How does the meaning of forgiveness change when we think about forgiving as being an act of love? This is one of the central questions in Professor John Lippitt’s new book, Love’s Forgiveness, which unites discussions of forgiveness from the disciplines of philosophy, theology and psychology, as well as memoir and fiction.
Published by Oxford University Press, Love’s Forgiveness is the result of a two-year Major Research Fellowship from the prestigious Leverhulme Trust in the UK, which John Lippitt was awarded during his time as a Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Hertfordshire.
Since taking up his post as Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute for Ethics & Society (IES) at Notre Dame, he has completed the final phase of this project. The IES is planning an official book launch on Thursday 19th November.
John’s book brings the often exclusively secular discussion about forgiveness found in contemporary philosophy into dialogue with work from theology and the New Testament. An important figure in the discussion is the 19th-century Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard.
“I think Kierkegaard is a really good conduit for doing this because a lot of what he has to say about forgiveness is based on really interesting, but often quite quirky, readings of New Testament passages about forgiveness,” Prof Lippitt said.
There’s been significant interest among philosophers about the nature and the ethics of forgiveness over the past few decades, but also a lot of different representations of forgiveness in popular culture and literature – some of which are arguably over-simplified.
When he was writing his book, Prof Lippitt recalls seeing a headline in a British newspaper that read: “Forgiveness: Is it the answer to everything?” It now sticks in his memory as one of many outlandish claims that has been made about what forgiveness can do.
“A lot of the pop psychology literature talks about forgiveness as a cure-all; there’s this idea that if you could only forgive, you’d feel so much better and be able to ‘let go’,” Prof Lippitt said.
But is it really that simple? This is one of the questions Love’s Forgiveness delves into.
“If I forgive solely for my own benefit, that leaves out the element of ‘gift’ that is built into the idea of forgiveness in many different languages,” says Prof Lippitt.
“I want people to see that the questions around forgiveness are more complicated, but also more interesting, than a lot of the treatment in popular culture seems to suggest.”
Prof Lippitt’s book explores the complex relationship between forgiveness and resentment, and whether at its best, forgiveness is conditional or unconditional.
“Some have taken the view that before forgiveness is appropriate, it always requires the wrongdoer to repent,” explains Prof Lippitt.
“Others have held that forgiveness at its best is something offered in advance of such repentance, and sometimes serves as a catalyst for it. I argue that there is a tension in the New Testament between these two views, and I also argue for a particular kind of unconditional forgiveness that I think gets around the worries that some people have about it.”
As he talks about the book, Prof Lippitt also refers to his interest in connecting topics such as love and forgiveness with important virtues such as humility, patience, gratitude and hope.
“I’m trying to get people to see just how rich the terrain of forgiveness is and how it has something to say about all these human attitudes and qualities of character that we might need to develop in ourselves and encourage in others,” he adds.
Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University, C. Stephen Evans, believes Prof Lippitt has successfully achieved that aim.
“A masterful treatment of an exceptionally important set of issues surrounding forgiveness,” Professor Evans wrote of the book.
“It will become the standard work on forgiveness, and it also has lots to offer about love, justice, and the virtues of hope and humility.”
The Institute for Ethics & Society is hosting a book launch for Love’s Forgiveness on 19th November, 2020. The event is planned to feature guest speakers including C. Stephen Evans and Christopher Cordner (University of Melbourne), as well as Prof Lippitt.
Click Here to register for the event.