Miroslav Volf – Knjiga.hr

Exclusion and Embrace

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:36:39 +0000

Miroslav Volf is a professor at Yale University and the director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Volf was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia, a center of rising ethnic violence in the last 20 years. Volf’s most noted work, “Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation”, confronts this impulse and action of violence not only as theological response but as a practical alternative. As the title indicates, the book centers itself on a thesis which presents exclusion (and identification of the “other”) as the root of conflict and sin and embrace as the metaphorical model of reconciliation and harmonious life. At the root of Volf’s message about human beings and relationship is the concept of identity: It may not be too much to claim that the future of our world will depend on how we deal with identity and difference.[1] Exclusion and Embrace articulates the details of offence as “exclusion”, which occurs when we objectify people, removing them from ourselves as wholly other. Volf contrasts that to the activity (metaphorically) of “embrace”, in which we make space for others within ourselves. …the will to give ourselves to others and “welcome” them, to readjust our identities to make space for them, is prior to any judgment about others, except that of identifying them in their humanity. The will to embrace precedes any “truth” about others and any construction of their “justice.”[2] The author’s description of exclusion are no less poignant, bringing us to a practical understanding of how separating ourselves from others in rejection does violence to both the individual and social fabric with which we are connected. Exclusion is barbarity within civilization, evil among the good, crime against the other right within the walls of the self.[3] Exclusion takes place when the violence of expulsion, assimilation, or subjugation and the indifference of abandonment replace the dynamics of taking in and keeping out as well as the mutuality of giving and receiving.[4] Volf does more than just explore the concepts of identity and exclusion. He offers a real solution in the concept of the embrace. Embrace here is used as a metaphor to the multi-step process of welcoming, opening, receiving, loving and releasing others in a relational offering that demands nothing but hopes for real love. In fact, one of Volf’s most brilliant points is the recognition that part of true embrace and love (relationally) is that we accept and embrace others even when we don’t understand them, and possibly even when they have hurt us. It is this risking to expose one’s self to such vulnerability (with no assurances) that Volf prises and sees intuitively as the kind of necessity (beyond contracts and other such “assurances”) in true trusting relationships. Finding a singular quote for all of these great concepts would be difficult, but these two captures some of these notions: The answer, I hope, would be that at the core of the Christian faith lies the persuasion that the “others” need not be perceived as innocent in order to be loved, but ought to be embraced even when they are perceived as wrongdoers.[5] Without the framework of embrace, the ability-not-to-understand is sterile; but without the ability-not-to-understand a genuine embrace is impossible.[6] I could extend my citings to literally dozens of excellent quotations from this book. It is very well thought, and very well written. One of the strengths of this book will be to the academic world, since it uses the guided logic of philosophical arguments much more than the dogmatic points from a single doctrinal view to make its presentation. I enjoyed Volf’s logical tiers of arguments he used to build his thesis, even if I didn’t agree with every single point.

