The forgiveness part of the title may catch your attention more when you read the title but this book is more about providing validation for vindictive emotions such as anger, resentment and hatred rather than making the case for forgiveness. For Murphy, vindictiveness is related to self-respect and self-defense. Murphy argues that forgiveness should only be granted if the wrongdoer is repentant. Otherwise, if forgiveness is granted beforehand then the wrongdoer doesn't have incentive to repent.
Murphy's goal is to look at these emotions in everyday situations but he also looks heavily at situations related to criminal punishment. As well, he considers Christianity and forgiveness and Christianity and criminal punishment.
Murphy makes a good argument for the validity of vindictive emotions. Those that feel guilty for having vindictive emotions might find relief by reading his arguments. However, some of his ideas and interpretations fall short and there are questions that he doesn't consider. To some degree, it feels as if he is trying to justify the vindictive feelings that he has from time to time.
One problem is that he doesn't believe enough in the positives effects of forgiveness for the person forgiving. Since he thinks a wrongdoer must be repentant to be forgiven he doesn't consider the question: how long should a person hold on to the vindictive emotions if the person isn't waiting for repentance? He admits to not being a theologian but attempts to interpret scripture and in at least one instance, may be making the wrong interpretation.
Despite its shortcomings, I liked reading this book because it made me think about vindictiveness and forgiveness from some new viewpoints. I would recommend it to someone who is interested about those topics.
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