BOOK REVIEWS

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THE ART OF FORGIVENESS
Theological Reflections on Healing and Reconciliation

by Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz

Published by WCC Publications, World Council of Churches
150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, SWITZERLAND

(A somewhat different version of this book was published in German as Vergebung macht frei - Vorschläge für eine Theologie der Versöhnung by Verlag Otto Lembeck, Frankfurt.)

Is there a need for reconciliation, and its corollary, forgiveness, in today's world? If so, how can it be achieved? Within our world community of Sacré Coeur Alumnae, the answer to the first question is no doubt a resounding yes, as we are already conscious of the issue and indeed have chosen it as the theme for our next World Congress. Answers to the second question are what we will be seeking in the next few years. And yet it is still important to ask these seemingly obvious questions, because to find true answers to them requires going beyond the obvious.

This book invites us not only to forgive, but to cultivate forgiveness as an 'art'. As you all know, practising an art requires specialised knowledge first of all, followed by the cultivation of technique, discipline and creativity. Müller-Fahrenholz provides seminal ideas and guidance which can enable us to become 'artists' of reconciliation and forgiveness.

First of all, what is truly meant by the word 'forgiveness'? In our Creed we recite 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins', but Müller-Fahrenholz believes that in our increasingly secularised world, the word has become almost meaningless, even irrelevant. In daily life, to smooth the process of social exchange, we often say 'I'm sorry!' or 'Excuse me', but because such asking for forgiveness does not imply any real consequences for our behaviour, it reduces forgiveness to mere politeness.

So how can we begin to regain a true consciousness of forgiveness - both the need for it and how to create it? For Christians, Müller-Fahrenholz believes we need to begin by looking again at the message of the Bible, in particular the New Testament, and the central symbol of the Crucifixion.

He points out that Christianity, while eternally rooted and indebted to Judaism, has taken a soteriological shift from the essence of Judaism, quoting from Rabbi Albert Friedlander who wrote that " 'the special revelation of the Jewish religion, its singular contribution to the world, lies in the ethical'. On the other hand, the essence of Christianity is not ethics but forgiveness: "brought out most clearly in Jesus' prayer from the cross: 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing' " (Luke 23:34).

The problem, and of course we are aware of this - it was addressed by Teresa Porcile in her keynote address at San Luis Potosí - is that the history of the church has not always lived up to this ideal. Müller-Fahernholz writes that: "the betrayal set in early, with the repeated attempts to blame the Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus - a clear indication that the church retained the scapegoating mechanism which Jesus came to overcome". The French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, of whom I wrote in my earlier editorial, goes even further. He quotes Max Weber, who defined the State as based on "the monopoly over legitimate violence". As Ricoeur points out, "in the old theological-political system which, in essence, dominated Europe until the French Revolution, there was an exchange of assets between the two spheres: the State gave its power and therefore its violence; and the Church gave legitimacy, its blessing."

In order to move away from the culture of legitimised violence, of blame and scapegoating, and in order to learn to truly forgive, heal and be healed, Müller-Fahrenholz suggests that first of all, we must reject inappropriate forms of thinking.

Dating from the Reformation, but by now no longer confined to the Protestant churches, is what he calls "the verticalist reduction". In many ways the Reformation was a reaction to church abuse of power. The intention was therefore "to regain the biblical understanding of sin and the good news of forgiveness". Müller-Fahrenholz points out the flaw in this: "the tendency to privatise sin and forgiveness gave way to spiritualization - or rather a de-materialisation - of what sin and forgiveness imply. The social, political and economic implications of these central notions of faith became difficult to detect...It left the concerns of salvation, including forgiveness, to the realm of the gospel, whereas the concerns of the 'world', including economics and politics, belonged to the realm of the law."

But the greatest weakness in the 'verticalist' approach has only become apparent in our time. "What happens to a strictly vertical concept when the reality to which this line points disappears, when God is declared dead?" Müller-Fahrenholz asks. He reminds us, if we are not already acutely aware of it, of the recent history of faith and ideas. "The critique of religion formulated by Feuerbach, Marx and many others insisted that God is a mere human projection and that people's concerns about salvation and divine pardon are religious needs derived from social and economic want. This critical atheism has paved the way for the practical godlessness of Western societies, the almost complete loss of accountability to a transcendental being...Where there is no God, there is no sin. And where there is no sin, there is no forgiveness."

