No type of forgiveness is an island: divine forgiveness, self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Frank D. Fincham ◽  
Ross W. May
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
Divine Forgiveness

Kierkegaard and forgiveness

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-104
Author(s):  
John Lippitt
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Epistemic Standards ◽  
Divine Forgiveness

This chapter introduces Kierkegaard’s contribution to the debate about forgiveness. The first part gives an overview of his explicit accounts of forgiveness, focusing upon the divine forgiveness of sins and its implications for interpersonal (human) forgiveness and self-forgiveness. This incorporates discussion of some key New Testament passages on forgiveness. The second part explores what difference is made by understanding interpersonal forgiveness as a ‘work of love’. Against the objection that ‘love’s vision’ involves wilful blindness, it is argued (drawing on both Kierkegaard and Troy Jollimore) that love has its own epistemic standards and that Jollimore’s claims about romantic love and friendship can in the relevant respects be extended to the case of agapic neighbour-love. In developing this view—which is seen as echoing important themes in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love—the importance of understanding ‘love’s forgiveness’ in the light of other virtues, especially hope and humility, begins to be shown.

Social support mediates the effect of forgiveness on subjective wellbeing in college students

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Junxiao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
College Students ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
Social Support Scale ◽  
The Relationship

I explored the relationship between forgiveness and subjective well-being (SWB), and the mediating effect of social support in this relationship. Participants were 443 college students from Henan, China, who completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, and Subjective Well-Being Scale. The results show that both interpersonal forgiveness and self-forgiveness were significantly correlated with SWB. Moreover, social support partially mediated the effects of both self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness on SWB. These findings extend prior research and elucidate how forgiveness can influence SWB in college students.

Kierkegaard as Physician of the Soul: On Self-forgiveness and Despair

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon D. Podmore
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Pastoral Identity ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Divine Forgiveness

Despair (sickness of the spirit) and divine forgiveness are decisive psychological and theological themes essential to both Søren Kierkegaard's relational vision of ‘the self before God’ and his own personal struggles with guilt and the consciousness of sin. Reading Kierkegaard as both a physician and a patient of this struggle, therefore, this article examines The Sickness unto Death (1849) as an attempt to resolve the sinful ‘self’ by integrating a psychological perspective on despair with a theology of the forgiveness of sins. It is suggested that by presenting this integrative notion of self-knowledge through the ‘higher’ Christian pseudonym of Anti-Climacus, Kierkegaard is indicting his own resistances to accepting divine forgiveness and thereby operating—via a ‘higher’ pastoral identity—as a physician to his own soul. By diagnosing the unconscious psychological and theological relationships between sin/forgiveness, offense, and human impossibility/divine possibility, Kierkegaard finally reveals faith—as a self-surrendering recognition of acceptance before the Holy Other—to be the key to unlocking the enigma of the self in despair.

scholarly journals Self-forgiveness in romantic relationships: 2. Impact on interpersonal forgiveness

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Pelucchi ◽  
F. Giorgia Paleari ◽  
Camillo Regalia ◽  
Frank D. Fincham
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Self Forgiveness

Love's Forgiveness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lippitt
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Character Trait ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Philosophy Of Love ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
Dead Man

This book combines a discussion of the nature and ethics of forgiveness with a discussion—inspired by Kierkegaard—of the implications of considering interpersonal forgiveness as a ‘work of love’. It introduces the reader to some key questions that have exercised recent philosophers of forgiveness, discussing the relationship between forgiveness and an extended notion of resentment; considering whether forgiveness should be ‘conditional’ or ‘unconditional’ (showcasing a particular understanding of the latter); and arguing that there are legitimate forms of ‘third party’ forgiveness. It then introduces the idea of forgiveness as a work of love through a discussion of Kierkegaard, key New Testament passages on forgiveness, and some contemporary work on the philosophy of love. Drawing on both philosophy and the New Testament, it offers an understanding of forgiveness that incorporates both agapic love and a proper concern for justice. It explores religious and secular uses of key metaphors for forgiveness, and the idea of ‘forgivingness’ as a character trait, suggesting that seeking to correct for various cognitive biases is key to the development of such a virtue, and connecting it to other putative virtues, such as humility and hope. It draws on both Kierkegaard’s ‘discourse literature’ and contemporary philosophical work on these latter characteristics, before turning to a discussion of the nature of self-forgiveness. Throughout the book, the philosophical and theological literature is rooted in a discussion of various ‘forgiveness narratives’, including Prejean’s Dead Man Walking, Elva and Stranger’s South of Forgiveness, and McEwan’s Atonement.

