ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author briefly want to re-trace the stages of her thought on forgiveness, through a series of six articles or book chapters that she wrote, beginning with the piece from 2001 and ending with her final unpublished work. The forgiver takes an initiative which relies upon the initiative taken by God in making the deepest journey of empathy into human lives. The image of a journey of empathy directed towards the creation of response to the offer of forgiveness seems especially problematic when someone refuses to be reconciled, or is not present to be reconciled because they have died, or the situation is such as to make it unsafe for someone who has been abused to make any contact with the abuser at all. Ethical vulnerability opens up an opportunity to restore justice or to repair the horrendous pain of wounds, and such “ethical repair” will need to work with the just emotions of resentment and contempt.
