Review: Free of Charge

I just finished a great book by Miroslav Volf on the nature of giving and forgiveness, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. It is divided into two parts, the first on giving and the second on forgiveness. I found it to be very insightful as to the nature of both giving and forgiving, and his insight into Luther's texts was helpful in trying to further understand Scripture. Most important, though, Volf uses Scripture as the source and hope for the statements he sets out. By using God as the ultimate giver and forgiver he outlines how we should give/forgive and then asks, "how can we give/forgive?" He also gives a good critique of contemporary culture and encourages us within the Christ to question the grace stricken world shown to us and challenges us to demonstrate the love of Christ to a broken society and to those within the community. How we give and how we forgive should be marking us out as followers of the one from whom we receive the power to give and forgive.

Again, a great read, and very readable.