Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking and profound, a book to be read slowly.
Review: This is a tremendous book. While the author writes in an academic style, there is a warmth and questioning tone that makes the method engaging. Perhaps the important thing is that I learned from this book and it is making a difference in my life. The concepts of looking at others in an attitude of embrace and of love being a necessary precursor to justice are antithetical to my societal training. I was also struck by the section comparing the concepts of covenant and contract. Permanence in relationship, what a novel concept. Volf's book is an honest attempt by a scholar to look at the complexities of relatedness and identity. An attempt to summarize his thoughts in 1000 words is bound to fail - read the book.
Rating:
Summary: FINDING FREEDOM TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES
Review: This is one of THE BEST books I have read in my life. I am only a young non-intellectual dude maybe thats why I thinks its the best book. Everything the Authour has written is so........ profound and fresh. The book captures the heart while engaging the mind to strive to climb new heights in understanding how to respond to injustice and violence without in the process becoming injust or violent.There are hardly any loose ends or illogical leaps in the aruguments. The naration is also absolutly brilliant. But the real prize of the book lies in the fact that the authour is writing out of real life experience of war and is not a fake philospher who is trying to give the impression of a halo of sophistication on his head. Reading this book awakened in me real hope in the midst of darkening crisis all around the world including our homes. I highly recomend the book to all the young people in the world. May our future be shaped by the pages of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Provactive, Insightful, Fascinating
Review: This is without doubt one of the most fascinating and innovative books on theology, politics and reconcilliation that I have ever read. Volf in this volume, which arises out of his own experience in the Balkans provides one of the most engaging and unique books available on how the Christian message of God's reconciling embrace of the world in the Cross of Christ should shape our lives in the world.
Volf grounds his discussion in the theology of the cross and the Trinity, seeking to show how we must live a life of embrace and forgiveness toward enemies, given that we have been embraced by God's act of Triune Grace in the Cross of Christ. He examines the nature of human sinfullness as manifesting itself in exculsion, whereby we alienate ourselves from others. He then goes on and shows how modern society attempts to overcome the problem of exclusion with a form of inclusion whereby the differnces that divide us are transcended and all are integrated into a unifed whole. This, of course does not succeed, and either ends up exacerbating the problem or creating a homogeneous culture wherein differences are eliminated.
The alternative to the narrative of exclsusion-inclusion is the way of the God's Trinitarian act of self-giving embrace on the Cross wherein the other is embraced as "other" and reconcilliation is brought about. This includes a treatment of the issue of gender identity and difference, explored within the context of a theology of embrace. Volf goes on to describe how the divine drama of embrace bears upon our understanding of oppression and justice, truth and deception and violence and peace.
Along the way in this fascinating treatment of these powerful themes, Volf offers many provacative and controversial claims that may not sit well with certain modern theologians. His claims that eschatological reconcilliation and wholness can only be brought about by some form of "nonremembrance" will doubtless elicit much discussion as will his provacative claim that a Christian ethic of nonviolence requires the presupposition of God's future acts of eschatological violence and judgment.
While there are details of Volf's work on which I may differ, I find that on the whole this is one of the most creative, provacative, cogent and powerful theological books written in recent years. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Christian Ethics
Review: Volf's Exclusion and Embrace is an important book for those interested in finding their way through the murky waters of our pluralistic world with both respect for the beliefs of others while holding to one's own convictions. Volf offers a biblically based model for embracing "the others" - the real people who hold differing beliefs, values and lifestyles than ourselves.
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