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Fourth and finally, embrace is the horizon of the struggle for justice. As in many of our activities, so in the struggle for justice: much depends on the telos, on the goal of that struggle. Toward what is it oriented? Is it oriented simply toward ensuring that everyone gets what one deserves? Or is it oriented toward the larger goal of healing relationships? My contention is that it must be oriented precisely toward the latter. The reason is simple. You will have justice only if you strive for something greater than justice, only if you strive after love.

My time is up. In addition to emphasizing priority of embrace while not disregarding justice I want to leave you with invitation to creativity. I don't have time to suggest how you would acquire the will to embrace or practice embrace in concrete situations, whether in your personal or in your more communal lives. I pray that God will grant you wisdom to find creative ways to practice embrace in our world shot through with violence.

Miroslav Volf is Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale University Divinity School and author of Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Togetherness, and Reconciliation.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

To read Volf's vita and publications, visit the Yale Divinity School site.

Volf's articles for Christianity Today include "A Mother's Strange Love," about his adopted son and the book review "Jehovah on Trial."

Volf's Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation is available from ChristianBook.com.

Previous Christianity Today articles by and about Volf include:

Love Your Heavenly Enemy | How are we going to live eternally with those we can't stand now? (Oct. 23, 2000)

Peace Be With You | Looking beyond naivete and cynicism about peacemaking at Wheaton's Christianity and Violence conference. (March 20, 2000)

Miroslav Volf: Speaking truth to the world | (Feb. 8, 1999)

New Theologians | These top scholars are believers who want to speak to the church. (Feb. 8, 1999)

The Clumsy Embrace | Croatian Miroslav Volf wanted to love his Serbian enemies; the Prodigal's father is showing him how. (Oct. 5, 1998)

Finding the Will to Embrace the Enemy | What it means to follow the crucified Christ in the midst of ethnic and racial conflict. (April 28, 1997)

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September (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45