The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World
By Miroslav Volf
Reviewed by Desiree LaChapelle, Biola University, La Mirada, CA
In this book, Volf explores the difficult to navigate issues of memory, suffering and justice. Volf’s thesis is that a victim of injustice must not only remember but remember correctly. He uses his own experiences of being interrogated for being a spy and throughout the book Volf relates to his own struggle to forgive his antagonist, Captain G, the security officer in Volf’s military unit responsible for the investigation. In 1983 Volf was a student working on a doctoral program in the former Yugoslavia when he was summoned to a year of obligatory military service. Because Volf was married to an American woman, the son of a Pentecostal pastor, educated in the west and working on a dissertation about Karl Marx; Volf was accused of being a CIA spy and detained for months of questioning. The remainder of the book is centered on a question that anyone embarking on the path to reconciliation needs to ask: How do I love my enemy? (Or how do I help others love their enemies?) On page nine, Volf sums up his intention by stating: “My topic is memory of wrongdoing suffered by a person who desires neither to hate nor to disregard but to love the wrongdoer.”
I submit up front that this book is not for cursory or recreational reading. Volf’s topic requires a tremendous amount of introspection for anyone interested in pursuing reconciliation on either a personal or a professional level. From the beginning Volf points out that “To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned.”[1]
The issue of the memory of abuse is not one to be resolved simply by reading this book but the crux of the matter is that reconciliation cannot be attained unless the victim is ready to let go of the need to avenge the injustice they have suffered. Volf nails this subject by referring to works written by Freud, Nietzsche, Wiesel, Ricoeur, Brison and others in order to give the reader a depth of understanding that would otherwise be less balanced and holistically applicable.
One of the subjects Volf tackles is memory with regard to morality and justice. Not only does the victim have a moral obligation to tell the truth, not only for our own sake but for the sake of righteous justice. Volf points out that minor unintentional flaw in information are, for the most part, harmless. However, when victims embellish or are dishonest in recounting alleged abuse, it can either become a form of vengeance or neglect (by downplaying abuse thus not allowing for proper justice).
Another delicate subject Volf addresses is the framework of memory. Volf argues that “the more histories of individuals and peoples are intertwined and the longer they engage in conflict, the more the lines between victim and victimizer blur. Yesterday’s victims become today’s victimizers and today’s victimizers tomorrow’s victims.”[2] What Volf means is that the distinction between victim and victimizer may not always be clear. He uses the example of the interrogations he endured while detained to amplify this point: from Volf’s perspective he was wronged but if Captain G perceives Volf to be a threat, then Captain G is simply doing his job in interrogating Volf.
Volf also discusses sacred memories particularly between Jews and Christians. This subject in itself merits more than just a brief mention, but the summary of Volf’s point is that both Jews and Christians have sacred memories that can be used for both good and evil. Christians can rest on the point that the Jews killed Jesus therefore they are guilty of murdering the Savior. Jews can fixate on the Exodus and brand all Christ followers as heathens and blasphemers. The good news is that ‘redemption’ is common to both and the author of redemption is God (in the Old Testament God redeemed a ‘people’; in the New Testament, God redeems all of humanity.) Volf also zeros in on a key concept we must consider in the quest for reconciliation between the two faiths: the Passion of the Christ does not only involve the concepts of suffering and deliverance; it includes the concepts of enmity and reconciliation.[3] In this Volf means to point out that Jesus doesn’t just deliver humanity from suffering (present and future); He offers salvation to victimizers (the enemy) who seek to be reconciled to Him! While it is good news, it is not an easy concept for victims to accept.
The last premise of Volf’s book resides in the third part of his book where he discusses redemption and eternity. Here Volf posits that in eternity to come we will not remember the wrongs done against therefore it is possible not to remember (in an intentional, meditative kind of way) the wrongs done against us in this present life. Volf argues that memories we cannot recall do not shape who we are in the present. And while victims are irrevocably impacted by abuse, some of that influence has been made without the victims being consciously aware of it.
Overall Volf’s book is a must read for anyone dealing with the process of reconciliation. My only criticism is that Volf does not give the reader any practical application regarding how to actually put all of this knowledge into practical, widespread use.
[1] Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2006), 9.
[2] Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2006), 90.
[3] Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2006), 115.
The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World
By Miroslav Volf
Reviewed by Kelly Adams, Biola University, La Mirada, CA
In the third part of his book, The End of Memory, Miroslav Volf focuses in on one of the most tragic results of the fall, which is to harbor the memories of wrongdoing committed against us. Volf recognizes that there is determined value in the memory of evil—it is precisely what enacts justice in our world. Victims must be commemorated and kept alive in our memories—to do less would be a disservice to them. The memory of evil keeps justice and security afloat in our world. Any student of history would undoubtedly agree. In this notion, however, there is an innocent bystander. That being the individuals who have endured being wronged. What to them? Should they, as a result of their burden to carry the memories of evils committed, somehow be turned into the martyrs of justice? It seems bad logic to allow that to happen, the wronged enduring still more anguish through their memory. So what Volf addresses in this book is profoundly meaningful, as he concerns himself with the concept of forgiveness and the prospect of non-remembrance. Non-remembrance, unless extracted by force (i.e. hypnosis) will never be achieved if the memory that haunts is one that has deeply affected us in such a way that it masks our true identity. Volf skillfully proves that this is not so; our identity is not a product of our experiences, but instead a product of God’s craftsmanship. Upon entering the perfect world of love, there will be no need to remember the evils committed against us—to do so would be an injustice, a prolonging of an event of evil that will have been supremely dealt with after the Final Judgment. So yes, it is impossible to completely separate oneself from memories that are engrained into the very fabric of ourselves. However, I believe it helpful for those martyrs of justice, for instance those who are still haunted by atrocities such as the Holocaust, to know that in the future, at the threshold of the world of perfect love, reconciliation will be had between wronged and wrongdoer. To live in that frame of mind, and if possible, to live having already participated in their part of forgiveness (i.e. the extension of) is the only way to experience non-remembrance of wrongs committed. “To think no more of it,” as Volf says. This, as hard as it is, is at the center of Christian forgiveness. To think no more of it requires a great amount of discipline, and on some level is impossible to fully ascertain. However, we are to try. We are to agree on the nature of the offense (if such agreement is realistic) and then in an attempt to be “Christ-like” remember no more the sins of man. This is what Christ has done, the beautiful gift that he has given us is the freedom to fellowship in love with a God who chooses to not remember just how nasty we really are. If I could humbly add to the beautiful message that Volf presents, I would point out that the focus ought not to be on just not remembering the offense laid against us, but not acting upon it whatsoever. If we are incapable of erasing memory (as we are) we are certainly capable of choosing what we do with such memories. In the Bible, we see that when “God Remembers” he acts. When he says that he wont remember, he very possibly could be intimating that he will not act upon our sin now or ever—it is as if he has forgotten. When the Bible speaks of God remembering, it is not that he had forgotten—it is that he had waited to act until that particular time. So we, with the memories that we have, can choose to not act in hate with them—but instead use them to enact justice. Not in hate, but in Christian love. The complete joy remains for this next age, where no memory of evil will be able to sustain itself in the immensity of the light of the Lord, no tear will be shed, and no darkness remain. Furthermore, it represents an opportunity to be more Christ like, for Christ too was an innocent bystander. Let us be those who propagate the divine miracle of forgiveness toward those who do not deserve it.
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