“To Heal the Wounds of Sinners”: Law, Love, and Forgiveness

This chapters considers whether the judgment of law can participate in the economy of love. It pursues this topic in two ways. First, it considers Augustine’s Sermon 13 on Psalm 2:10 as a way of reflecting theologically on the act of judgment, in particular the relationship between judgment and mercy. It is proposed that in an Augustinian reading, judgment and mercy are neither oppositional nor irreconcilable, but in fact two related expressions of God’s love finding expression in the life of the world through the operation of law. Judgment needs mercy, and mercy needs judgment. Second, the chapter turns to an issue of contemporary concern, namely how we might understand the phenomenon of political forgiveness. Captured most enduringly in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the idea that political process can effect a form of social healing and reconstitution has become well established if still controversial. While there exists a significant literature addressing various aspects of political forgiveness, including from theological perspectives, this chapter considers how theology illuminates the role and meaning of law within the process of collective forgiveness.