An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

The following was a review I handed in for my "Confession and Forgiveness in Pastoral Care" class at Princeton Theological Seminary. In "An Ethic For Enemies," Donald Shriver seeks to bring about a shift in the current understanding of how we should treat enemies in the realm of politics. More plainly, Shriver is trying to give us a fresh and satisfactory answer to how we can get along with people who are different from us, and with whom we share a history of evil. The historical necessity for such a discussion is, of course, the "hundred million or so people who in fact have perished in war since 1900" (p.9), not to mention contemporary global conflicts fueled by an increasing ability to destroy one another with sophisticated and powerful weaponry. In contrast to most modern political discussions of ethics, which tend to center around notions of justice, Shriver contends that political theorists and philosophers must begin taking seriously the moral concept of forgiveness. He is aware of the response this word invokes: "The word forgiveness has a religious ring in the ears of the most modern westerners in a way that justice does not" (p.7), and is often charged with being too idealistic for politics. In order to rescue forgiveness from a purely religious connotation, Shriver references history and narrative as evidence for how much power this concept has had in the past, and how much it can have for secular politics today. Shriver defines forgiveness as a moral concept that is actualized in human transactions. The first transaction occurs by remembering the wrongs conducted, taking a moral assessment. Once consensus is built on what wrongs were committed by both parties involved, the second transaction is to discuss and enact the proper restitution that "should be leveled against the offender" (p.7). Shriver makes clear that whatever restitution means, it must mean "the abandonment of vengeance" or "forbearance" (p.8), effectively stopping the cycle of violence. As these discussions of corporate memory and restitution take place, the third transaction of empathy of the enemy's humanity begins to happen. This mutual humanizing (and thus the end of de-humanizing) brings the possibility of co-existence. Finally, the relationship between former enemies is renewed through the fourth transaction as a "civil relationship between strangers" (p.8), which may or may not grow into something more interdependent over time. In the first chapter, Shriver draws on ancient historical texts that have defined the nature of justice and forgiveness, including the Greek play by Aeschylus, the history of Thucydides, the story of Cain and Abel, and the story of Joseph. In the second chapter, Shriver turns to the theme of forgiveness in the New Testament, which Jesus affirmed in "the five settings [of] (1) healings, (2) prayer, (3) eating, (4) public enemies, and (5) discipline inside the new community" (p.36). However, as Shriver examines the political ethics from A