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The end of memory : remembering rightly in a violent world / Miroslav Volf.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Stob lectures ; 2002.Publication details: Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2024.Edition: Paperback editionDescription: xi, 296 pages ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0802875238
  • 9780802875235
Subject(s):
Contents:
Part One: Remember! -- Memory of interrogations -- Memory: shield and sword -- Part Two: How should we remember? -- Speaking truth, practicing grace -- Wounded self, healed memories -- Frameworks of memories -- Memory, the Exodus, and the Passion -- Part Three: How long should we remember? -- River of memory, river of forgetting -- Defenders of forgetting -- Redemption: harmonizing and driving out -- Rapt in goodness -- Postscript: an imagined reconciliation -- On memories of victims and perpetrators -- Afterword -- Epilogue: fifteen years later -- Interview with James K. A. Smith.
Summary: Can one forget atrocities? Should one forgive abusers? Ought we not hope for the final reconciliation of all the wronged and all wrongdoers alike, even if it means spending eternity with perpetrators of evil? We live in an age when it is generally accepted that past wrongs--genocides, terrorist attacks, bald personal injustices--should be constantly remembered. But Miroslav Volf here proposes the radical idea that letting go of such memories--after a certain point and under certain conditions--may actually be the appropriate course of action. While agreeing with the claim that to remember a wrongdoing is to struggle against it, Volf notes that there are too many ways to remember wrongly, perpetuating the evil committed rather than guarding against it. In this way, "the just sword of memory often severs the very good it seeks to defend." He argues that remembering rightly has implications not only for the individual but also for the wrongdoer and for the larger community. Volf's personal stories of persecution offer a compelling backdrop for his search for theological resources to make memories a wellspring of healing rather than a source of deepening pain and animosity. Controversial, thoughtful, and incisively reasoned, The End of Memory begins a conversation hard to ignore. - Publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 241.4 V914 Processing 33111011364268
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the Christianity Today Book Award in Christianity and Culture

How should we remember atrocities? Should we ever forgive abusers? Can we not hope for final reconciliation, even if it means redeemed victims and perpetrators spending eternity together?

We live in an age that insists that past wrongs--genocides, terrorist attacks, bald personal injustices--should never be forgotten. But Miroslav Volf here proposes the radical idea that letting go of such memories--after a certain point and under certain conditions--may be a gift of grace we should embrace. Volf's personal stories of persecution and interrogation frame his search for theological resources to make memories a wellspring of healing rather than a source of deepening pain and animosity. Controversial, thoughtful, and incisively reasoned, The End of Memory begins a conversation that we avoid to our great detriment.

This second edition includes an appendix on the memories of perpetrators as well as victims, a response to critics, and a James K. A. Smith interview with Volf about the nature and function of memory in the Christian life.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part One: Remember! -- Memory of interrogations -- Memory: shield and sword -- Part Two: How should we remember? -- Speaking truth, practicing grace -- Wounded self, healed memories -- Frameworks of memories -- Memory, the Exodus, and the Passion -- Part Three: How long should we remember? -- River of memory, river of forgetting -- Defenders of forgetting -- Redemption: harmonizing and driving out -- Rapt in goodness -- Postscript: an imagined reconciliation -- On memories of victims and perpetrators -- Afterword -- Epilogue: fifteen years later -- Interview with James K. A. Smith.

Can one forget atrocities? Should one forgive abusers? Ought we not hope for the final reconciliation of all the wronged and all wrongdoers alike, even if it means spending eternity with perpetrators of evil? We live in an age when it is generally accepted that past wrongs--genocides, terrorist attacks, bald personal injustices--should be constantly remembered. But Miroslav Volf here proposes the radical idea that letting go of such memories--after a certain point and under certain conditions--may actually be the appropriate course of action. While agreeing with the claim that to remember a wrongdoing is to struggle against it, Volf notes that there are too many ways to remember wrongly, perpetuating the evil committed rather than guarding against it. In this way, "the just sword of memory often severs the very good it seeks to defend." He argues that remembering rightly has implications not only for the individual but also for the wrongdoer and for the larger community. Volf's personal stories of persecution offer a compelling backdrop for his search for theological resources to make memories a wellspring of healing rather than a source of deepening pain and animosity. Controversial, thoughtful, and incisively reasoned, The End of Memory begins a conversation hard to ignore. - Publisher.

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