“Remembering Rightly in a Violent World” is the subtitle for this volume. The author, by his own admission was a number of years in writing it although some of the material was the outcome of lectures and seminars he delivered on this most important matter. Volf is a theological professor who serves at Yale University in the USA and a number of his writings move around the subjects of forgiveness, reconciliation, justice and restitution but this particular book focus’s on memory and I would think it is unique in much of the ground covered. Do not be put off by the fact that this author is a theologian for he writes somewhat autobiographically. He was born and raised in Yugoslavia under the communist regime. His parents were Pentecostal and his father a pastor. He himself studied theology and married an American lady who was also a theologian. It was because of these things that he was hauled into a series of interrogations. Over a number of months, a representative of the authoritarian anti-God government then in power violated him mentally, spiritually and psychologically. Because of his unusual background he was assumed to be some kind of spy and was treated none too kindly. It was typical of the abuse some suffered in such countries. Obviously, this kind of background lends poignancy to this examination of the place of memory in our lives. Must we remember wrongs and if so, how should we do so? Many voice the cry “remember the wrongs done to you” and Volf agrees with that, but shows how we are to remember and shows the right and wrong use of doing so. He unfolds his subject matter by writing personally and theologically interacting all the time with other writers both Christian and non-Christian, (Freud, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are among these). First he lays a foundation of memory in the history of Israel showing how the people of that nation were continually told to remember their identity in the context of God, His deliverance of them from Egypt and the way He brought them into the land of promise. The New Testament centers upon Christ and the communion is a table of remembrance, and all our memories of both the good and evil that has been done to us and by us should be based in Him and what He has done. The book climaxes in several chapters where Volf considers the coming of Jesus in glory and the bringing in of His Kingdom as wrongs are righted, justice and reconciliation finally accomplished fully and completely and seeks to prove that there will therefore be an end of all memory of wrongs because joy shall dissolve all such. The final chapter is an imagined series of conversations held between Volf and his interrogator whom he calls “Captain G.” It is a fitting conclusion to the probing psychological insights and Christian reflections with which this book is full. Here is a book that needs re-reading, perhaps several times, to gain the perspective and help we all need on this crucial matter.
