Before Forgiveness

The main point made in this fine monograph is that the modern notion of interpersonal forgiveness, which is quite important today in religion.
Table of contents

In the New Testament, the power to remit sins is a privilege of God alone, as is clear, for instance, from Matt 9: In the Septuagint, there are only six occurrences, all in the most recent books, and again the meaning "forgiveness" or "to forgive" proper is to be ruled out. Since, moreover, Jesus ascribes ignorance to his killers, it is improper to translate his words as "Father, forgive them. Chapter 4 deals specifically with Patristic authors and notes the prominence of the theme of repentance in their writings, the importance of the notion of the so-called "original sin" or the sinful state of humanity, and the consequent necessity of a constant battle against sin.

Particular attention is devoted to John Chrysostom; Evagrius might have been another, no less relevant, example of the continual fight of the ascetic against sin. All sins are first of all against God, and repentance must entail a change of heart. A way to repentance is humility, a Christian virtue that Konstan nicely analyzes.

I suspect that this particular emphasis on the part of Gregory is due to his belief in the eventual apokatastasis , based on his conviction, deriving from Origen and shared, for instance, by Evagrius, that evil has no ontological status and must radically disappear in the end; baptism and cancellation of sins anticipate the telos. Konstan rightly admits that the Church Fathers did not altogether neglect interpersonal forgiveness, but through examples drawn from Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ephrem Ephraem Graecus , as perhaps it might have been worth mentioning: On the other hand, Konstan notes that Patristic authors, as well as classical authors, were interested in, and recommended, assuaging anger.

Konstan does not find a development of the notion and theory of interpersonal forgiveness in mediaeval authors either. He has checked Abelard, Anselm, and Aquinas; I could add more Platonizing thinkers such as John Scotus Eriugena or the so-called School of Chartres, and the result would be much the same. One might wish that Konstan had expanded a little more on mediaeval authors, who are the least analyzed in the book; some words on Dante would have been welcome, for instance.

But I realize that this would have added little to the general picture. In Chapter 6 Konstan finally endeavors to determine when and how the modern concept of forgiveness arose, and he shows how it was related to notions of moral autonomy and radical change of character and why it is based on a notion of self-transformation that may be incoherent. Something similar, albeit not so developed, might be already found in a scene of Shakespeare.

While noting the virtual absence of forgiveness theorizing in the main seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophers, Konstan examines Butler's treatment of forgiveness, which he locates in the context of human resentment and desire for revenge. However, Butler seems to be uninterested in repentance and a change of heart in the offender. Even though Kant has very little to say about interpersonal forgiveness, his moral philosophy is seen by Konstan as the framework in which that modern notion developed.

Hegel's notion of forgiveness is also evaluated. Konstan reports North's analysis of the problems related with Kant's notion of "a change of the self" in the process of repentance.


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She remarks that, if one is a new person after repentance, forgiveness makes no more sense, in that it would address the old person. The existence of this problem is rightly endorsed by Konstan, and I personally observe that this issue is very similar, in a way, to that which was pointed out by Origen in the thought of some "Gnostics" who regarded themselves as perfect and maintained that their sin was committed not by their own, perfect and spiritual, self, but by another, lower self.


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    7. This, in Origen's view, annulled responsibility and the possibility of forgiveness on the part of God. The similarity lies in the presupposition of two different selves, one that is responsible for the past sin and the other the new self, or, in the "Gnostic" model, the spiritual self who is thought to be free from that sin.

    This, as Konstan notes, is a contradiction in the very concept of forgiveness: Such a contradiction was absent from classical models of reconciliation, which did not require a change of the offender's self; what the offenders had to demonstrate was rather that the offended person's status and dignity was in fact not diminished hence display of self-abasement, deference, and the like. Konstan acknowledges that even in the classical world, and especially in Plato, there is some notion of a transformation of the self, but very sparse and not indicating a real ethical possibility.

    Such a lack of interest in the issue of the possibility of a transformation of the self is also reflected in ancient accounts of character development: This notion of a transformation of the self seems to be much more a Christian trait. I probably needn't add that it is St. Paul who spoke of putting on the "new man" in Christ and dismissing the old one, and Paul himself became for the Christians the example of a startling transformation, in Origen's words, from "Paul the persecutor [ sc. An additional problem with modern forgiveness, indicated by William Miller, who is quoted by Konstan, is related to the former: If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

    Learn more about Amazon Prime. In this book, David Konstan argues that the modern concept of interpersonal forgiveness, in the full sense of the term, did not exist in ancient Greece and Rome. Even more startlingly, it is not fully present in the Hebrew Bible, nor again in the New Testament, or in the early Jewish and Christian commentaries on the Holy Scriptures. It would still be centuries-- many centuries-- before the idea of interpersonal forgiveness, with its accompanying ideas of apology, remorse, and a change of heart on the part of the wrongdoer, would emerge.

    2011.03.21

    For all its vast importance today in religion, law, politics, and psychotherapy, interpersonal forgiveness is creation of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Christian concept of divine forgiveness was finally secularized. Forgiveness was God's province, and it took a revolution in thought to bring it to earth and make it a human trait. Read more Read less.

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    She wants to tell off the flirty billionaire but finds herself falling for him. Achieve anything you set your mind to with the ultimate step-by-step guide to relentless self-discipline! Review "David Konstan's superb book is the first comprehensive and critical examination of the early history of Western ideas of forgiveness. Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: Share your thoughts with other customers.

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    Before Forgiveness by David Konstan

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