Miroslav Volf's "The End of Memory": an Exercise in Charitable Writing

The first thing I noticed when I picked up The End of Memory was Volf's earnest tone and humility.  At the outset, the book is an attempt to situate the Christian vision of reconciliation within the context of twentieth-century debates about reconciliation.  His sources range from Paul Ricoeur to Elie Wiesel's comments about the Holocaust and his own experiences in the Yugoslavian military.  We are tempted see his comments as only relating to the most egregious wrongs ever committed, but Volf's articulate and confessional style resists such stratification.  In showing the need for a Christian vision for reconciliation, he has leveled the playing field so that all wrongs must be dealt with.  

Volf fluently switches between complex twenty-first century philosophical dilemmas and his experiences with "Captain G." This intelligence officer apparently subjected Volf to serious psychological torture through a series of illegal interrogations that occurred during Volf's obligatory service in the socialist Yugoslavian army.  Far from searching for pity, Volf treats Captain G with discretion and respect.  Even though his style is artless and confessional, it stands more on the strength of his arguments than emotional appeals to his personal life.

Although he is a firm Christian, Volf presents his argument in such a way that we see it as one perspective among many.  Many times, his task is simply to provide the Christian perspective on questions posed by twentieth-century thinkers.  Other times, he advances his own interpretation of the Christian vision for reconciliation.  There is a deliberate dialogue with secular thinkers on these issues: I was very glad to see Volf begin with Weisel, Ricouer, Freud, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard rather than C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, and Karl Barthes.  His thoughts come from a line of recent theology that emphasizes the power of Christian doctrine to alter peoples' lives in the present moment as well as in the world to come.  Strange then that he draws from Dante's Paradiso in Part Three to suggest what eternal Christian reconciliation might be like.

As happens with many books of theology and philosophy, my favorite part was the beginning, especially chapters three and four.  Here, Volf interrogates secular understandings of reconciliation and demonstrates effectively how remembering often becomes a tool for revenge rather than brooking reconciliation.  He shows how the Christian vision provides necessary guidance for the act of reconciliation, most importantly by providing a way to "forget" and still treat grievances with justice.  "Forgetting" for Volf means the "not coming to mind" of a certain event or grievance rather than the willful oppression of memories.  He argues that in an ultimate sense, this kind of forgetting is only fully realized in Christ's final redemption of the world, neatly laying the difficult boundary between heaven and earth while showing how the two could interact.

I must say I was disappointed by Volf's reading of Freud.  Since Freud is such a controversial figure, I would have liked to see some references to modern psychology.  The postscript at the end was also a bit of a let-down.  Here, he imagines what reconciliation with Captain G might look like.  Volf has a tendency toward idealism and the hypothetical situations he poses are ultimately unsatisfying for me.  I do not think this discredits his argument.  By ending the book with a personal story rather than a didactic list of commands, Volf is giving his reader the freedom to choose which path to follow.

For atheists, agnostics, and Calvinists, there may be a good deal of content in this book you don't believe, but I do not think the experience will be uncomfortable.  If anything, this book is an invitation to dialogue even if it is stocked with Christian theology.  Because Volf is so articulate and never comes across as judgmental, he is an easy narrator to trust.  The End of Memory is a masterpiece that will give you pause to reconsider the foundations of justice themselves.