Ancient Forgiveness

Classical, Judaic, and Christian

Charles L. Griswold, David Konstan

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780521119481
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139180146
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Philosophy

In this book, eminent scholars of classical antiquity and ancient and medieval Judaism and Christianity explore the nature and place of forgiveness in the pre-modern Western world. They discuss whether the concept of forgiveness, as it is often understood today, was absent, or at all events more restricted in scope than has been commonly supposed, and what related ideas (such as clemency or reconciliation) may have taken the place of forgiveness. An introductory chapter reviews the conceptual territory of forgiveness and illuminates the potential breadth of the idea, enumerating the important questions a theory of the subject should explore. The following chapters examine forgiveness in the contexts of classical Greece and Rome; the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, and Moses Maimonides; and the New Testament, the Church Fathers, and Thomas Aquinas.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Ancient Forgiveness
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• PART I THE TERRITORY PHILOSOPHICALLY CONSIDERED
• PART II FORGIVENESS AMONG THE GREEKS
• PART III FORGIVENESS AMONG THE ROMANS
• PART IV JUDAIC AND CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS
• Bibliography of Works Cited
• Index