Not Far from the Kingdom

Martha Nussbaum on Anger and Forgiveness

Bibliographic Data

ID14760799
AuthorsTimothy P Jackson (0000-0002-6142-8882, Emory and Henry College, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume46
Issue4
Pages749-770
Publication date2018-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12243
OpenAlexW2902043388
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited7

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

Anger · Compassion · Criminology · Economic Justice · Forgiveness · Generosity · Injustice · Political science · Prison · Psychoanalysis · Restorative justice · Retributive justice · Sociology · Theology · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · War, Ethics, and Justification

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