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Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace

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As far as understanding the nature and power of forgiveness, this was a paradigm shifter for me. More importantly, it moved me to action, literally becoming a catalyst for mending, what was at the time, a seriously damaged relationship. I have not read a better book on the subject. Volf's a deep thinker, but he doesn't have his head in the sand. He writes from a place of humility and grace. And his understanding of the Gospel and what it makes us capable of becoming is so illuminating and life-giving. I hope I don't sound too enamored with the man, but his insights have proven to be very wise. I feel that I am in his debt.

In this practical and profound book, Volf gets down to the nitty-gritty of what it means for us as Christians to forgive those who have wronged us. Simply put as he states in his book, "We forgive because God forgives. We forgive as God forgives. We forgive by echoing God's forgiveness." While this is one of those deceptively simple lessons that takes me a minute to learn but a lifetime to master, Volf has given his fellow Christian brothers and sisters some tools to get us started on this journey toward reconciliation.

Volf does an incredible service for the church in writing this. He is neither preachy nor condescending, but is thoughtful, articulate and weaves together a beautiful theology of forgiveness. This book fills a large gap in the thought and reflection of the church in America, and deserves careful attention to anyone wishing to follow Jesus.

Have you ever wondered what is missing in our culture? In our churches? In our workplaces? In our homes? In our "selves"? Volf offers a compelling diagnosis for one of modern culture's most significant and serious problems. I dare anyone to read this book and walk away unchanged. At the very least it will change your perspective, at best it may change your life.

There are very few books that I whole-heartedly recommend, but Miraslov Volf's Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace is one I would not only recommend, I would encourage people of all faiths and even those without to read.

Volf is a professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, but this is not an intimidating read. Each of the two sections, giving and forgiving, begins with discussing how God does each. He reminds us that God is neither a negotiator nor a Santa Claus. God gives because that is His nature, and He delights in giving to us so that He can also give through us. He uses the visual of God pouring gifts out to us and makes the point that the flow of giving was never intended to stop there...it should flow through us and on to those around us, who in turn give to those around them, and all of it flows around and then back to us to begin again. He often refers to the necessity of living within a giving community of givers (the body of Christ), not only so that we encourage one another in the grace of giving but so that we pour those gifts onto others outside the body so that they, too, will come to know God through us. This picture is one that has me captivated. Certainly it is of the ideal...the one that God intended and not the one that we as sinful humans are able to create perfectly...but the ideal is the goal.

The second half of the book deals with forgiving, and for me there were ideas here that might be called transforming. I was especially impressed with his discussion of the relationship between forgiving and repentance.

I can not recommend this book highly enough. It is not expensive and not so "theological" that those of us without a degree in theology can't understand it.

In Free of Charge, Miroslav Volf has written a highly sophisticated yet eminently readable work of Christian theology. He tackles some very big issues here--namely, giving and forgiving--and asks a lot of probing questions about both of these subjects. The first section of the book deals primarily with "giving." Volf uses his keen analytical mind to break down the reasons why human beings do and should give. He urges us to give not out of a sense of obligation or out of a desire to show that we can give but in order to emulate a giving God. The second section of the book is, in some ways, the more powerful of the two. Volf asks why it is so difficult for humans to forgive and why we should try to forgive even those horrific offenses that we can never forget. He acknowledges that in many cases human beings might find it next to impossible to forgive some of the offenses they have endured at the hands of others. Volf points out that forgiving does not simply release the offender from guilt but also, in a way condemns the offender (i.e. if we just forgive somebody who has done nothing wrong to us the "forgiven" person will feel either strange or become offended himself). Ultimately Volf strives to make God's example of forgiving human beings despite the fact that they don't deserve it relevant to us.

But the best part of this book for me came with its somewhat surprising postlude, which took the form of Volf's conversation with a skeptic. This was powerful for me because here, Volf talks very openly about his own doubts and how he overcomes them. The brief postlude also makes a strong case for skeptics who find the Christian view of the world compelling to try inhabiting this viewpoint for a while. Ultimately, reading this book felt like a spiritual journey that forced me to contemplate some of the difficult choices that we face in life.

This book is a keeper. Easy to read and digest. This book has made me think the way I treat others.

This book was recommended to me by a seminary professor, but don't let that put you off from reading it. Volf intentionally and systematically presents a theology of God as giver and forgiver. Making use of many of Martin Luther's writings, Volf crafts a picture of a God whose nature is loving and generous. That is contrasted with a self-oriented and self-serving humankind which has been redeemed by the pre-creation plans of God. Volf sees a lofty purpose in humankind. "Faith is an expression of the fact that we exist so that the infinite God can dwell in us and work through us for the well-being of the whole creation."


At times, the reader may feel the author is repetitive. He is. It is part of the correlation between giving and forgiving and provides a logical presentation of Volf's theological approach. Do not think it is tedious, however. Once the reader works through the chapters on giving and the narrative which introduces forgiving, the carefully laid foundation will be appreciated. I read this book as part of a study of forgiveness, especially as a contrast to Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower. Both Wiesenthal's and Volf's voices can be heard in scripture. The reader's own experience will have to be filtered through those perspectives to gain understanding.

