ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author first met Pamela in 1979 when they were both new students at Mansfield College. Pamela was continually fascinated by religion, faith and (to a lesser extent) the church. But it was a kind of fascination that could also include being appalled, even while her narrative about her own life, and her own death, were shaped by the Christian narrative. Pamela’s conviction that love is not only an emotion and a feeling but also a source of knowledge has much to encourage a faith that puts love at the centre. Pamela’s critique of too-easy forgiveness, of forgiveness that separates itself from justice, is also one that needs to continue to be heard in the church. A hymn by the theologian William Vanstone and his book Love’s Endeavour, Love’s Expense are particularly powerful examples.
