Memory and Hope

Forgiveness, Healing, and Interfaith Relations

Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Goshen-Gottstein

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781532659232
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532670077
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Comparative Religion

This book tackles the core problem of how painful historical memories between diverse religious communities continue to impact--even poison--present-day relations. Its operative notion is the healing of memory, developed by John Paul II. Chapters explore how painful memories of yesteryear can be healed and so address some of the root causes. Strategies from six different faith traditions are brought together in what is, in some ways, a cross-religious brainstorming session that identifies tools to improve present-day relations. At the other pole of the conceptual axis of this book is the notion of hope. If memory informs our past, hope sets the horizon for our future. How does the healing of memory open new horizons for the future? And what is the notion of hope in each of our traditions that could lead to a common vision of good? Between memory and hope, this book seeks to offer a vision of healing that can serve as a resource in contemporary interfaith relations. Contributors: Rahuldeep Singh Gill, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Maria Reis Habito, Flora A. Keshgegian, Anantanand Rambachan, Meir Sendor, Muhammad Suheyl Umar, and Michael von Bruck

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Memory and Hope
• The Malleability of Collective Memory in Jewish Tradition
• Memory and Hope in Christianity
• “Hope Is Greater Than Memory” ( āśa vai smarād bhūyasī) Chandogya Upanishad 7.14.2
• Memory as Benevolence
• Memory, Hope, and Systems of Repair in Islam
• Memory in Buddhism
• Afterword
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Editor and Contributors