Called To Forgive:  The Charleston Church Shooting, A Victim’s Husband, And The Path To Healing And Peace, by Anthony B. Thompson with Denise George

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Bethany House Publishers.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

This author wants to have things both ways, and it gives this book a rather sinister edge and suggests the author is really not aware either of what sort of forgiveness is required for Christians and what is the appropriate response to the sort of historical wrongs where the author demonstrates considerable bitterness.  While one would like to believe that the author has some sort of insight to pass along when it comes to forgiveness, especially given his admirable efforts at overcoming bitterness at the racist young man who gunned down his wife and eight other congregants at a Wednesday night Bible study at a Charleston, SC church, the author demonstrates considerable bitterness over the burden of racism and slavery that he feels it necessary for frequent (and meaningless) public apologies from people who are not to blame for the suffering of the author and others like him through centuries of racism and slavery.  This gives the book the strange feeling of being a not very forgiving book that is ostensibly about the subject of forgiveness.

This book is a bit more than 200 pages and is divided into ten chapters.  The author begins with acknowledgments and an introduction.  After that the author talks about the tragedy of the Charleston shooting (1), as well as the surprising aftermath when instead of rioting there was a coming together of bipartisan and multi-ethnic hostility to racially motivated acts of violence (2).  The author talks about Dylann Storm Roof and his background (3) as well as the author’s decision to forgive (4).  This leads to a discussion about Dylann’s journey to violence (5) as well as the author’s difficulties in missing his wife after her death (6).  The author then moves to discuss the reaction of the community and nation to the attack, which abhorred the violent attack on peaceful black believers (7), as well as the author’s honoring of his wife’s wishes when it comes to grief and sorrow (8).  Finally, the author discusses the deadly disease of unforgiveness (9) as well as the author’s view of the path of healing and peace (10).  The author also includes as an epilogue his own letter to Dylann, some Bible Study Questions, as well as five appendices that look at a call to prayer, the timeline of the shooting, trial, and remembrance, the author’s view of the ten stages of biblical forgiveness (sans Bible citations), an example of a sham apology for Charleston’s involvement in slavery, and Myra’s Bible study notes on the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4, along with notes.

There is an unpleasant irony in this book that it seems the author is unaware of.  Although the author focuses on the personal forgiveness he showed to a young racist murderer.  Unfortunately, the author demonstrates himself to be deeply unforgiving when it comes to the problems of America’s racial history.  Indeed, the author shows himself to have a racialist view of history that includes a strong belief in white guilt, signifying that while he can claim to forgive the murderer of his wife for his violence, he is less willing to overcome his bitterness towards white America for the context of racial hostility between white and black, and indeed in his book he makes no condemnation whatsoever of black terrorist groups like Black Lives Matter who stoke the racialist fires from the perspective of blacks.  This racialist view, unfortunately, greatly undercuts the author’s intended message about forgiveness, as well as his own supposed expertise in the subject.  The author and the murder of his wife, in their shared racially motivated worldview do not appear to be so different after all.