Modern democracy and legislated social change have brought us, among other things, access to literacy and education - at least in the privileged parts of the world, but increasingly this is also an aspiration, if not always achievable, in the rest of the world. Müller-Fahrenholz does not state this overtly, but I think many of his ideas are based on the change in consciousness that being able to read, write and become linguistically conscious brings, not only to an individual's world-view but to whole societies. He comments that "in many European languages 'to sin' can be used only as an active verb; the passive form is grammatically impossible. [Editor's note: In the one Asian language which I speak, this is also true, so I don't think it is a purely European phenomenon.] We 'sin', but when we are the object of such activity we can only say that we "suffer sin" or are 'sinned against'. Apparently, 'to sin' is a way of behaving which knows only subject but no objects. This grammatical observation reveals a significant trait in the European consciousness, namely that of placing the sinner at the centre of attention."

This is the book's central point: that to achieve true reconciliation, we must think beyond castigating or punishing those who sin, who cause harm, whether it is ourselves or others. It is not enough to apportion blame, or even to punish. The issue of forgiveness, he says, "goes beyond justice", beyond the basis on which most legal systems are built, "the punishment of the culprit, [where] it is simply assumed that this is also the way in which the pain and hurt of the victim will be healed - which is of course an illusion."

This is why it is also important to return to the central symbol of the Crucifixion, to try to revision it in an iconographical fashion which was second instinct to our antecedents who could not read and often thought outside linguistic constructs. Quoting from the book Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads by Gil Bailie ( Crossroad; New York, 1995), Müller-Fahrenholz reminds us that "the crucifixion's anthropological significance is lost if responsibility for its violence is shifted from all to some. To lay the blame on the Pharisees or the Jews is to undermine the universal meaning of the crucifixion in favour of the familiar theory of wickedness." The crucifixion is there to remind us of our common humanity and our common need for reconciliation.

Once we accept this type of communality, it is possible to move on. As a German, Müller-Fahrenholz is conscious of the fact of the Holocaust in ways which non-Germans probably do not share. The Holocaust is his paradigm of an idea which, nonetheless, applies to all of humankind, beyond the facts of nationality or national history, which is not to negate the obvious fact that the Holocaust was a universal human event. He writes, "Human beings act or fail to act not only as individual persons but also as members of families, associations, ethnic groups and nations...Those who want to go forward together need to walk through their histories together." He adds, "So it is wrong to say that only the victims can forgive. The victims have their history too, and they make history. Their pain influences coming generations, especially if it is never openly addressed. It is essential to take the intergenerational impact of suffering into account and to involve the coming generations in the process of forgiveness."

I am personally aware of how true this statement is. My mother's entire family was killed on a single day at the end of World War II; she was the single survivor through sheer circumstances. Although I was born a decade and a half later, I still remember this event shadowing my childhood. It is part of who I am, it is part of my relationship with my mother, it is part of the continuing process of reconciliation I need to have with her. Now I live in another country, and here, the question of intergenerational impact is also with us, in the complex and painful process of reconciliation with our Aboriginal people which we need to achieve to heal ourselves as a society. If you look around at your society, I am sure you will find that this issue is one you live with too.

I have written to you before about ways in which we, as members of a non-political organisation, can be present in the world and act in ways which make this world truly a better place. This is an important theme of Müller-Fahrenholz's book. He believes that forgiveness is an essential element in politics, rejecting Dietrich Bonhoeffer's view that forgiveness is simply a "theoretical category".

We are not referring to party politics here, but to politics as a nation's (or indeed group of nations') "conscious and unconscious memories". Honesty and clarity about a history and the collective past are, he insists, "the founding principle of any form of dependable and authentic politics".

The alternative is events such as we have seen in the former Yugoslavia, or Rwanda, where violence has been justified by a very narrow view of history, with the Serbs, for example, acting on resentments which go back to the battle of Kosovo (1389) in 1989.

One challenge which Müller-Fahrenholz sets out very clearly, and which he believes, if it is achieved, can do much to prevent violence and to actively heal, is the notion of questioning our sense of identity. This is one of the subjects which our current Study Plan proposes. It is something which I believe we, as Sacré Coeur alumnae, can achieve together.

