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Not Far from the Kingdom: Martha Nussbaum on Anger and Forgiveness
Author(s) -
Jackson Timothy P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of religious ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.306
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1467-9795
pISSN - 0384-9694
DOI - 10.1111/jore.12243
Subject(s) - retributive justice , forgiveness , injustice , anger , compassion , generosity , sociology , economic justice , prison , restorative justice , psychoanalysis , criminology , psychology , law , social psychology , philosophy , theology , political science
In Anger and Forgiveness , Martha Nussbaum offers a magisterial brief against what she calls “retribution” and “garden‐variety anger.” She does not write as a Christian, but there is much for a Christian ethicist to admire in her learned and creative treatment of moral emotion, including her defense of generosity. Professor Nussbaum is not far from the kingdom of God. I argue, nevertheless, that she blurs or erodes four important distinctions, between justice and love, anger and hatred, retribution and revenge, and utility and sanctity. The upshot is that her call for compassion degenerates into injustice. To justify this appraisal, I lay out Nussbaum’s normative case, identify three major theoretical difficulties with that case, examine briefly the teachings of Socrates and Jesus in relation to revolutionary justice, then note an admitted complexity.