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10 Forgiveness in the Community: Views from an Episcopal Priest and Former Chief of Police The Reverend David Couper I spent thirty-four years of my adult life in the police service and twentyfive ofthem as a chiefofpolice. I have a master ofarts in sociology, having studied deviant behavior at the University of Minnesota in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I recently (1993) retired from the police department and entered a seminary ofthe Episcopal church. I am now a parish priest serving a small congregation in Portage, Wisconsin, northwest of Madison. With these kinds oflife experience, I will attempt to claim some kind ofauthority in the area ofcrime, criminal behavior, vengeance, and forgiveness. What do we mean when we talk about forgiveness? From my understanding , forgiveness can be effected only by the person affronted. And once forgiveness is accomplished, the affront or offense should no longer condition the relationship between the offender and the offended. An example of successful forgiveness is when harmony is restored between victim and offender (see Anchor Bible Dictionary, 2:831). Theologically speaking, impediments to forgiveness include "stubborn unrepentance, unbelief, denial of wrongdoing, and the refusal to forgive other people" (see Anchor Bible Dictionary, 2:835). Probably the best theological example of forgiveness I can think of is the biblical story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). In it we are observers ofthe dynamics that can take place in a family setting when one person (the father in this case) chooses to forgive one of his children. In this story we can see how the elder, obedient, nonoffending son perceives a situation where he feels he, too, has been offended by the philandering younger brother. The father has found a lost son and calls for the celebratory killing ofa fatted calf. The elder son protests to the father, "Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends." The father, no doubt somewhat puzzled by the elder 121 122 COUPER: For.giveness in the Community son's outburst, replies, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother ofyours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found." Forgiveness in this setting is and is not about justice. No doubt the elder brother is offended on a couple offronts: He is offended as a member ofthe family, whose youngest son ran offwith his share ofthe family money and spent most of it on wine, women, and song. The elder brother is probably also offended because "fair is fair"; the younger brother took his share and left and now, legally, he has no claim to anything. Do we detect a certain meanspiritedness here, a need for punishment and vengeance? Neither the elder brother nor the father knows what we, as listeners, know. We know from the storyteller that the younger brother suffered terribly, nearly starving in his plight, and that he had to work on a pig farm (doing ritually "unclean" work). The son has chosen to return to his father, not as his son, but to beg work as servant on the family farm. When the son is coming down the road but is still far off, "his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him." This happens before any words are said. Mterward, the son says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." And what does the father do? He calls for a robe, sandals for the son's feet, and a ring for his finger. He calls for a celebration, for his son "was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found." The question here is, What role does the elder son playas "victim"? Is he a victim? I ask this because much ofour style ofjustice in this country is based on the concept of "society" as victim. In this case, is not the elder brother "society"? And what standing does he have in the relationship between his father and the younger brother? If this is all about share and assets, then the elder son really has no standing, because the property belongs to the...

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