{"title":"Unfinished forgiveness: dynamics of Igbo cosmology and Christian theology in Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities","authors":"Justin D Livingstone","doi":"10.1093/litthe/frae012","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities, a novel embedded in the Igbo traditions of Odinani, is acclaimed as a literary exercise in alternative cosmology. Yet the book is also seriously engaged with Christian theology. This essay argues that the novel’s account of wrongdoing, repentance, and remission, offers a careful analysis of the dynamics of Christian forgiveness, sharpened by its Igbo cosmological perspective. The tensions that it dramatizes between an honor-shame code and the demands of forgiveness, simultaneously critique the logic of retribution and problematize romantic and therapeutic models of forgiving. By dwelling on the complications of resolving offences, and opening taxing questions around political injustices, An Orchestra of Minorities pushes towards a refined moral grammar in which forgiveness is not impossible but routinely unfinished.","PeriodicalId":43172,"journal":{"name":"Literature and Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Literature and Theology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frae012","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities, a novel embedded in the Igbo traditions of Odinani, is acclaimed as a literary exercise in alternative cosmology. Yet the book is also seriously engaged with Christian theology. This essay argues that the novel’s account of wrongdoing, repentance, and remission, offers a careful analysis of the dynamics of Christian forgiveness, sharpened by its Igbo cosmological perspective. The tensions that it dramatizes between an honor-shame code and the demands of forgiveness, simultaneously critique the logic of retribution and problematize romantic and therapeutic models of forgiving. By dwelling on the complications of resolving offences, and opening taxing questions around political injustices, An Orchestra of Minorities pushes towards a refined moral grammar in which forgiveness is not impossible but routinely unfinished.
奇戈齐-奥比奥马(Chigozie Obioma)的小说《少数民族交响乐团》(An Orchestra of Minorities)融入了伊格博人的奥迪纳尼传统,被誉为另类宇宙观的文学实践。然而,该书也与基督教神学进行了认真的探讨。这篇文章认为,小说对错误行为、悔改和赦免的描述,对基督教宽恕的动力进行了细致的分析,并通过伊格博宇宙观的视角使之更加尖锐。小说表现了荣誉-羞耻准则与宽恕要求之间的紧张关系,同时批判了报应逻辑,并对浪漫和治疗性的宽恕模式提出了质疑。通过探讨解决犯罪的复杂性,并围绕政治不公正提出令人费解的问题,《少数民族交响乐团》推动了一种精致的道德语法,在这种语法中,宽恕并非不可能,而是经常性的未完成。
期刊介绍:
Literature and Theology, a quarterly peer-review journal, provides a critical non-confessional forum for both textual analysis and theoretical speculation, encouraging explorations of how religion is embedded in culture. Contributions should address questions pertinent to both literary study and theology broadly understood, and be consistent with the Journal"s overall aim: to engage with and reshape traditional discourses within the studies of literature and religion, and their cognate fields - biblical criticism, literary criticism, philosophy, politics, culture studies, gender studies, artistic theory/practice, and contemporary critical theory/practice.