgiveness is situated in that sweet spot where applied theology and scholarly thinking meet. It could easily form the basis of a seminary class; however, Potts makes his case through contemporary literature, drawing on novels such as Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The result is a surprisingly accessible work that’s readily applicable to pastors and others who want to offer a helpful Christian approach to forgiveness, whether from the pulpit or in pastoral counseling and care.
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