Product Description

How should we respond to injuries done to us and to the hurts that we inflict on others? In this thoughtful book, Wounds Not Healed By Time, Solomon Schimmel guides us through the meanings of justice, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation. In doing so, he probes to the core of the human encounter with evil, drawing on religious traditions, psychology, philosophy, and the personal experiences of both perpetrators and of victims. Christianity, Judaism and Islam call for forgiveness and repentance in our relations with others. Yet, as Schimmel points out, there are significant differences between them as to when and whom to forgive. Is forgiving always more moral than refusing to forgive? Is it ever immoral to forgive? When is repentance a pre-condition for forgiveness, and what does repentance entail? Schimmel explores these questions in diverse contexts, ranging from conflicts in a marriage and personal slights we experience every day to enormous crimes such as the Holocaust. He applies insights on forgiveness and repentance to the Middle East, post-apartheid South Africa, inter-religious relationships, and the criminal justice system. In Wounds Not Healed By Time, Schimmel also provides practical strategies to help us forgive and repent, preparing the way for healing and reconciliation between individuals and groups. "It is my belief," Schimmel concludes, "that the best balm for the resentment, rage, guilt, and shame engendered by human evil lies in finding the proper balance between justice, repentance, and forgiveness."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79262 in eBooks
• Published on: 2002-09-22
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

From Publishers Weekly
Schimmel, a professor of Jewish education and psychology, brings a high level of scholarship, a deeply personal tone and an accessible writing style to complex questions of repentance and forgiveness. Taking his cue from the now classic collection of essays entitled The Sunflower (in which Simon Wiesenthal asks Jewish and Christian scholars for their thoughts on his denial of forgiveness to a young, dying SS officer), Schimmel revisits Wiesenthal's anguished questions by taking seriously perspectives and resources from Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Indeed, in lifting out real differences among the three Abrahamic faiths on the relationships among forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation, Schimmel draws out moral ambiguities with which all three traditions grapple. He brings these religious debates to a diversity of sociopolitical questions: Can a religious or political leader repent (or forgive) on behalf of a group or a nation? If the "sins of the fathers" really are visited upon the next generation, then how should we determine who our "fathers" are? For example, are immigrants responsible for the sins their adopted country committed before they arrived? And can reconciliation begin even among groups that disagree about who should be forgiving whom (e.g., in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict)? Most admirably, Schimmel adds his own voice in a way that seems to come less from books than from the heart.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As a nation and as individuals, we all struggle with questions of forgiveness and vengeance. Schimmel (Jewish education & psychology, Hebrew Coll.; The Seven Deadly Sins) uses the teachings of Judaism and Christianity and the research of modern psychology to throw light on this struggle. He deftly elucidates topics of revenge, justice, why and when to forgive, how to forgive, repentance, and reconciliation. He deals sensitively with these issues at the personal level and also includes institutional or national perspectives through an examination of America's race relations, the Vatican's recent apologies, Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and the South African experience with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Schimmel's thoughtful exploration of these themes includes the use of biblical and Talmudic texts, as well as current psychological thought. He criticizes the pressure in our culture to forgive too quickly and provides a respectful questioning of that pressure's Christian roots. This can serve as a self-help book for sophisticated readers or as a starting point for philosophical consideration of the topic. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.
Stephen Joseph, Butler Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A thorough and thoughtful book on a subject that could not be more important in the years ahead."--Jerusalem Post
"A tough, intellectually cogent analysis of repentance and forgiveness--issues that are generally relegated to sermonizing. This is not a sermon. It is a powerful and readable work of scholarship, imbued with the passion of a scholar who understands both evil and forgiveness and the difficult relationship between them."--Alan Dershowitz, author of Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age
"Deftly elucidates topics of revenge, justice, why and when to forgive, how to forgive, repentance, and reconciliation. He deals sensitively with these issues at the personal level and also includes institutional or national perspectives through an examination of America's race relations, the Vatican's recent apologies, Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and the South African experience with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission.... He criticizes the pressure in our culture to forgive too quickly and provides a respectful questioning of that pressure's Christian roots. This can serve as a self-help book for sophisticated readers or as a starting point for philosophical consideration of the topic."--Library Journal
"From Jerusalem to the Vatican to Capetown, Schimmel takes us on a scholarly journey through humanity's struggle to understand and cope with evil. He argues, with both passion and insight, that our only hope for a sane future lies in overcoming our natural tendencies toward vengeance and replacing them with a balance of justice, forgiveness, and repentance. Fortunately for the human race, we can, Schimmel insists, learn to forgive. Let's hope he's right."--Robert Epstein, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief, Psychology Today

Customer Reviews

Serious Religious Discussion of Forgiveness
Jewish readers will probably be tempted to read this book because the author explores forgiveness through a Hebrew lens: from the perspectives of the Bible, the Talmud, and modern psychotherapy. At times the author contrasts the Jewish view of forgiveness and repentance with Christian and Islamic models. Perhaps the best part of the book is the discussion of "steps" that can be taken by individuals who struggle to forgive those who have offended them. Indeed, if I find myself becoming hostile to another due to his/her wrongful conduct, I go back to this book to learn the techniques to soften my anger. As put by the author: "Mature forgiveness entails difficult emotional and intellectual work. It is a skill that needs to be cultivated, a virtue that needs to be acquired by self-training. When practiced thoughtlessly or simplistically, it is ineffective and counterproductive and can even be dangerous to oneself, to the person forgiven, and to society." Mr. Schimmel does not discuss his themes in "folksy" language. The author explores his topics intellectually, citing Maimonides, Freud, the Babylonian Talmud, Martin Buber, John Paul II, and Shakespeare. Very interesting...almost a classic.