When first published, Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996) was quickly recognised as a significant work of contemporary political theology and theological ethics.
A revised and expanded edition was released in 2019 by Abingdon Press, with a new preface, a 38-page epilogue reflecting on the work 25 years later, and an appendix titled, “Trinity, identity and self-giving,” in which Volf clarifies the central theme of the book. The revised edition also omits the chapter on gender, on the ground that it is a rapidly evolving field of enquiry on which the author has not focused since the original publication date. The additional material is well worth engaging with, but it is a sign of the classic nature of the work that the original material has not been reworked for the revised edition.
Written in the aftermath of the Balkan wars and shaped by Volf’s own Croatian experience of ethnic violence, the book addresses one of the most urgent moral questions of modernity: how communities marked by deep injury, fear, and injustice may move beyond cycles of exclusion toward reconciliation without denying truth or justice. The work unfolds through a carefully structured argument combining theology, philosophy, biblical interpretation, and social ethics.
The book is organised around the central metaphor of “embrace,” which Volf develops as an alternative to exclusionary identity formation. The opening chapters establish the problem. Volf begins by analysing the human tendency toward exclusion, arguing that violence arises not only from overt hatred but from the construction of rigid identities that define the self against the other. Drawing from social theory, psychology, and political history, he shows how nationalism, racism, and religious absolutism produce communities sustained by boundary-making practices. Exclusion becomes morally dangerous when belonging depends upon the denial or elimination of difference.
Against this background, Volf introduces the theological framework that grounds his argument. Rather than proposing reconciliation as a merely pragmatic or humanitarian project, he roots it in Christian doctrines of the Trinity, creation, and salvation. Identity, he argues, is not a closed possession but a relational reality shaped by God’s own self-giving life. The triune God models differentiation without separation: Father, Son, and Spirit exist in mutual indwelling without loss of distinctiveness. This theological anthropology allows Volf to reject both assimilation, which erases difference, and segregation, which absolutises it.
A central section of the book develops the concept of embrace. Volf describes embrace as a fourfold movement: opening the arms, waiting, closing the arms, and opening them again. Each stage carries ethical significance. Opening the arms represents the willingness to make space for the other without coercion. Waiting acknowledges the freedom of the other to refuse reconciliation. Closing the arms symbolises mutual reception rather than domination. Finally, reopening the arms prevents possessiveness or absorption, preserving the dignity and autonomy of the other person.
This metaphor allows Volf to address the tension between justice and forgiveness. One of the book’s most distinctive contributions is its refusal of cheap reconciliation. Forgiveness does not erase wrongdoing or bypass accountability. Instead, truthful memory becomes essential to reconciliation. Volf engages extensively with the problem of remembering rightly after violence, arguing that memory must resist both vengeance and amnesia. Communities must remember injustice truthfully while refusing to allow memory to become a weapon sustaining perpetual hostility.
The later chapters deepen the argument through engagement with biblical theology, particularly the crucifixion of Christ. For Volf, the cross reveals God’s embrace of enemies. Divine self-giving love absorbs hostility without replicating violence. This theological claim becomes the moral centre of the book: reconciliation is possible because God has already crossed the boundary separating humanity from divine life. Human practices of embrace participate in this prior divine movement.
Volf also addresses difficult political questions concerning justice, punishment, and the use of force. He recognises that reconciliation cannot simply replace legal accountability or social order. Justice remains necessary to protect victims and restrain wrongdoing. Yet punitive systems alone cannot heal fractured societies. Without practices of forgiveness and restored relationship, justice risks becoming another form of exclusion.
Volf’s argument moves beyond interpersonal ethics toward communal and global implications. He examines nationalism, ethnic cleansing, and religious conflict as failures of identity formation. He critiques both liberal individualism and collectivist tribalism, proposing instead a vision of “soft difference,” in which strong identities remain open to transformation through encounter with others. Religious communities, he argues, possess unique resources for sustaining such practices because they shape moral imagination through narrative, ritual, and worship.
When it was first published, Exclusion and Embrace broke new ground by integrating doctrinal theology with concrete questions of political violence and reconciliation. The revised edition only adds to the value of this text. Rather than offering abstract moral theory, Volf demonstrates how theological convictions about God, memory, forgiveness, and identity generate practical resources for peacebuilding. His work challenges secular conflict-resolution models that underestimate the power of religious identity while also critiquing religious traditions when they sanctify exclusion.
For religious perspectives on peace and conflict studies, the book remains vital because it provides a language capable of addressing trauma, justice, and coexistence. It neither romanticises reconciliation nor resigns itself to permanent antagonism. It offers instead a disciplined moral imagination grounded in relational vulnerability, memory, and hospitality.
In a world increasingly marked by geopolitical polarisation and identity-based conflict, Exclusion and Embrace continues to serve as a foundational text for scholars and practitioners seeking morally sophisticated pathways toward lasting peace.
Rev Dr Rod Benson is General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council and a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia serving at North Rocks Community Church in Sydney.
Image source: detail from artwork on book cover.
iDigress 