It was difficult for me to get through this book. What Volf has to say is well thought out, and the subject matter is such good stuff! But my mind is not the type of mind that can process such deep philosophical and theological debate. (Plus consider the seven- and eight-letter words used throughout!) The book is very thought provoking, to say the least.

Since this book is packed full of challenging ideas fusing Scripture with relevant writings of many others, it has not been a quick or at times, easy read. But it stirred me by how Miroslav Volf's theological reflections on conflict, division and violence can help us embrace the 'other' as part of our walking out the Gospel in a fractured world.

Wow - this has given me so much to chew on. I already know I'll have to read it a few more times to absorb everything and untangle the threads and tease out the full implications. But even this first reading has proven quite profitable. So good, so deep.

Dense with insight, this book requires a slow read, and probably a number of rereads. Rather than attempt a summary I will instead embrace the work of other reviewers and provide links and then attach a few quotes from the book:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Re how monotheism implies universality:

‘His main point, however, is well taken: the ultimate allegiance of those whose father is Abraham can be only to the God of "all families of the earth," not to any particular country, culture, or family with their local deities. The oneness of God implies God's universality, and universality entails transcendence with respect to any given culture.’
[p 30]


Re Jesus’ very atypical political message:

‘Truly surprising and new in Jesus's ministry, however, were neither the political overtones of his message nor the special interest he displayed toward "the poor." Such interest is precisely what we would expect from any half-witted political leader from the margins; to be a leader you need social power, to have social power you need a following, and to have a following you must take on the cause of the disgruntled, which in Jesus's case would have been the great majority at the bottom of the heap of society. But Jesus had no aspirations to political leadership and he did more, much more, than what we would expect of a politician. No doubt, he kindled hope in the hearts of the oppressed and demanded radical change of the oppressors, as any social reformer would. But he also built into the very core of his "platform" the message of God's unconditional love and the people's need for repentance. From the perspective of contemporary Western sensibilities, these two things together—divine love and human repentance—addressed to the victims represent the most surprising and, as political statements, the most outrageous and (at the same time) most hopeful aspects of Jesus's message.
What disturbs us, of course, is not the unconditional love, which we have come to expect, but the call to repentance.’
[p 112]


Re the message of The Prodigal Son:

‘Notice the categorical difference between how the Father and how the older brother interpret the prodigal's life in the "distant country." The older brother employs moral categories and constructs his brother's departure along the axis of "bad/good" behavior: the brother has "devoured your property with prostitutes.” The father, though keenly aware of the moral import of his younger son's behavior, employs relational categories and constructs his son's departure along the axis of "lost/found" and "alive (to him)/dead (to him)." Relationship is prior to moral rules; moral performance may do something to the relationship, but relationship is not grounded in moral performance. Hence the will to embrace is independent of the quality of behavior, though at the same time "repentance," "confession," and the "consequences of one's actions" all have their own proper place. The profound wisdom about the priority of the relationship, and not some sentimental insanity, explains the father's kind of "prodigality" to both of his sons.’
[p 171]

This book has been foundational to me for decades. Last year, I went through it again, leading a book discussion, finding it holds up even with all that I have learned in regard to marginalized people since it was first written.

Volf revised the book and released it last summer, just a few months after I finished the discussion. The text is the same, with a revised introduction and an extensive epilogue where he responds to his critics. There is also an inclusion of an appendix, which is an essay written in 1998 reflecting on social trinitarian thought and the self-donation of God in love, and its implications for human social relations.

The new material brings some depth and clarity to the original arguments, without fundamentally changing them.

I am not a philosopher/theologian as Mr. Volf is. This book became tedious for me for all of the arguments and counter arguments in the context of citations of many different other philosophers. There are moments of more easily grasped content that I very much enjoyed, and that very much resonated with me, but getting to those gems was not worth the philosophical back and forth for me.

Not everyone will like a book like this, nor find themselves finishing it. It's main premise is Christians in imitating God much do as God did with His enemies. He embraced them in His love seeking to bring about confession and repentance in them. God didn't exclude His enemies. He died for all, including the bad and the ugly.