Forgiveness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf H.A. Rushdy
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Divine Forgiveness

This chapter argues that there is a crucial difference in the ways Jesus and the Apostle Paul defined the practice of interpersonal forgiveness, which theologians have largely ignored or downplayed. Jesus and Paul present different models of what forgiveness means, what power it possesses, and its place in the dynamics of salvation. Paul rewrites what Jesus says is most important about interpersonal forgiveness and its relationship to divine forgiveness in a way that undermines what Jesus insisted on in emphasizing the role forgiveness should play in human interactions. That Biblical debate, in the moment that arguably constitutes the origins of the concept of interpersonal forgiveness, reveals how contemporary philosophy conceives of forgiveness when it debates its possibility and its function.

Ethical Aspects of Self-Forgiveness

SATS ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Espen Gamlund
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Question ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
Self Forgiveness

AbstractIn this paper, I discuss some central ethical aspects of self-forgiveness. A first comparison is made between interpersonal forgiveness and self-forgiveness. It would seem that self-forgiveness follows much of the same structure as interpersonal forgiveness, although with some exceptions. One noticeable difference is that with self-forgiveness, the forgiver and forgiven is one and the same person. The main ethical question discussed is when self-forgiveness is morally permissible. I argue that self-forgiveness is only morally permissible when the wrongdoer acknowledges wrongdoing and display genuine repentance. He must also, insofar as possible, ask the victim for forgiveness before contemplating self-forgiveness.

scholarly journals Does religiosity inhibit the proclivity to self-forgive?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Predictor Variable ◽  
God Image ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Inhibiting Factors ◽  
Self Forgiveness ◽  
Divine Forgiveness

This study explored inhibitors of self-forgiveness within a population of religious individuals. The study focused specifically on three inhibiting factors; religious commitment, perceptions of one’s transgressions and divine forgiveness. A convenience sample of 102 participants (35 males, 67 females; 72% Christian) was recruited using a combination of advertisements within religious buildings and social media appeals. A mixed method design was utilised in which participants responded to a succession of self-report scales comprising the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Religious Commitment Inventory, Divine Forgiveness Scale and the Perceptions of Forgiveness Scale. Additionally, participants completed four further open questions pertaining to their own implicit, experiential interpretations of the phenomenon of forgiveness. Data were analysed using multiple hierarchical regression analysis for quantitative data, and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The results of the regression analysis found that the model accounts for 46.5% of variance with an adjusted R square of .448 and was therefore a significant predictor of self-forgiveness. Each predictor variable contributed significantly to the model; divine forgiveness was a positive predictor of self-forgiveness, whilst Religious commitment and perceived transgressions were negative predictors. Thematic analysis identified three significant themes; cognitive dissonance; which identified inconsistencies between self-identity and one’s behaviour; conciliatory behaviour; which explored actions taken to earn forgiveness, and God image; as either compassionate or punitive. The research findings suggest that subjective interpretations of one’s religion may have an inhibiting role on an individuals’ propensity to self-forgive. Homogeneity does not exist across religious groups; self-forgiveness appears dependent upon other inhibiting factors including God image, adherence to doctrines of implicitly held virtues, and one’s understanding of what it means to forgive - not least one’s belief that they are entitled or deserving of it.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document