Revised March 11, 2020

HDS 2171 Instructor:

Wednesdays 3-6 pm Matthew Potts
mpotts@hds.harvard.edu
Faculty Assistant:
Herch Blemur Office hours:
hblemur@hds.harvard.edu By appointment

Forgiveness

When, if ever, are we obliged to forgive? What should forgiveness look like in the aftermath of
violence? What conditions should be attached to its offer? Does forgiveness foster peace at the
expense of justice? Should it? This course will examine the complicated problem of forgiveness
through an examination of several diverse sources: theological, philosophical, and literary. The
aim will be to develop a sophisticated understanding of the promise and problems of forgiveness
in human lives, and to foster the critical application of such lessons to contemporary contexts and
moral problems.

REQUIRED FULL TEXTS

Giving an Account of Oneself, Judith Butler
Silence, Shusaku Endo
LaRose, Louise Erdrich
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

REQUIRED EXCERPTS FROM LONGER TEXTS

The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt
Theo-Drama IV: The Action, Hans Urs von Balthasar
Fifteen Sermons, Joseph Butler
Precarious Life, Judith Butler
Questioning God, ed. John D. Caputo, Mark Dooley, Michael Scanlon
On the Government of the Living, Michel Foucault
The Complete Works, Hadewijch
The Priority of Love, Timothy Jackson
Forgiveness, Vladimir Jankélévitch,
“Should we pardon them?” Vladimir Jankélévitch
Before Forgiveness, David Konstan
Intimate Revolt, Julia Kristeva
The Moral Imagination, John Paul Lederach
Being Reconciled, John Milbank
On the Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche
Anger and Forgiveness, Martha Nussbaum
Memory, History, Forgetting, Paul Ricoeur
The End of Memory, Miroslav Volf
Waiting for God, Simone Weil
Revised March 11, 2020

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

January 29
Introduction to the course

Historical, Philosophical, and Theological Background

February 5
David Konstan, Before Forgiveness ch. 1,4,6

Joseph Butler, “Sermons 8 and 9 Upon Resentment and Forgiveness of Injuries,”

http://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/

February 12
Vladimir Jankélévitch, Forgiveness, Introduction (pp. 1-11); chapter 1.I, 1.II, 1.V, 1.VI (pp. 13-
22, 27-38); chapter 2.I, 2.II, 2.III, 2.IX, 2.X (pp. 57-70, 92-105); 3.VI, 3.VII, 3.VIII (pp.128-155)

and

John Milbank, “Forgiveness and Incarnation” in Questioning God

Recommended: Vladimir Jankélévitch, “Should We Pardon Them?” Critical Inquiry, 22.3

(Spring 1996), pp. 552-572; Jacques Derrida, “To Forgive,” in Questioning God

Remembrance

February 19
Paul Ricoeur, Memory, History, and Forgetting, “Epilogue: Difficult Forgiveness”

and

Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory chapters 1, 2, 9, 10

February 26
Toni Morrison, Beloved

Recompense

March 4
Friedrich Nietzsche, “‘Guilt,’ ‘Bad Conscience,’ and the Like,” in On the Genealogy of Morals

and

Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, chapters 32, 33, and 34

Revised March 11, 2020

and

Martha Nussbaum, Anger and Forgiveness, chapter 3

March 6
FIRST WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: PROCESS NOTES

March 11
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant

March 18
Spring break

Repentance

March 25
Michel Foucault, On the Government of the Living, lectures from 6, 13, and 20 February 1980

and

Judith Butler, Giving an Account of Oneself

March 27
SECOND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: PROCESS NOTES

April 1
Shusaku Endo, Silence

Remission

April 8
Hadewijch, The Complete Works
Letters:
6: To Live Christ
13: Unappeasable Love
Poem in Stanzas
19: Defense of Love
20: Love’s Sublimity
24: Subjugation to Love
34: Becoming Love with Love
35: Unloved by Love
Poems in Couplets
16: Love’s Seven Names
Revised March 11, 2020

and

Simone Weil, “The Love of God and Affliction” and “The Love of Neighbor” (pp. 67-98) in
Waiting for God

and

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Drama IV: The Action, “Dramatic Soteriology” parts 1, 2, and 3
(pp. 317-388)

April 10
THIRD WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: PROJECT PROSPECTUS

April 15
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Repair

April 22
Timothy P. Jackson, The Priority of Love, chapter 4

and

Judith Butler, “Violence, Mourning, and Politics” in Precarious Life

and

Julia Kristeva, Intimate Revolt, chapter 2

and

John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination, chapters 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15

April 29
Louise Erdrich, LaRose

May 1
FOURTH WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: INITIAL DRAFT

May 15
FINAL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE: FINAL DRAFT

Assignments and Grading

Revised March 11, 2020

How our class is managed will depend to some degree upon course enrollment, but in general we
will have weekly lectures and in-class discussions that closely follow the assigned readings for
the course. As such, careful reading of the assigned texts is both imperative and expected.

The course will have a number of required written assignments:

 Two informal collections of your questions, concerns, worries, ideas, ruminations, etc.,
that I’m calling process notes (to borrow a phrase from the clinical world). The first will
be due on March 6, the second on March 27. The purpose of this assignment is to spur
your thinking and creativity, so there are no guidelines other than that it should not be
formally organized or argumentative. The more unanswered questions, frustrations,
suggestions, confusions, and inspirations expressed, the better. Ideally, these thoughts
will accrue gradually as you read and meet for class over the first two months of the
course. The first of these documents should be five to seven pages (double spaced, one
inch margins) in length. The second set need only be three to five pages in length, and
should begin to show a bit more focus towards the development of a paper proposal.
 A short (four to five pages, double spaced, one inch margins) abstract or prospectus of a
potential final paper, due April 10. In this piece, you will take up one or more of the
questions from the first piece – or another you’ve had in the meantime – and suggest
what a rigorous and critical method for answering that question might be. You’ll also
suggest a tentative answer, as well as specify some of the texts or resources you will use
to explore and articulate that answer.
 A full, fourteen to sixteen page (double spaced, one inch margins) draft of your paper,
due May 1. The draft will be graded for thoughtfulness and rigor, not for polish.
 A final draft of your paper, incorporating feedback on the first draft, due May 15.

Doctoral students may choose, in consultation with me, to produce a single, article length
(twenty-five page) paper in lieu of these multiple written assignments.

Students taking the course for an Art of Ministry credit should inform their grading instructor,
and expect to incorporate issues or artifacts from that Art of Ministry into their written
assignments.

Consideration for students with disabilities:

Any student who feels she/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability
should contact Steph Gauchel at sgauchel@hds.harvard.edu.