All of us have multiple identities - as individuals, as members of a family, as members of ethnic or national units, or indeed as an association of like-minded persons as we are. Müller-Fahrenholz has a beautiful and evocative word for these identities. He calls them "canopies".

As he says, "political leaders derive much of their influence from their ability to formulate and represent this collective identity...President Milosovic provided a new sense of identity to the Serbian people after the collapse of communist Yugoslavia by evoking the memories of the battle of Kosovo".

He contrasts this with the actions of the late President Sadat of Egypt when he proposed a peaceful settlement in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem. "When Sadat flew from Cairo to Jerusalem he left the Arab canopy. His reference to the one God who is at the heart of Muslims, Christians and Jews indicates he was aware of a larger tent. As a fervent believer and mystic, he was conscious of an identity informed and constituted by faith, a canopy which overarches national and tribal tents and provides a sense of belonging that transcends historical identities."

There is a downside to this, because leaving one's canopy is never easy. As Müller-Fahrenholz points out, many leaders who have taken this step, including Sadat, have been assassinated, not by the former foe, but by their own people.

This, he explains, is one reason politicians are so reluctant to move beyond the safety of the identity tent and work supportively with transnational organisations such as the United Nations. This is why it is vital that this important work, which is one of the challenges of politics, not be left to politicians.

He believes it is necessary to develop so-called 'middle-range' approaches (in contrast with the 'top-level' approaches of leaders and diplomatic agencies) at intermediary levels - community leaders, intellectuals, spiritual persons, indeed, associations such as ours. "We are not suggesting that people should give up their national and ethnic canopies. But people need to create some space between their canopies so that they can meet each other without 'trespassing'." This is, in many ways, the journey we are all being invited to make over the next three years.

We already have such a wealth of communication and friendship - I am the fortunate recipient of so much of this on an almost daily basis - but we have to move further, to help build what Teresa Porcile called 'a civilisation of love'. This is more than just loving one's neighbour, it means working, thinking, acting. It means dealing with issues, such as the issue of what Müller-Fahrenholz calls 'Stolen Power', whether this power has been stolen from indigenous peoples through colonialism; from those who, because of their race or ethnicity, have been declared inferior and therefore worthy of exploitation; from the poor and oppressed by powerful elites; from those he calls victims of the "undeclared war which is external debt".

All of these challenges call for us all to become 'artists of forgiveness'. It is part of the quest for what it means to be truly human. In the end, Müller-Fahrenholz tells us, "the quest for what is truly human transcends the human race". This is why, he says, acting in this way is more than a matter of altruistic interest, more than doing 'good works', "but a matter of political realism and enlightened self interest". The term 'global village' is only meaningful if we understand what it really means. There is no longer enough space in this village for "the politics of domination". He reminds us: "The people of a village know where their village ends. They know their boundaries. And they know that they are in it together. We who are living today are the first generations of humans who have been able to look at the earth from outside and see it for what it is: a small planet wrapped in thin layers of air, a precious blue ark of amazing life lost in the dark expanses of the universe. Looking at our planet as our one and single home is a new and frightening experience to many, although the myths of ancient cultures have always known this".

I recommend this book to you all and hope that many of you will read it. And I invite you all to join in the process of reconciliation and our real 'homecoming'.


- JOSEPHINE BARCELON

The following reviews are reproduced with kind permission of UFASC (Union Française des Anciennes et Anciens Elèves du Sacré-Coeur), the French National Association. These reviews were first published in their journal, CARITAS. [The EDITOR has attempted to translate them!]

THE MEANING OF WORDS (Le sens de mots) by Isabelle Mourral (published by FAYARD)

Reviewed by Paule de MAUVAISIN

Isabelle Mourral addresses her new book, "The Meaning of Words" to each one of us. As Maurice Schumann says in his preface, the author would like to "lead all those who have the French language in common [Editor's note: I believe this applies to all of us, no matter which language(s) we speak] back to the pathways leading to true happiness, by teaching them the pleasure of communicating which comes from naming things well". Thus Isabelle Mourral remains faithful to her double vocation, that of teacher which she has followed all her life, without forgetting that which she received in the course of her Sacred Heart Education: the search for goodness which is the objective, the true goal of consciousness.

