Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity - by Shann Ray Ferch (Paperback)

About the Book

Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity: Servant Leadership as a Way of Life speaks to categorical human transgressions in the hope that readers will be compelled to examine their own prejudices and engage the moral responsibility to evoke in their own personal life, work...

Book Synopsis

In a fresh rendering of the role of leaders as healers, Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity considers love and power in the midst of personal, political, and social upheaval. Unexpected atrocity coexists alongside the quiet subtleties of mercy, and people and nations currently encounter a world in which not even the certainties of existence remain even as grace can sometimes arise under the most difficult circumstances. Ultimately, Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity is a book about the alienation and intimacy at war within us all. Ferch speaks to categorical human transgressions in the hope that readers will be compelled to examine their own prejudices and engage the moral responsibility to evoke in their own personal life, work life, and larger national communities a more humane and life-giving coexistence. In addition to a primary focus on servant leadership, the book addresses three interwoven aspects of social responsibility: 1) the nature of personal responsibility 2) the nature of privilege and the conscious and unconscious violence against humanity often harbored in a blindly privileged stance, and 3) the encounter with forgiveness and forgiveness-asking grounded in a personal and collective obligation to the well-being of humanity. Modernist and postmodernist notions of the will to meaning are considered against the philosophical notion of the will to power. The book examines the everyday existence of human values in a time when we inhabit a world filled as much with unwarranted cruelty as with the disarming nature of authentic and life-affirming love. The book asks the question: Can ultimate forgiveness change the heart of violence? In Forgiveness and Power, people are challenged not only by the work of profound thought leaders such as Mandela, Tutu, but also Simone Weil, Vaclav Havel, Emerson, Mary Oliver, Martin Luther King, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Robert Greenleaf. The hope of the book is that people of all ages and creeds come to a deeper understanding and of personal and collective responsibility for leadership that helps heal the heart of the world.

Review Quotes

"The greatest figures in history, both human and divine, led with forgiveness. In this book, Shann Ferch uncovers the beauty and grit of vulnerable leadership, forgiving leadership, servant leadership. The power of leading with forgiveness offers high hope for our world's atrocious history and terrifying future." --Bill Robinson, Whitworth University

"Dr. Shann Ferch has written a remarkably comprehensive and convincing exploration of forgiveness as the ground of healing and service, and then applied it to the principles and activities of leadership in the contemporary world. I enthusiastically recommend this volume to those who are not only interested in leadership studies, but also in the deepest dimensions and possibilities of love and the human condition. It is a remarkable antidote to the cynicism underlying some of the new purely pragmatic (and frequently inhuman) leadership theories." --Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, SUNY Cortland; author, "The Politics of Gun Control" and "Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights"

"In Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity Shann Ray Ferch succeeds in creating one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and lyrical books that I have read on servant leadership, or any subject. Shann gets to the heart and soul of what it means to embrace and practice servant leadership. In these, the most cynical of times that our world has ever known, this book points the way toward a more hopeful and compassionate world--a world where misplaced power and aggression are countered by Martin Luther King's unarmed truth and unconditional love--through the power of servant leadership." --Larry C. Spears, The Spears Center for Servant Leadership

"In a world where hurt and hate dominate the headlines, Shann Ray Ferch is a bold purveyor of peace and love, much in the tradition of Robert Greenleaf. One cannot read this book without experiencing a reflective resolve to live with greater intentionality and purpose." --Andrew K. Benton

"Read this book if you are ready to live a new horizon. It is unsettling and worthy of every precious moment to read--each page creates an asymmetrical balance of joy, tears, laughter, and resolve. To end atrocity through love and forgiveness... this book is a beam of hope for humankind." --Mary McFarland, Gonzaga University

Dr. Shann Ferch has written a remarkably comprehensive and convincing exploration of forgiveness as the ground of healing and service, and then applied it to the principles and activities of leadership in the contemporary world. I enthusiastically recommend this volume to those who are not only interested in leadership studies, but also in the deepest dimensions and possibilities of love and the human condition. It is a remarkable antidote to the cynicism underlying some of the new purely pragmatic (and frequently inhuman) leadership theories.


In a world where hurt and hate dominate the headlines, Shann Ray Ferch is a bold purveyor of peace and love, much in the tradition of Robert Greenleaf. One cannot read this book without experiencing a reflective resolve to live with greater intentionality and purpose.


In Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity Shann Ray Ferch succeeds in creating one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and lyrical books that I have read on servant leadership, or any subject. Shann gets to the heart and soul of what it means to embrace and practice servant leadership. In these, the most cynical of times that our world has ever known, this book points the way toward a more hopeful and compassionate world--a world where misplaced power and aggression are countered by Martin Luther King's unarmed truth and unconditional love--through the power of servant leadership.


Read this book if you are ready to live a new horizon. It is unsettling and worthy of every precious moment to read--each page creates an asymmetrical balance of joy, tears, laughter, and resolve. To end atrocity through love and forgiveness... this book is a beam of hope for humankind.


The greatest figures in history, both human and divine, led with forgiveness. In this book, Shann Ferch uncovers the beauty and grit of vulnerable leadership, forgiving leadership, servant leadership. The power of leading with forgiveness offers high hope for our world's atrocious history and terrifying future.

About the Author

Shann Ray Ferch serves as Professor of Leadership with the internationally-recognized Ph.D. Program in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University. He is the editor of The International Journal of Servant Leadership and his work regarding conflict and the human will to forgive and reconcile has appeared in scientific journals internationally.