Between truth and trust : forgiveness as a literary and cultural challenge / by Svend Erik Larsen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Larsen, Svend Erik, 1946- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forgiveness in literature.

Forgiveness.

Physical Description:

xxvii, 371 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

[Cambridge] UK : Ethics International Press Ltd, 2024.

Summary:

"Radical wrongdoing can have devastating effects for entire communities, beyond individual trauma. Across cultures, different coping strategies that help victims to get on with their lives range from individual therapy to collective rituals and ceremonies. This new book distances itself from the predominantly individual take on forgiveness, and concentrates on its collective and cultural dimensions in a broad historical, religious and cultural context. By developing forgiveness as a particular speech act based on a precarious mutual acceptance between victims and perpetrators, the book suggests a new approach to forgiveness. Framed by this challenging reciprocity, forgiveness becomes an ongoing experiment in mutual understanding, which, to be successful, requires the imagination of a shared future. Literature, as a creative and imaginary medium of expression, is integrated throughout the book as a vehicle to explore a deeper understanding of the cultural practice of forgiveness. The book draws on literary texts from different cultures and religions across the globe; from antiquity and early Christianity to the present. In looking at forgiveness through this lens, the book offers a broader and more comprehensive approach than most of the existing scholarly literature and debates on forgiveness."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: "...transforming words into oxygen"

The conceptual challenge. Forgiveness and literature

Memory and emotion

The cultural challenge. Toward Christianity

Beyond Christianity

The literary challenge. Forms in transition

Norms in transition

Contexts in transition

Concluding perspectives: "...so we get our humanity back".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 340-371).

ISBN:

9781804412909

1804412902

9781804414798

1804414794

OCLC:

1402243820

Publisher Number:

90101764517