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{"id":18949,"date":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=672"},"modified":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:00:00","slug":"in-defense-of-vengeance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/in-defense-of-vengeance\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Vengeance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

R<\/span>obert Solomon argues (The Joy of Philosophy<\/em><\/a>) that \u201cVengeance is the original passion for justice. The word \u2018justice\u2019 in the Old Testament virtually always refers to revenge.\u201d This isn\u2019t isolated or primitive: \u201cthroughout most of history the concept of justice has been far more concerned with the punishment of crimes and the balancing of wrongs than with the fair distribution of goods and services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, vengeance is not always and everywhere right. Vengeance must be controlled, limited, institutionalized. Like other passions, vengeance can get out of control. Sometimes it\u2019s right to forego vengeance.<\/p>\n

But vengeance is a rational passion, one that is ethically and philosophically defensible. It doesn\u2019t have<\/em> to spin out of control; it can be a \u201ccalm passion,\u201d like love. Sometimes, Solomon claims, it\u2019s \u201cwholly called for, even obligatory, and revenge is both legitimate and justified. . . . to seek vengeance for a grievous wrong, to revenge oneself against evil\u2014that seems to lie at the very foundation of our sense of justice, indeed, of our very sense of ourselves, our dignity, and our sense of right and wrong.\u201d Vengeance, often taking the form of accountability and punishment, gives us satisfaction that things have been put right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vengeance and justice ought not be opposed.\u00a0Even forgiveness fits into a context of vengeance: \u201cBoth the Old and New Testaments (more the latter than the former) also encourage \u2018forgiveness,\u2019 but there can be no forgiveness if there is not first the desire (and the warrant) for revenge.\u201d Even mercy isn\u2019t opposed to vengeance.\u00a0Rather, mercy is \u201can attempt to see farther and aim at a much larger sense of satisfaction than vengeance alone could ever provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVengeance is mine,\u201d God says. It must be a good thing, else why would He want it?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"