Forgiveness and Retribution: Responding to Wrongdoing
"Margaret Holmgren's book is a daring attempt to defend a new paradigm of forgiveness that would radically reorient our attitudes toward those who wrong us and our way of thinking about punishment and criminal law. No doubt the discussion it provokes will be intense."- George W. Harris, author of Reason's Grief: An Essay on Tragedy and Value"Moral, political, and legal philosophers who prize theoretical unity and comprehensiveness will appreciate Margaret Holmgren's new book, which begins with a foundational virtue ethic and from it systematically derives conclusions about how individuals and institutions should respond to wrongdoers. Holmgren's work is probably the most thoughtful and thorough defense of an unconditional forgiveness approach to wrongdoers, one that critically responds to work by contemporary retributivists and that should give them pause. Of particular interest is the fact that Holmgren argues that principles such as respect for offenders and for victims, to which retributivists standardly appeal, are best interpreted in ways that support anti-retributivist conclusions, such as the restitutional approach to punishment for which Holmgren is rightly well-known."- Thaddeus Metz, Humanities Research Professor, University of Johannesburg"Margaret Holmgren has written a very stimulating book on forgiveness...An additional virtue of her book is a discussion of forgiveness in the context of criminal punishment - a discussion in which she makes creative suggestions concerning the social and legal institutions that a truly forgiving society would adopt. I recommend that all those interested in a serious discussion of forgiveness read this book and ponder its many insights."- Jeffrie G. Murphy, Arizona State University, author of the book Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits."...This is a fine book defending a difficult thesis--that unconditional forgiveness of a wrongdoer is always appropriate, once the offended party has done a considerable bit of self-examination (which Holmgren explains in detail).... general readers will benefit from hearing what she has to say. Included are an ample bibliography and index.... Recommended..."--R. T. Lee, emeritus, Trinity College, CHOICE"...Intended for a philosophical audience, her book lucidly lays out the arguments for her position and critically addresses the connections between her own work and the scholarly literature.... her arguments are so clearly presented, with such a pleasing style, that her work should be accessible to a general, but well read, audience..."--Kathleen Poorman Dougherty, Ph.D., Notre Dame of Maryland University, Metapsychology Online Reviews"...I recommend this work for its slightly polemical approach, as it aims for no  less than 'a predominant attitude of real goodwill toward all beings' in the interests of facing momentous and global challenges.... a book for exercising one's arguments, a service to philosophy...."--Kathryn J. Norlock, Trent University, Philosophy in Review