Volf's book needs to be read slowly for it is both profound and challenging. This book is a theology of reconciliation. Volf puts forth exclusion of the other as the problem (ch. 2). When we exclude others, keeping them at a distance, we are able to view ourselves as right and just and the other as evil and unjust. This often then leads to violence. The solution to this is to embrace, which does not pretend evil does not exist but seeks to model God's embrace of hostile humanity by embracing the other even in their wrongdoing (ch. 3). This embrace then is the model for how to deal with the clashing of justices in the real world (ch. 5). Embrace also informs how we understand truth as rather than assuming our own truth or hopelessly giving up the search for truth we seek to see the world from the view of the other which then helps us sharpen our own view of truth (ch. 6). Finally, he deals with the thorny issue of violence, arguing that the crucified Jesus of the Gospels and the Lamb riding to victory on a white horse of Revelation are two sides of the same coin (ch. 7). Precisely because evil exists in the world, and because people refuse the embrace of God, judgment by God is necessary. To those who wonder why God cannot simply save all, Volf points out that God forcing people into an embrace would itself be violence. This was my favorite chapter in the book. We Christians are to live nonviolently, taking up our crosses, and trusting God as the only one with the right to judge.

Overall, an amazing book. Highly recommended.

I really have no idea how to evaluate this book. Filled with provoking, gorgeous, and some troubling explorations of Christian theology. Lots of beautiful nuggets (once you've waded through the academic speak, which is DENSE). Note to self to return in time to the chapter on violence.

A difficult but immensely worthwhile read. Excruciatingly relevant in 2020 as I wrestle with the realities of White Supremacy in so many aspects of my life. Volf is refreshingly nuanced with his perspective as a Croatian Protestant theologian. His writing is unflinching in critiquing the shallow analysis of much of American Protestant theology and so so challenging as a non white person that still struggles with racist attitudes while also experiencing racism at the same time. I found myself resistant but undeniably compelled by Volf’s argument that embrace and making room for the other as the good news of the Bible. I think it’s only possible to consider this idea because Volf is so heavy handed in condemning exclusion... not merely as a not-nice thing to do but something that is rooted in the dehumanization of people who are unlike us. His examples of wartime in his home country and other global conflicts do not mince words about violence and the difficulty of ideas like forgiveness without accountability.

I am still pondering his suggestion of “forgetting”.

I am enamored with his suggestion of repentance for the victim being an exhortation to not be shaped by the world’s cruelty and violence. What an expansive understanding of the word repent — so different from the usual moral flourishing, ticket to heaven chatter we get from American evangelical sermons.

Loved his take on the Tower of Babel being a condemnation of imperialism and forced assimilation... and Pentecost being the ability to understand difference and not a scenario in which everyone was made the same.

Loved the metaphor of a physical embrace and what the parts of reconciliation are, both the depth and the limits.

While not an easy read, it is written in my favorite structure: here are these various/famous takes (Christian and otherwise) on this topic, here’s where I agree and disagree. I often found myself revising my conviction a few times as I read.

I ultimately disagree with Volf’s comments about divine justice necessitating violence that enables human non-violence but I will continue to ponder it. I am disappointed at the narrow view of the possibilities within eschatology and his insistence that it *must* be that... but maybe that’s I qualm I have with theologians in general. The reluctance to say “there is a lot of uncertainty here”.

I wonder what Volf would make of the survivors of violence leading the transformative justice and abolition movement today. I wonder what it is about Volf’s own lived experiences that cause him to doubt human capacity for non-violence. No easy answers.

I highlighted many sections and plan to return often to this text. Highly recommend for any Christian who’s trying to be honest about what’s hard about holding scripture with high regards these days and who craves depth when talking about love, justice, and what we’re called to.

I love this book and include it in the top 10 books that have influenced my life. Living in the fault zone between Muslim and Christian civilizations, and having gone through religious riots and killings in our town, the book's message is especially relevant. Reconciliation is something still being worked on.

The book is loaded with insights and nuances that cannot be boiled down to a simple message. However, it is definitely not for everyone. Much of it is extremely academic and as a doctor I could only understand it because I had been doing some reading about postmodern culture, criticism and thinking. As an outsider to Volf's academic discipline, I had the feeling I was reading a message of vital importance encased in something that the academy might accept. If so, I think it was 100% appropriate and hopefully successful. Unfortunately it also limits the audience. It's not a book I can easily get my colleagues to read. I would dearly love to see a rewrite for non-specialists, and have even started editing a readable version for friends here.

Finally, I think that there is something to Rev. Thomas Scarborough's criticism (review on Amazon). I do not agree that the book is in any way shallow, but it does not deal satisfactorily with the difficult problem of what to do when "the other" apparently wants nothing except your own destruction, and where "justice" might seem to require the destruction or at least constraint of "the other." This can be a problem, for example, in extremely abusive family relationships, and appears to be true in some political and religious conflicts. Volf addressed this after September 11 in an interview with Christianity Today, and doubtless in other writings and addresses, but I did not get much understanding of this from the book.