Among many points Mr. Volf makes I choose one here to share as one of those gems one does find in this book. "God will judge, not because God gives people what they deserve, but because some people refuse to receive what no one deserves; if evildoers experience God's terror, it will not because they have done evil, but because they have resisted to the end the powerful lure of the open arms of the crucified Messiah."

Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation by Miroslav Volf examines, in essentials, what sets people apart and what brings them together, with reconciliation as the objective of and the force which negotiates the transition. On the whole, I felt that Volf’s conclusions remained largely abstract and academic, though valuable; so deeply rooted in history that they are hard to adjust to contemporary trials, though the concepts are timeless. However, his analysis is thorough, and applications of it could transform at least the way we view the dynamics at play within relationships.

Easily one of the most important and challenging theological texts I've read. Volf writes with passion and clarity, and a steadfast refusal to offer simple or cliche responses to the problems of identity, conflict, justice, oppression, forgiveness and reconciliation. The careful way he parses the difference between "exclusion" and "judgement," the ways exclusion feeds our refusal to forgive the "other," and the powerful meditation on the act of embrace (an act which must be done with complete openness and vulnerability, a willingness to change, and a refusal to subsume the other), are but a few of the most impactful elements of this book. Most chapters conclude with meditations on various biblical texts: the prodigal son, Cain and Abel, Jesus and Pilate, and while not an exegetical commentary, Volf brings powerful insights to the themes of exclusion and embrace in these well-worn narratives.

Another aspect that I so deeply appreciated about this book is the fact the Volf is deeply conversant with so many different philosophical-theological streams of thought. He engages with modernism, postmodernism, feminism, and both liberal and conservative theologians. He delicately brings out areas of resonance, as well as lucid critiques, of all the thinkers he mentions. The result is a comprehensive and compelling theological argument that is deeply, deeply relevant to the ways people are engaging the world today.

The act of reading this book will indelibly change you - much like the pure act of embrace that Volf is contending for in this work. More people need to wrestle with this text today. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Tim Keller on this book:

Miroslav Volf wrote a book called Exclusion & Embrace, and he makes a case there that Christianity gives you the most non-oppressive basis for self-image and identity. In traditional cultures, you feel good about yourself if you are doing what your parents want. In Western cultures, you feel good about yourself if you are achieving and you went to Harvard and you got an M.B.A. and now you’re at Goldman Sachs and you're doing well.

But I can tell you this, I'll say as a pastor, at some point you are going to find that your identity is going to crush you, because it’s based on achievement or it's based on parental expectations. It is enslaving, it will crush you, you will identify with your work, and you will also look down your nose at people because your identity is based not only on performance but also on difference. It is based on the idea that I am better than other people who haven’t got what I've got.

So Christianity gives you a basis of identity that is based on the love of God, it is a gift, it is not something you earn. It is not something that goes up or down based on your performance. It is something you can actually experience. It is extraordinarily non-oppressive. It is extraordinarily different.

While mostly academic, Volf does an excellent job of showing how Jesus’ call to “love your enemies” and related Christian doctrines play a special role in resolving deep national and personal fractures. Originally written in the 1990s in the midst of the Balkan conflicts, Volf revised and updated this title for the era of American identity politics.

I was first exposed to Exclusion and Embrace in my final year of seminary (2004) and sixteen years later my well marked copy of this profound work continues to challenge and inspire. This examination of violence and reconciliation, of identity and exclusion, is a theology of the cross in conversation with both modernity and postmodernity. One of the most influential works of theology for me as a pastor and thinker.

This was a very popular book in the'90's. I finally cracked it open and got about half way through it before putting it away. It was not because it was a bad book in terms of content. Actually it has very good content. It was just very difficult to read because it was very heavy theologically and the vocabulary and writing style made it a struggle. Volf is from Serbia and was there during the wars that followed the break up of the old Yugoslavia. Some of the stories he shares are heartwrenching to the nth degree. His counsel for Christians to be involved in the process of forgiveness and reconciliation for themselves and others surely should be heeded by many of us.

I would love to know of a simplified version of this theologically thick book. Many would benefit. But in this form, I think it will likely be read in colleges and seminaries, but not beyond.