From the Holocaust to the shooting of a group of Amish schoolchildren, best-selling author and pastor Brian Zahnd addresses the challenge of forgiveness in his new book.

In Unconditional? The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness, to be published next month by Charisma House/Strang Book Group, Zahnd contends that "if Christianity isn't about forgiveness, it's about nothing at all."

Drawing from contemporary and historical examples and reflecting on the Bible's teaching, Zahnd recognizes that for some readers, the meaning of the word may be "extremely elusive, difficult to get a hold of."

He believes that forgiveness is simple—but not easy. "We cannot ask people who have been seriously harmed by the injustice of someone else or some others to simply feel good about them, in other words, to say it doesn't matter," Zahnd says.

"The fact is, it does matter. Forgiveness begins with a simple choice ... doesn't mean it's easy to do, but forgiveness doesn't forget necessarily what has happened. It's simply is going to abandon the right to revenge."

Read more in the January issue of Christian Retailing.

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