I would put this book in my "favorites" category.

The deepest understanding of unconditional forgiveness can only come from experiencing the most grievous offenses. Miroslav Volf has made hard choices, and chose the unworldly option of following Christ's exhortations. He draws on his own experiences, those of victims in Yugoslavia's civil, Jesus, the apostle Paul, and Martin Luther's works, to present his conviction about the prominence of generosity in Christianity.

The full title of the book reveals its broad outline, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. The first half of the book is about the act of giving. Regarding our need to give he writes, "The self will lose itself it it simply lives in and for itself. It will seek only its own benefits, and the more it seeks its own benefits, the less satisfied it will become. That's the paradox of self-love: The more you fill the self, the more it echoes with the emptiness of unfulfillment." p.52 He contends we emulate God when we give. "Why? Because you are giving. Every gift breaks the barrier between the sacred and the mundane and floods the mundane with the sacred. When a gift is given, life become extraordinary because God's own gift giving flows through the giver." p.54 "Instead, we give because we are givers, because Christ living in us is a giver." p.66 His practical theology is swollen with the understanding of God's inhabitation of us. If God is in us, then we are freed to follow a new human script. It is powerfully encouraging to read and ponder. Volf has also been profoundly affected by trinitarian theology. As Fred Sanders pointed out in his bookThe Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, the Trinity changes everything. It even models gift giving. "Because the Godhead is a perfect communion of love, divine persons exchange gifts - the gift of themselves and the gift of the others' glory." p.85

In such a short book, Volf is surprisingly thorough. He looks at giving and the many concerns others might have, of giving too much, of giving wrongly, of giving proudly. But giving "through" God solves a multitude of issues. "The only way to ensure that we will not lose our very selves if we give ourselves to others is if our love for the other passes first through God, if we, as Augustine put it succinctly and profoundly, love and enjoy others in God. Those who serve the poor often express such a stance by saying that they serve Jesus in the one they help. The same is true of all Christian giving." p.103 He also addresses the "give to get" theology that contaminates all of us to one degree or another. "So God doesn't pay givers; God gives to givers... True, we often treat God's gifts as payment for services rendered. But when we do, we fundamentally misconstrue God's relationship to us and mistreat God's gifts. God is not an employer, not even a very generous employer. God is a giver." p.105

After half a book on the generosity of God, a clever set-up on Volf's part, he then turns to, in my opinion, the most important part of the book, forgiveness. "We give when we delight in others or others are in need; by giving, we enhance their joy or make up for their lack. We forgive when others have wronged us; by forgiving, we release them from the burden of their wrongdoing. The difference lies in the violation suffered, in the burden of wrongdoing, offense, transgression, debt. And that's what makes it more difficult to forgive than to give." p.130 He does not shy away from God's justice and wrath. Without those characteristics, his forgiveness would be unnecessary. "You can summ up where we've landed in four simple sentences. The world is sinful. That's why God doesn't affirm it indiscriminately. God loves the world. That's why God doesn't punish it in justice... What Does God do with this double bind? God forgives." p.140 To which I reply, Hallelujah! "Finally, in addition to faith and repentance, we respond to God's forgiveness by 'passing on' forgiveness to others." p.154 But where does justice and revenge belong in our world? "Revenge corresponds to illicit taking, the demand for justice corresponds to legitimate acquiring, and forgiving roughly corresponds to generous giving." p.158 "But why is forgiveness, rather than retributive justice, a Christian duty?..I suggested on reason: Consistent enforcement of justice would wreak havoc in a world shot through with transgression. It may rid the world of evil, but at the cost of the world's destruction." p.160 Forgiveness is hard because, among other reasons, it is complicated. "To forgive is to blame, not to punish...Those who forgive will have a system of discipline, but retribution will not be part of it. They ought to forgive rather than punish because God in Christ forgave. Christ is the end of retribution." p.170 Volf is not a caricatured liberal. He is not denying the utility of prisons. But he is exhorting us to let the life of Christ flow out of us. "We make God's sending of the"forgiveness package" our own. That's all we can do. And that's what we have the power to do. Whether the package will be received depends on the recipients, on whether they admit to the wrongdoing and repent." p.197 In case you weren't challenged enough he reiterates, "But the forgiveness is unconditional...It's predicated on nothing the perpetrators do or fail to do. forgiveness is not a reaction to something else. It is the beginning of something new." p.209

His book concludes with a conversation with an unnamed skeptic, not too hard to find at Yale, where Volf teaches. If a skeptic finds this book in their hands, perhaps he should start here, at the end. Is there really a community of giving and forgiving? Is it worth it? Is it possible?

I've quoted Volf liberally so that your appetite is not only whetted, but also convinced that the writing is excellent and compelling. It also drew me into worship. What a great God we have.

Zondervan provided this book to me free in exchange for a review.

truly healing and motivating... Christianity Today suggested this book about Forgivness.. and it truly is the benchmark.

I thought it was going to be about "forgiveness" but it is so much more.
HIGHLY suggested.
Life Changing if you will absorb it.
Not ONLY for Christian Thought.. but global approach to GIVING and FORGIVING
and not feeling like a "sucker" for doing so

dennis