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Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with N
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No Future Without Forgiveness |
Author: Desmond Tutu
Published: 2000-10-17 |
List price: $15.95
Our price: $10.85
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As of: December 04th, 2008 01:57:12 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 There really is No Future Without Forgiveness
This spiritual/religious based book is presented differently than Gandhi, Tolstoy, and other philosophers that I have read. This book is more rooted in the events of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, a board that Desmond Tutu headed after apartheid ended. The goal of this board was to grant amnesty to individuals and to learn of the travesties that occurred during apartheid. Tutu spends time to talk about the reasons and purpose of the board while lending several chapters to discuss several of the eye-witness reports and events described while heading the committee.
After he sets up the purpose and ideals behind the board along with some of the testimony from individuals, he then begins to dive into his dialogue about what these events mean and how they relate to his overall conclusion of "No Future Without Forgiveness." This book did two great things for me: First, it introduced me to apartheid, something I have not read too much about. Tutu described the conditions not only pre-apartheid, but after Nelson Mandela became the president of South Africa and other related events. Second, I was able to see him unfold his spiritual plan of how the country was to move forward after so many years of people being dehumanized and a huge social structure changing.
It was the combination of the historical and philosophical elements that made this book special to me. I highly recommend it.
Restorative Justice Trumps Retributive Justice
This book is a remarkable insider's account of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) by a truly amazing individual. The book is much more than a summary of the historic event. Desmond Tutu deftly defends the argument that forgiveness and restorative justice are better strategies than retributive justice and offers the hope of similar applications to other historical and current conflicts.
The two primary benefits of restorative justice are: (1) the truth will be drawn out by the possibility of amnesty which will provide closure for victims and transparency to ensure we are not condemned to repeat it, and (2) forgoing retributive justice will break the chain of blows and promote reconciliation between the parties that have to continue living with each other. There are also multiple practical concerns. The restorative justice process allows the TRC to shift the burden of proof from the prosecution to the amnesty applicant drastically reducing the cost, time, and resources required by the government. Finally, having come to power through a negotiated political process as opposed to a military victory it would be more difficult for the government to impose a Nuremberg style retributive process.
To prevent the moral hazard of bad precedents, Desmond Tutu categorically states that this is an ad-hoc process (a one-time deal) and multiple stringent conditions must be met to grant amnesty, (1) the offense had to be politically motivated and occur during a specified time frame, and (2) the applicant had to be found to be completely open and honest and demonstrate full accountability for his or her actions. Ethically, some critics may contest the commission's right to speak for the victims in providing amnesty. The author counters this by highlighting the fact that the commission members had been directly involved and lived through the struggles. He also states his belief that victims (whether alive or not) are never freed from the captivity of grief and anger until they are able to forgive and reconcile their perpetrators.
This book is nice and concise as well as clear. It could have benefited from additional historical information surrounding Apartheid to provide additional context. Nelson Mandela's autobiography (Long Walk to Freedom) is a fantastic in that regard and is well worth the read and provides a great background for this text.
 Somewhat Dissappointing
Per ad hype, I anticipated something similar to the writings of Gahndi or Tolstoy on comparable topics. However, this is more a biopic overview of the remarkable work of Mandela with 'notes and commentary' by Tutu. While the Mandela process of forgiveness, in the face of unimaginable atrocities, is very much worth one's study and incorporation, that's not why I bought the book. Desmond does not believe forgiveness is possible w/o perpetrator public confession and request for forgiveness. What happens to a victim's future when the perpetrator[s] is dead, unavailable or unwilling? The relevance of this treatise for us garden-variety souls in a benign democracy is missing.
The title says it all
Bishop Tutu chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission whose task it was to give voice to the victims of apartheid and to foster reconciliation between the races in South Africa following the transfer of power there. It's a quick read, which details atrocities committed during apartheid and eloquently discusses how both the blacks and whites were victims of this intrinsically evil system.
It's a book written from the heart of a man who understands that revenge offers no hope to society. There are brief references comparing the South Africa "success story" to other troubled spots in the world where revenge killing has gone on for generations. The title says it all, "No Future Without Forgiveness". An interesting read that's worth the time.
Forgiveness as the Road Less Traveled
I was fascinated by the courage and foresight of the South African people regarding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Archbishop Tutu's account was very readable yet profound in the truth he was trying to explicate: revenge and retaliation do not heal; they create bigger divisions between the victim and the perpetrator. I think he clearing illustrates how forgiveness is the harder, but ultimately saner, route.
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