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PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/177429 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-04 and may be subject to change. The fndings from this study go beyond biblical-theological scholarship on forgiveness. Dion Forster boldly succeeds in showing that creating conditions for deeper human connection transforms impossibility into possibility and shines a light on the face of “the Other”, who can now be forgiven. he (im)possibility Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Professor and Research Chair of Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University Dion Forster refuses to accept the conclusion that understandings of forgiveness may be so different and complex across social, racial and cultural groups in South Africa that actual of Forgiveness? forgiveness may be impossible. Using Matthew 18:15-35 as a meeting ground, he gathers ordinary Methodist Christians for cross cultural, intergroup Bible reading. He draws upon the philosophical AN EMPIRICAL INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING OF MATTHEW 18:15-35 integral theory of Ken Wilber, the insights of intergroup contact theory and the methods of critical biblical exegesis to organize, analyse and understand this encounter. What emerges is a hopeful conclusion that difering conceptions of forgiveness – its challenges and possibilities – can be understood, shared and perhaps, actualized across social, racial and cultural barriers.” Bruce C. Birch, Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary Reading Dion Forster on the (im)possibility of forgiveness, I was once again struck by our desperate need to learn more about ourselves and one another, but also about the meaning of forgiveness in our respective communities. This is an excellent example of the potential of Intercultural Bible Reading. Forster not only makes an outstanding academic contribution with implications for New Testament studies, Systematic and Public Theology, but also for fesh and blood communities wrestling with the possibilities and perils of forgiveness. Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament Studies and Head of Department, Chair of the Gender Unit, Stellenbosch University This book deals with contested and topical matters. Biblical hermeneutics has always been contested – how to read and understand Biblical passages. Things become even more contested when such passages are read inter-culturally; they become even more contested when the words are about contested personal and social issues, like Jesus’ words on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Empirical studies like this show how deeply contested such readings truly are in the context of South African churches, with their painful histories of division and confict. Future academic work will, therefore, beneft from the creative and careful methodological approach developed in this study. However, this book ofers much more than academic promise – precisely because of the theme, so topical today and without doubt topical for a long time to come and in many other places in our contemporary world as well. Forster ofers resources for reading and conversation for everyone concerned with public life today. This is public theology in action, showing how faith B matters – without prescribing answers, but rather by invitation to join an informed discussion. EYERS N Dirk J Smit, The Rimmer and Ruth deVries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, AUDÉ Princeton Theological Seminary DION FORSTER C ENTRE Dion Forster is the Chair of the Department of S Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Stellenbosch ERIES ON University, where he teaches Ethics and Public P Theology. He is also the Director of the Beyers Naudé UBLIC Centre for Public Theology at Stellenbosch University. T HEOLOGY ISBN 978-1-928357-52-0 BEYERS NAUDÉ CENTRE SERIES ON PUBLIC THEOLOGY 9 781928 357520 The fndings from this study go beyond biblical-theological scholarship on forgiveness. Dion Forster boldly succeeds in showing that creating conditions for deeper human connection transforms impossibility into possibility and shines a light on the face of “the Other”, who can now be forgiven. he (im)possibility Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Professor and Research Chair of Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University Dion Forster refuses to accept the conclusion that understandings of forgiveness may be so different and complex across social, racial and cultural groups in South Africa that actual of Forgiveness? forgiveness may be impossible. Using Matthew 18:15-35 as a meeting ground, he gathers ordinary Methodist Christians for cross cultural, intergroup Bible reading. He draws upon the philosophical AN EMPIRICAL INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING OF MATTHEW 18:15-35 integral theory of Ken Wilber, the insights of intergroup contact theory and the methods of critical biblical exegesis to organize, analyse and understand this encounter. What emerges is a hopeful conclusion that difering conceptions of forgiveness – its challenges and possibilities – can be understood, shared and perhaps, actualized across social, racial and cultural barriers.” Bruce C. Birch, Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary Reading Dion Forster on the (im)possibility of forgiveness, I was once again struck by our desperate need to learn more about ourselves and one another, but also about the meaning of forgiveness in our respective communities. This is an excellent example of the potential of Intercultural Bible Reading. Forster not only makes an outstanding academic contribution with implications for New Testament studies, Systematic and Public Theology, but also for fesh and blood communities wrestling with the possibilities and perils of forgiveness. Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament Studies and Head of Department, Chair of the Gender Unit, Stellenbosch University This book deals with contested and topical matters. Biblical hermeneutics has always been contested – how to read and understand Biblical passages. Things become even more contested when such passages are read inter-culturally; they become even more contested when the words are about contested personal and social issues, like Jesus’ words on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Empirical studies like this show how deeply contested such readings truly are in the context of South African churches, with their painful histories of division and confict. Future academic work will, therefore, beneft from the creative and careful methodological approach developed in this study. However, this book ofers much more than academic promise – precisely because of the theme, so topical today and without doubt topical for a long time to come and in many other places in our contemporary world as well. Forster ofers resources for reading and conversation for everyone concerned with public life today. This is public theology in action, showing how faith B matters – without prescribing answers, but rather by invitation to join an informed discussion. EYERS N Dirk J Smit, The Rimmer and Ruth deVries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, AUDÉ Princeton Theological Seminary DION FORSTER C ENTRE Dion Forster is the Chair of the Department of S Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Stellenbosch ERIES ON University, where he teaches Ethics and Public P Theology. He is also the Director of the Beyers Naudé UBLIC Centre for Public Theology at Stellenbosch University. T HEOLOGY ISBN 978-1-928357-52-0 BEYERS NAUDÉ CENTRE SERIES ON PUBLIC THEOLOGY 9 781928 357520 THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF FORGIVENESS? AN EMPIRICAL INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING OF MATTHEW 18.15-35 Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 11 oktober 2017 om 16.30 uur precies door Dion Angus Forster geboren op 14 januari 1972 te Harare, Zimbabwe PROMOTOREN Prof. dr. J.G. van der Watt Prof. dr. C.A.M. Hermans MANUSCRIPTCOMMISSIE Prof. dr. E.A.J.G. van der Borght (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) Prof. dr. M.A.C. de Haardt Prof. dr. K. Kok (Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, België) Prof. dr. Leslie J. Francis (University of Warwick, Coventry, Verenigd Koninkrijk) Prof. dr. P.G.J. Meiring (Universiteit van Pretoria, Zuid-Afrika) THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF FORGIVENESS? AN EMPIRICAL INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING OF MATTHEW 18.15-35 Doctoral Thesis to obtain the degree of doctor from Radboud University Nijmegen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, according to the decision of the Council of Deans to be defended in public on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 16.30 hours by Dion Angus Forster Born on January 14, 1972 in Harare, Zimbabwe SUPERVISORS Prof. dr. J.G. van der Watt Prof. dr. C.A.M. Hermans DOCTORAL THESIS COMMITTEE Prof. dr. E.A.J.G. van der Borght (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) Prof. dr. M.A.C. de Haardt Prof. dr. K. Kok (Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, Belgium) Prof. dr. Leslie J. Francis (University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom) Prof. dr. P.G.J. Meiring (University of Pretoria, South Africa) DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, and that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated). ____________________________