"To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned".
As I read about and explore the issues of justice this year, I am drawn to consider things surrounding the subject including forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace. Volf has written among the most compelling work on reconciliation I have ever read in his book Exclusion and Embrace.
In the book quoted above Volf is exploring what it means for someone to remember who has been hurt while maintaining the goal of neither hating the perpetrator nor disregarding him or the event but of actually doing what Christ has done: Love your enemy.
Fredrick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr and others would agree with Volf's premise that we tear the fabric of our own souls and wound ourselves beyond that which has been inflicted on us when we seek retribution. Volf suggests that it is a "given of the Christian faith" that we must pursue justice but ultimately move beyond it for the sake of love of one's enemy.
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