This is a wonderful book, especially in today's political climate.

Favorite book of all time. A must read.

The idea of embrace is central to Volf’s theology of reconciliation. “Reconciliation with the other will succeed only if the self, guided by the narrative of the triune God, is ready to receive the other into itself and undertake a readjustment of its identity in light of the other’s alterity,” Volf says. This requires a sort of “double vision,” where instead of trying to see things from nowhere, which is clearly impossible, we approach truth both from our perspective and, stepping out of ourselves, from the perspective of our enemies.

See my full review here: http://wordsbecamebooks.com/2015/02/2...

This is heavy-duty theology and a deep dive into non-violence as not “nice suburban ideology”; he converses with philosophers, theologians and a raft of other thinkers. Coming from the terror of the former Yugoslavia’s descent into genocide he does not settle for easy answers this side of a final judgment.
Note: this is the 1st edition; the second has an introduction and conclusion largely re-written to account for the change from any notion of a common humanity and some common truths.

I first read this book some 15-20 years back. This truly is one of those books that both gets better and becomes more relevant with time. Even though the book was first written nearly thirty years back, there are few books more relevant to our modern situation. Volf is a brilliant theologian, sociologist, and cultural critic who writes with an engaging style that makes me simultaneously want to put the book down and digest what was just said and to turn page after page forgetting the world around me as I read.

Easily among the five best books I have ever read. It is simultaneously a timeless and timely examination of victims, perpetrators, justice, enmity, reconciliation and any other theme related to how we live with one another in this world.

“Sin is here the kind of purity that wants the world cleansed of the other rather than the heart cleansed of the evil that drives people out by calling those who are clean “unclean” and refusing to help make clean those who are unclean."

In Exclusion and Embrace Miroslav Volf wrestles with the implications of the gospel for social life and relationships. Having seen firsthand the ravages of war, Volf wants the gospel to be relevant to the modern-day conversation about the role of faith in the world.

Beginning with the theology of reconciliation, Volf explores such topics of acceptance, gender identity, truth and violence. These concepts are related back to traditional theological topics such as the trinity, the cross and the nature of reality.

Volf is one of those writers who can engage deeply and profoundly for a topic for an extended conversation. Just when you think he has exhausted the topic, he turns around and continues deeper into it. Throughout the book he explores aspects that had never occurred to me would be relevant to the discussion.

But Volf also brings the point home to the modern world. He is not simply doing theoretical theology. This theology, as dense and comprehensive as it is, never loses sight of the lived reality the truth must impact. Charles Hodge when writing his Systematic Theology never speculated about how his theology should impact the discussion of say slavery. Volf is acutely aware that his words will have deep impact on the theological conversation.

More conservative and evangelical readers will have a hard time with Volf since he does not affirm some of the hallmarks of their theological approach such as inerrancy or biblicism. But neither does he dismiss the Scriptures as irrelevant. For Volf, the Scriptures are extremely relevant as the launching board to the conversation, even if it takes him in surprising ways.

Volf's writing is extremely dense and at times hard to follow. This is not due to lack of clarity but due to his overwhelming grasp of the topics and secondary literature. Readers should not come to this book expecting a small snack. Rather, this is a full banquet and will take some time to digest.

Overall this is an important book for the discussion of political theology whether you agree with it or not. I highly recommend this to pastors, theologians, educated lay people in the church and anyone who is interested in the conversation between reconciliation and public action.

Grade: A+

Though written over 20 years ago now, Volf’s critique of liberal postmodernism and its relativizing of truth, justice, and violence is as poignant as ever. On the cross Jesus embraced us, and it is the same Christ who will return to expel those who stubbornly refuse the gift of grace and reconciliation offered by that profound and inviting embrace. We have a God who suffered violence, and who alone is permitted to deal it at the end of time. Therefore, with “double vision” and the primacy of love, “no one should ever be excluded from the will to embrace” (85). Volf argues seemingly against every kind and frame of counter-argument, and places himself firmly within the Christian Scriptures and traditions, himself arguing from the nonsense of the Serb-Croat conflicts and ethnic cleanings of his people.

This is a book that seems to have at once laid the foundation for a contemporary praxis of reconciliation, while simultaneously dispelling ill-conceptions about “just”, violent liberation, a God of love who would not judge, and inter-religious dialogue as the creator of peace among all peoples. Though some chapters shine brighter than others (Gender Identity is lamentably outdated, given contemporary questions and identities), the main thrust of the book (indeed, the first half), and especially the last chapter, continue to inspire and instruct in 2018 and beyond.