Forgiveness

“Potts diagnoses the real dangers of forgiveness yet insists upon its enduring promise. . . . This book heralds the arrival of a new and creative theological voice.”—Englewood Review of Books, “Ten Theology Books to Watch For—November 2022”

“This book is brilliant and generative and learned. A compelling apologia for forgiveness, it takes seriously and yet disarms many current-day critiques of forgiveness.”—Lauren Winner, Duke University

“Both the impossibility and the power of forgiveness are illuminated in this important and necessary work. Theologically potent, a complex vista of the schisms of our traumatized, violent reality is painted with lucid colors. Forgiveness is an invaluable guide for our fractured world.”—Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art and Faith: A Theology of Making

“Our world needs authentic approaches to the wounds we have suffered and inflicted. Matthew Ichihashi Potts brilliantly navigates this in Forgiveness, a book that moves beyond the performance and into the profound challenge to embody compassion and to repair and transform our mutual humanity on the pathway toward healing.”—John Paul Lederach, author of The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace

“Matthew Ichihashi Potts meets our moment honestly with an account of forgiveness as a practice rooted in grief. Grounding his argument in life, literature, theology, and philosophy, Potts challenges us to regard forgiveness not as a change in how we feel but a decision about how we respond. Essential reading.”—Stephanie Paulsell, author of Religion Around Virginia Woolf

“In this profound and moving book, Potts convincingly demonstrates that contemporary novelists understand what Christian theology too often forgets: forgiveness is more tragic than triumphant.”—Constance M. Furey, co-author of Devotion: Three Inquiries in Religion, Literature, and Political Imagination