Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace
We are at our human best when we give and forgive. But we live in a world in which it makes little sense to do either one. In our increasingly graceless culture, where can we find the motivation to give? And how do we learn to forgive when forgiving seems counterintuitive or even futile?
A deeply personal yet profoundly thoughtful book, Free of Charge explores these questions--and the further questions to which they give rise--in light of God's generosity and Christ's sacrifice for us. Miroslav Volf draws from popular culture as well as from a wealth of literary and theological sources, weaving his rich reflections around the sturdy frame of Paul's vision of God's grace and Martin Luther's interpretation of that vision.
Blending the best of theology and spirituality, he encourages us to echo in our own lives God's generous giving and forgiving. A fresh examination of two practices at the heart of the Christian faith--giving and forgiving--the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lenten study book for 2006 is at the same time an introduction to Christianity. Even more, it is a compelling invitation to Christian faith as a way of life.
"Miroslav Volf, one of the most celebrated theologians of our day, offers us a unique interweaving of intense reflection, vivid and painfully personal stories and sheer celebration of the giving God . . . I cannot remember having read a better account of what it means to say that Jesus suffered for us in our place." -- Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Top Highlights
“That’s the big fissure in the life of human beings, individually and collectively – a yawning gap between deep self-centeredness and true generosity.” (source)
“No life worth living is possible without generosity.” (source)
“When we have failed to put away our ‘former way of life’, the new self becomes an obligation that butts against the ingrained habits of the old self. Yet as uncomfortable as it may feel, the pressure is not to our detriment, but in our favor. It pushes us to act true to who we most properly are. That’s why we can be obliged to give freely: the obligation nudges us to do what the new self would do if the old one didn’t stand in the way.” (source)
“But God’s glory is the divinity of God’s love, and God’s jealousy for God’s glory is not so much about God’s own good as about the good of the creation. In contrast, human beings are selfish lovers, and are so partly because their own well-being is so fragile. Even when our love is at its purest, we can’t avoid somehow seeking ourselves and our own benefit in every gift we bestow.” (source)
“Forgiveness is not a reaction to something else. It is the beginning of something new. So we forgive, lack of repentance notwithstanding. And to be able to do it, we shield the tender plant of forgiveness from the frigid winds that blow from unrepentant perpetrators, and we nourish it with the food of God’s goodness.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace
- Author: Volf, Miroslav
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publication Date: 2009
- ISBN: 9780310862062
Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He was educated in his native Croatia, in the United States, and in Germany, and received his Ph.D. and postdoctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tübingen (Germany). He has written or edited more than 20 books and more than 100 scholarly articles. Among his most significant books are the present Exclusion and Embrace, winner of the Grawemeyer Prize for Religion and one of the 100 most important religious books of the 20th century according to Christianity Today; Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World (2016), and (with Matthew Croasmun) For the Life of the World: Theology that Makes a Difference (2019).