This outstanding book shows how forgiveness can heal our angry world

When Erica Kirk took the stage at the funeral of her husband, Charlie, the conservative Christian influencer killed by a gunman, she spoke words of forgiveness. 

In stark contrast to comments made by President Donald Trump at the high-profile service, she declared through tears: “My husband, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life. That man, that young man – I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do.”

Erica’s words were greeted in the stadium last September by a standing ovation, and they sped around the world. Those sentences of forgiveness were, for many, the defining point of the funeral and stood apart from the avalanche of angry calls for retribution made after the assassination. 

The question prompted by Erica Kirk’s words stands at the heart of this timely and well-written book – Forgiveness: Reclaiming Its Power in a Culture of Outrage and Fear (Brazos Press). 

Could forgiveness be the answer to our troubled, divided world? That vital question is engagingly explored by theologian Dr Amy Orr-Ewing, although without direct reference to Erica Kirk. She declares: “Forgiveness might be the greatest healing agent there is in an anxious world. It is time to reclaim its power.”

Orr-Ewing, an international speaker, theologian, author and public advocate for the Christian faith, has spoken in the UK Parliament, the US Capitol, at the White House and at numerous major conferences. She is well-placed to review the culture on both sides of the Atlantic and further afield and perceive the urgent need for forgiveness in both public and private lives. She writes that: “the cultural moment of outrage, hostility and fear, which many people are experiencing in the English-speaking world today, is certainly in need of an experience of the love of God.”

What is required, Orr-Ewing maintains, is for the “transcendent, life-giving truth of the gospel” to be strongly communicated into our culture. This is a clarion call for the Church to be preaching the power of the cross and its message of forgiveness with clarity and power. Orr-Ewing is issuing a clear appeal for a ‘full fat’ gospel to be preached, that challenges the roots of our society. She rightly emphasises that forgiveness cannot be given cheaply without justice being satisfied, and nor can forgiveness be coerced. Forgiveness comes at a price, and the Christian gospel proclaims that Christ paid that considerable price on the cross. It is only as we look to Christ can we see the cost of forgiveness and the redemption that is offered.

In short chapters and with examples from around the world, Orr-Ewing examines forgiveness from ten different perspectives. In each, she brings out key attributes and benefits of the act of forgiveness, and the importance of receiving this through Christ. The perspectives include forgiveness as a welcome challenge to a punitive world, as a gift to any who experience anxiety, as an integral part of a flourishing community, and as a defining characteristic of Western civilisation.

In concise language, and with a strong sense of purpose, Orr-Ewing passionately presents a challenge, both to the Church, to preach forgiveness, and to the wider society to take that message seriously in these divisive, angry times. It’s a clear antidote to an uncompromising ‘cancel culture.’

She sets out the importance of forgiveness for individuals, but also for nations, as we examine the roots of what we believe and the values on which we have built our societies.

Orr-Ewing explains: “A model of forgiveness that takes harm seriously would be a radical and relevant gift in our time; a model of forgiveness that confronts cruelty and domination would impact not just individuals but communities and even nations…The gospel doesn’t ask us to ignore the wrong or pretend it didn’t happen. Instead, it offers us something astonishing: the chance to be free. Forgiveness is not about letting someone off the hook; it’s about releasing ourselves from being chained to their actions. It’s choosing to step into freedom.”

This book reads as a Christian manifesto for a hurting world 

It reminds Christians that we have this amazing gift to offer to our societies and the women and men within it. At a time when many people are concerned about the state of the world, and the quality of our political and ethical discourses, this book offers a refreshing, hopeful way forward. In Orr-Ewing’s words: “Forgiveness is an act that swims against the tide, releasing the power of love and goodness, counter to outrage and fear. It is exactly what people in our anxious age need to rediscover. Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian faith and its offering to our cultural moment, benefitting the one who offers it, the one who receives it, and the culture around.”

I would recommend this book to every minister and preacher, as a message to declare both from the pulpit and street corner.

Forgiveness by Amy Orr-Ewing (Brazos Press) is out on 20 April 2026