Our friend grieves for the "unloved" words in our language...those words which, rightly or wrongly, we see as a threat to our freedom. In our modern minds, there are other words which have, little by little, been emptied of their meaning: these words are in effect "forgotten". But other words have been more fortunate, those which have been introduced through new forms of knowledge, or which support contemporary models of society: those in this last category express a need, that of alleviating a profound loneliness, of being helped and understood. Finally, there is the abuse of words or expressions borrowed from religious vocabulary: we need only cite "state of grace" used in the context of winning elections.

No, "obvious" does not mean "easy"..."to believe" does not signify "imagining"..."Truth" is not a "personal opinion", nor ecumenism an "agreement of convenience".

We thank Isabelle Mourral for helping us to understand the essential relationship between language and thought, and the relationship of language with reality. Thank you for teaching us the true meaning of words.

We have often valued the purity and exactitude of her language. Despite the distance which now separates her from Marseille, she still comes regularly to speak to us of this and be reunited for a few hours with her former friends and fellow Sacré-Coeur alumnae. She brings us the teaching of the Church concerning the true dignity of humankind, the major risks of education today, the dangers of the "new age", the urgency of a return to ethics, and of "tolerance", one of the words which have enjoyed good fortune, and of "authority", one of the "unloved" words of our time.

GENEVIÈVE DE GAULLE ANTHONIOZ
A biography
by Caroline Glorion
(Published by Èditions Plon)

Reviewed by Francine LEGENDRE

"An endless struggle against the injustices of society"

The biography which Caroline Glorion dedicates to Geneviève de Gaulle, niece of the General, is a passionate narrative in two voices which traces one lifetime's struggle against suffering. The journalist and author writes in a precise and serious tone, the heroine "bears witness". "Heroine" - the word Geneviève de Gaulle forcefully objected to; the word she preferred was "fighter".

"Heroism, I don't like the word. People need models, so they invent heroes...But life is not like that. I don't think it is necessary to try to have a great life, or a grand destiny...what is important is try to do right."

The President of "ATD Quart Monde" had all these strengths. "One doesn't have to resign oneself to what seems unacceptable. When one has the means to fight, one must use it. It is this which gives life its meaning."

Her own life was strewn with unhappy events: the death of her mother when she was only four and a half years old; then that of her younger sister. She was sustained by a closely-knit family and her father Xavier de Gaulle, elder brother of the General, inculcated courage and love of country in her. As a boarder with the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Metz, she was a studious student who aspired to the Charter College. At age 18, she joined the Resistance, then in 1943 the underground under the name of Geneviève Lecomte. Arrested by the Gestapo, she became a prisoner at Ravensbruck. There she experienced the worst conditions of detention, but also absolute fraternity and solidarity, in the ceaseless struggle against annihilation.

When Liberation came, she gave evidence along with her comrades in deportation and founded the association of former deportees and interned persons of the Resistance. In 1958, she was working with her husband, Bernard Anthonioz - another member of the Resistance - on the Cabinet of Andre Malraux as Minister of Culture when an event changed her life. Father Joseph Wresinski had made her visit a shanty-town at Noisy-le-Grand. "What I saw that day, these poor people deprived of water and electricity, brought back what I had experienced in the camps." Sympathetic to the message of Father Joseph, who wanted to extend the parameters of welfare to allow these outcasts to rediscover their dignity as citizens, she devoted herself to the struggle.

Deeply involved with ATD Quart Monde - the Presidency of which she accepted in 1954 - it was the "rejection of the unacceptable" which drove her in the struggle against large-scale poverty. Geneviève de Gaulle pleaded cases to public authorities, harassed politicians, took charge of cases for rehousing. Pompidou, Giscard, Mitterand met with her. In 1988, she was
appointed to the Economic and Social Council. Her relationship with the politics of struggle against misery made a great impact. She attempted to introduce a law defining a direction for social cohesion. Chirac promised her this and defended her enthusiastically before the National Assembly. Abandoned because of the Assembly's dissolution, a new law is currently being debated during this session.

In this moving document, Geneviève de Gaulle gives us her beliefs and her commitments. Her motto: "only the deed matters, not the doer", as well as her amazing example, restore and enrich our humanity.