Abstract:
In the body of research on an ethics of forgiveness, scholars differ about the place of remembrance
in the act of forgiveness. One line of thought follows the argument of the philosopher Nietzsche,
who maintained that people cannot live in the present when they are prisoners of the past. Without
forgetting, the human species would have to relive the past continuously, and would never live in
the present moment. Without forgetting, there can be no future. An opposite opinion follows the
argument of Wiesel, who said that he discovered that only memory could help him to reclaim his
humanity after the inhumanity of the Holocaust. What is therefore the relation between forgiveness
and forgetfulness? This article deals with this question from a Christian ethical perspective. With
a biblical-theological hermeneutical model as angle of approach, the investigation focuses on the
evidence provided, in this regard, by the institution and meaning of the relevant feasts in the
biblical history. These are the Passover, the Feast of the Huts, the Feast of Purim and the Lord’s
Supper. The study reaches the conclusion that remembrance is an essential part of forgiveness, and
should be a core ingredient in socio-political transition.
