Forgiveness: How the Bible Can Help Us Understand

by Frank Cottrell Boyce

A Bible Study book for individuals or groups, which explores how the Bible today can help us better to understand themes of forgiveness. Why should we forgive? What if the subject of our forgiveness is underserving? What is Jesus’ scandal of grace? What difference will being able to forgive make to our lives? Forgiveness is part of the all new series, How the Bible can Help us Understand. These short books are aimed at ordinary people committed in their faith and wanting to live Christianly, but not brought up in a Bible-studying tradition. They prompt intelligent thought, reflection and guidance on issues that really matter to people, using illustrations from life and popular culture as well as studies of Bible passages. They are not ‘The Bible has all the answers’, but ‘How can the Bible contribute to my understanding?’.

128 pages, Paperback

Published October 22, 2020

About the author

Frank Cottrell Boyce is a British screenwriter, novelist and occasional actor.

In addition to original scripts, Cottrell Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction, winning the 2004 Carnegie Medal for his debut, Millions, based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name.
His novel Framed was shortlisted for the Whitbread Book of the Year as well as the Carnegie Medal.
He adapted the novel into a screenplay for a 2009 BBC television film. His 2009 novel Cosmic has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

He is married and the father of seven children.

Reviews

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, beautifully written and relevant to today's Catholics. Cottrell Boyce asks some interesting questions and backs up his thoughts with examples from the Bible. There are some modern and cultural references and sources which should lead to further exploration.

[David Campton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book up on a bargain shelf for next to nothing, intrigued as to both the subject matter (a long term interest of mine) and why a screenwriter would be writing a Bible Study. It is not so much a Bible study per se, but rather is a Biblically informed thematic study from a Catholic perspective. As such it's not an intricate theological or textual study, but deeply informed by Cottrell Boyce's sense of story and narrative and a range of more contemporary cultural references, including his work with Eric Lomax on the film "The Railway Man". However, despite many years of studying the subject of forgiveness from theological, psychological and sociological perspectives at the core of this book was a novel (to me) insight into the power and limitations of forgiveness, with regard to the power/empowerment of the victim. He also, with a good screenwriter's eye points out nuances in Biblical stories that I had never noticed before, and highlights the importance of relationship in terms of what makes us human. I suspect I will be returning to this slight book again and I will seek out the other studies in this series.