Remorse: A Christian Perspective

by Anthony Bash, Martyn Percy (Foreword by)

Overview

Though the Christian church has a well-developed theology of Godward-facing remorse about sin, it has paid little attention to the interpersonal implications of the remorse that people feel when they wrong one another. Since the nineteenth century, important work has been done by psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, ethicists, scientists, and lawyers that has implications for the way theologians might think about remorse. This book draws on the biblical record in its ancient settings as well as on insights from contemporary scholarship to offer a new and distinctively Christian contribution to an understanding of remorse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725272361
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	10/02/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Anthony Bash is Honorary Professor of Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University. He is author of several books including Forgiveness and Christian Ethics (2007), Just Forgiveness (2011), and Forgiveness: A Theology (2015).

Anthony Bash teaches New Testament at Durham University. He is also Vice-Master of Hatfield College, Durham University. Anthony is author of Forgiveness and Christian Ethics (2007) and Just Forgiveness (2011).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Drawing on a vast range of intellectual resources, Bash here explores with great care and sensitivity how to think Christianly about remorse as a reflexive emotion directed towards the repair of interpersonal relations. The result is wonderfully fresh, provocative, and fruitful for contemporary Christian ethics.”

—John M. G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, Durham University



“Anyone who has read Anthony Bash’s previous major work Forgiveness and Christian Ethics will know just how careful and nuanced his scholarship is. This new work on Remorse is written to the same high standards and will do much both to deepen our understanding and to enhance still further his own scholarly reputation. This is a work of considerable maturity and wisdom.”

—Robin Gill, Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology, University of Kent



“Anthony Bash’s highly readable study of the ethics of interpersonal remorse is by far the best treatment of its topic available. Impressive for its wide-ranging scholarship and the humanity of its insights, the book affords a case study in the happy combination of Christian and secular learning. Truly a book for our times!”

—Geoffrey F. Scarre, Professor of Philosophy, Durham University



“Anthony Bash’s latest work on Remorse provides a stunning illumination of the biblical, historic, and contemporary interplay between remorse, regret, and repentance. He makes an incisive contribution to our understanding of repentance and forgiveness as relating not only theologically ‘Godward,’ but—crucially—toward our neighbor. Bash is offering these insights both to an international audience within the academy, and also as an encouragement to the Christian church to engage in a discourse from which it has been largely absent. He makes a powerful plea for the inclusion of interpersonal remorse—deep regret for past moral wrongdoing—within Christian theology and its liturgical expressions.”

—Andrew Tremlett, Dean of Durham



“I have written on remorse in the context of criminal law and punishment, and my perspective has been largely secular. A full understanding and appreciation of the concept, however, requires its location in the context of religion. That context is splendidly provided in Bash’s book. It reveals both impressive scholarship and the ability to explain complex ideas in a clear way. It will thus be of great use to specialists in the field but also as a first introduction of the topic for the non-specialist reader.”

—Jeffrie G. Murphy, Regents’ Professor of Law, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on a vast range of intellectual resources, Bash here explores with great care and sensitivity how to think Christianly about remorse as a reflexive emotion directed towards the repair of interpersonal relations. The result is wonderfully fresh, provocative, and fruitful for contemporary Christian ethics.”

—John M. G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, Durham University



“Anyone who has read Anthony Bash’s previous major work Forgiveness and Christian Ethics will know just how careful and nuanced his scholarship is. This new work on Remorse is written to the same high standards and will do much both to deepen our understanding and to enhance still further his own scholarly reputation. This is a work of considerable maturity and wisdom.”

—Robin Gill, Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology, University of Kent



“Anthony Bash’s highly readable study of the ethics of interpersonal remorse is by far the best treatment of its topic available. Impressive for its wide-ranging scholarship and the humanity of its insights, the book affords a case study in the happy combination of Christian and secular learning. Truly a book for our times!”

—Geoffrey F. Scarre, Professor of Philosophy, Durham University



“Anthony Bash’s latest work on Remorse provides a stunning illumination of the biblical, historic, and contemporary interplay between remorse, regret, and repentance. He makes an incisive contribution to our understanding of repentance and forgiveness as relating not only theologically ‘Godward,’ but—crucially—toward our neighbor. Bash is offering these insights both to an international audience within the academy, and also as an encouragement to the Christian church to engage in a discourse from which it has been largely absent. He makes a powerful plea for the inclusion of interpersonal remorse—deep regret for past moral wrongdoing—within Christian theology and its liturgical expressions.”

—Andrew Tremlett, Dean of Durham



“I have written on remorse in the context of criminal law and punishment, and my perspective has been largely secular. A full understanding and appreciation of the concept, however, requires its location in the context of religion. That context is splendidly provided in Bash’s book. It reveals both impressive scholarship and the ability to explain complex ideas in a clear way. It will thus be of great use to specialists in the field but also as a first introduction of the topic for the non-specialist reader.”

—Jeffrie G. Murphy, Regents’ Professor of Law, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University

From the Publisher