Mostovi vjere

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:58:07 +0000

Kako bih čitatelju pomogao da bolje shvati ove tekstove, potrebno je iznijeti kratki autobiografski ocrt mojega rada u kršćanskim zajednicama i mojemu pregalaštvu u teologiji. Sve je to išlo pod ruku s nastankom tih tekstova te im je prethodilo. Intelektualno sam oživio i otkrio sam teologiju u dobi od 16 godina, 1972. godine. Dogodilo se to ubrzo nakon što sam napustio svoju tihu pobunu protiv vjere i poziva mojih roditelja. Otkrio sam blago kršćanske vjere. Ključna osoba u mojemu intelektualnom razvoju u to vrijeme bio je moj šogor, dr. Peter Kuzmič – pametan, karizmatičan i vizionarski mladić, vodič za kojeg mi nije palo na pamet da ga trebam i želim. Jedna od prvih knjiga koje mi je stavio u ruke – što je bio riskantan potez – bila je Mudrost Zapada Bertranda Russella, u hrvatskom prijevodu (1970.). Bio je to moj uvod u filozofiju. Nisam siguran što me je uvelo u teologiju, no prva nezaboravna knjiga koja spada pod taj opis bila je knjiga C. S. Lewisa Elementarno kršćanstvo koju sam čitao u engleskome izvorniku. (Mislim da sam imao sreće jer i Russell i Lewis nisu bili samo sjajni intelektualci, već i odlični pisci!). Te dvije knjige – prva strastvenoga ateiste i druga obraćenika od ateizma koji je postao apologeta kršćanske vjere – postavile su me na put neformalnog proučavanja filozofije i teologije tijekom posljednje dvije godine mojega srednjoškolskog obrazovanja. Ono se uglavnom odvijalo tijekom kasnih sati, vikendima, a često i do ranoga jutra. Od samoga početka sam se odmaknuo od Russellova ateizma i Lewisova kršćanskog platonizma. Gutao sam knjige, djela popularnih evanđeoskih pisaca i utjecajnih neevanđeoskih teologa. U protestantskoj teologiji, prvo čega sam se uhvatio bile su rane knjige Wolfharta Pannenberga, Objava kao povijest, Isus: Bog i čovjek i Osnovna teološka pitanja. Prvi pokušaj pisanja teološkoga teksta – u dobi od 17 godina – ticao se aspekta njegove teologije. Naravno, nisam bio spreman na taj poduhvat, no gorljivo sam se hrvao s Panennbergovim sjajnim idejama. Još jedan mislilac mi je postao važan prije završetka srednje škole: Joseph Ratzinger i njegov Uvod u kršćanstvo. Na istu temu je držao predavanja u Tübingenu u proljeće 1967. (Rukopis tih predavanja još uvijek se nalazi u teološkoj biblioteci u Tübingenu). Knjiga je objavljena 1968., a danas se smatra klasikom katoličke teologija toga razdoblja. Pročitao sam je 1973. u hrvatskom prijevodu – bolje je reći, pomno sam je proučavao, čemu svjedoči šuma debelo podcrtanih rečenica u toj knjizi. Miroslav Volf (iz Predgovora)

Isključenje i zagrljaj

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 18:50:59 +0000

Teološko promišljanje o identitetu, drugosti i pomirenju.

Zrcalo sjećanja: ispravno pamćenje u nasilnu svijetu

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 14:17:03 +0000

Isključenje i zagrljaj

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 01:15:29 +0000

Teološko promišljanje identiteta, drugosti i pomirenja. Mirislav Volf je ovom proslavljenom knjigom desetljeća privukao pozornost svjetske akademske, vjerske i političke javnosti. U suočenju s isključivošću, mržnjom i nasiljem, autor u studiju unosi nove vrijednosti. On nas vodi do politike nade i etike življenja koja će oplemeniti budućnost.

Pod istim krovom: Religije u globaliziranom svijetu

Karlo Ilić — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 03:06:33 +0000

Podnaslov: Religije u globaliziranom svijetu Miroslav Volf nam u knjizi Pod istim krovom pruža očaravajuću viziju međusobne igre globalizacije i velikih svjetskih religija. Također, pruža nam nadahnutu viziju načina na koji velike religije mogu biti obogaćene različitošću, umjesto da je smatraju prijetnjom. Izvanredno i pravovremeno djelo jednoga od velikih teologa našega vremena. (Rabin Lord Jonathan Sacks) Miroslav Volf iznosi briljantnu ideju o Komunističkom manifestu kao programatskome dokumentu globalizacijskih procesa. Ova je knjiga najbolji doprinos javnoj teologiji s kojim sam se do sada susreo. (Michael Welker, Sveučilište u Heidelbergu)

Javna vjera: kršćani i opće dobro (meki uvez)

baja — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 02:42:33 +0000

Javna vjera: kršćani i opće dobro (tvrdi uvez)

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 14:06:33 +0000

Pod istim krovom: Religije u globaliziranom svijetu (t.u.)

baja — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 07:32:35 +0000

First the Kingdom of God

baja — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 22:59:32 +0000

Ostali autori: Corneliu Constantineanu Marcel V. Macelaru Krešimir Šimić Opis: Najprije kraljevstvo Božje. A Festschrift in honor of Peter Kuzmič. Na engleskom jeziku.