Reconciliation without violence

Abstract

Is it possible to solve conflicts without using violence, or is the use of violent retribution necessary to solve problems and restore peace after serious crimes and offences? This is a classical question in the philosophy of law and in all the disciplines dealing with conflict resolution. It is also an important question in theology. The material for this article comes from interviews with sons who have grown up with violent fathers, and from philosophical and theological texts dealing with the theme of conflict resolution. In contemporary theology it is necessary to confront images of God as a violent patriarch and punisher, but still it is important to develop a theology of God as the fair and good judge. The God of reconciliation is not only the forgiver, but also the one who confronts Evil with wrath and resentment.

Notes

1. P. Leer-Salvesen, Menneske og straff (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1991) and Tilgivelse (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1999).

2. P. Leer-Salvesen, Forsoning etter krenkelser (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2009).

3. L. Wittgenstein, Filosofiske unders⊘kelser (Oslo: Pax forlag, 1997).

4. I have given the men fictive names. A more complete version of their stories can be read in Leer-Salvesen, Forsoning.

5. Connell's classic analysis shows a masculine hierarchy where the white heterosexual male rules on the top, dominating women, children and homosexuals. He has given a frightening portrait of the violent patriarch. R. W.Connell, Masculinities (California: University of California Press, 1995), 225.

6. Robert D. Enright at The International Institute for forgiveness in Madison, Wisconsin is a senior in research on forgiveness. I have visited the institute several times and have found inspiration in his books. R. D. Enright and R. P. Fitzgibbons, Helping clients to forgive (Washington D. C.: American Psychological Association, 2000).In this book he shows by cases several examples of reframing as important steps in the reconciliation process.

7. I collected letters from 100 Norwegians who wrote to me about forgiveness. Thirteen letters came from women who had been sexually abused or even raped.

8. J. Hampton Murphy, Forgiveness and Mercy (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1990).

9. T. Brudholm, Resentment's Virtue: Jean Améry and the Refusal to Forgive (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).

10. A. Boraine, A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

11. D. Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Doubleday, 2000).

12. D. Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 273.

13. Brudholm, Resentment, 55. Tutu, Forgiveness, 146.

14. Brudholm, Resentment, 55.

15. H. Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1958–1998), 238.

16. R. Girard, The Scapegoat (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).

17. W. M. Swartley, (ed.), Violence Renounced: René Girard, Biblical Studies and Peacemaking (Telford: Pandora Press, 2000).

18. W. M. Swartley, (ed.), Violence Renounced: René Girard, Biblical Studies and Peacemaking (Telford: Pandora Press, 2000), 319.

19. K. Barth, Dogmatik (vol. IV, 1; Zürich: Evangelischer Verlag Ag, Zollikon, 1953).

20. H. Zehr, Changing Lenses (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1990).

21. J. D. Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement (Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2001).

22. G. Aulèn, Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement (New York: Macmillan 1931-1967).

23. Anselm of Canterbury, Why God Became Man (New York: Magi, 1099–1962).

24. K. E. L⊘gstrup, Skabelse og tilintetg⊘relse (K⊘benhavn: Gyldendal, 1983).