Forgiveness is like gift giving, said theologian Miroslav Volf. He used the example of a gift sent to his sister, who might find all kinds of reasons not to accept something sent by her brother. "The gift is still valid and important," he told a questioner who wanted to know if forgiveness was conditional upon the recipient showing remorse for their actions.
The dilemma of forgive is common to the human condition because a world of imperfect human beings can’t help but offend one another. We all have ample opportunities to forgive but should we, and how should we? With quotations from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Dr. Phil, Miroslav Volf offered some reflections in a lecture on the University of Wisconsin campus titled, "Can We Forgive Without God?"
Some offenses we receive are slight, like being bumped in a crowded hallway. Catharine the Great was notorious for banning from her presence anyone who had the bad manners to yawn in her presence. In such cases forgiveness is not really a serious matter.
But, as the question and answer period after the lecture illustrated, people experience much more grievous offenses. And we have a decision to make about how we will respond to the injustice we have experienced.
Volf said that the root of forgiveness is found in God’s willingness to take upon himself human form and then go to the cross to take upon himself the sins that we have all committed. "In this one act we find the right to forgive, indeed the obligation to forgive," he said.
He went on to say that the motivation to forgive arises from our realization that we owe our very existence to the self-giving love of God. "The wrong doer deserves punishment," he said. "But this is where self giving reaches its pinnacle. We seek the character of God."
Volf’s 30 minute lecture was followed by 50 minutes of questions and answers in which he added details on how to forgive well (with humility, not pride) and how to forgive one’s self (it’s not your deeds that define you but your relationship with Christ).
More than 100 people turned out on a rainy Friday night to pack an auditorium in Grainger Hall for the fourth annual Geneva Forum lecture, sponsored by Geneva Campus Church, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries, and New College Madison. Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale University Divinity School, and the Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.
More on Miroslav Volf’s visit to Madison in this Faith and Values column by Phil Haslanger.