Giving, for-giving, and forgiving : what we give when we forgive

Abstract

Forgiveness is one of the most delicate and at the same time profound themes of human experience. It is not easy to account for forgiveness. Even when its central elements are shown in the form of a clear conceptualisation, it remains difficult to apply what emerges from the theoretical discussion to one’s own life. The main difficulty lies in having to come face to face with an equally uncomfortable issue that represents the opposite of forgiveness, namely the problem of evil. Indeed, if we speak of forgiveness, how can we ignore the evil that someone has inflicted and that someone else has suffered? The whole issue is certainly not free of ambiguity. Forgiveness, however, is not just one option among many others. It is neither possible nor right to renounce a resource that reveals an eschatology, an ultimate time in which original goodness rejoins the human community in an unprecedented way. [extract]