The Abuse of Forgiveness in Dealing with Legacies of Violence
In: Forgiveness: Philosophy, Psychology and the ArtsSearch for other papers by Urszula Pękala in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
In my chapter I explore the abuse of forgiveness in the context of coming to terms with past violence in social and international relationships. The risk of abuse in this context is determined by several factors, such as political interests and the national or religious identities of participating groups, particularly their self-images as victims or perpetrators, which are constructed in relation to memories of past conflicts. The abuse of forgiveness takes different forms and concerns both parties - the one seeking forgiveness and the one granting it. Generally speaking, forgiveness is abused when it is used more to gain an advantage than to restore a damaged relationship. Understanding the abuse of forgiveness depends on how forgiveness is defined. In my chapter I make use of the Christian theological notion of forgiveness because, firstly, it has often been transferred into political contexts from the religious sphere and, secondly, social and political forgiveness has often involved the participation of religious organizations as well as religiously-motivated individuals. Overall, on the basis of an examination of post-war Polish-German relations, this chapter focuses on the question: why and how do processes of memory and identity formation lead to such abuses?