THEO4408 · Theology

After Wrongdoing: Justice or Mercy?

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This undergraduate seminar focuses on theological and ethical responses to wrongdoing, particularly those characterized by justice and those characterized by forgiveness. We will examine the meaning of forgiveness, the significance of repentance, the debate between conditional vs unconditional accounts of forgiveness, the ethics of revenge, the traits of legitimate punishment, the possibility of self-forgiveness, the moral legitimacy of anger and resentment, the relevance of the psychology of forgiveness to the ethics of forgiveness, and the meaning of political forgiveness. While focusing primarily on Christian texts, we will also examine Jewish, Muslim, and secular feminist accounts of forgiveness.