Considering Forgiveness


Book Description

Edited by Aleksandra Wagner with Carin Kuoni, Matthew Buckingham. Contributions by Anne Aghion, Ayreen Anastas, Gregg Bordowitz, Omer Fast, Rene Gabri, Andrea Geyer, Mark Godfrey, Sharon Hayes, Sandi Hilal with Alessandro Petti and Eyal Weizman, Susan Hiller, Julia Kristeva, Lin & Lam, Jeffrey K. Olick, Brian D. Price, Jane Taylor, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl.




Original Forgiveness


Book Description

In Original Forgiveness, Nicolas de Warren challenges the widespread assumption that forgiveness is always a response to something that has incited it. Rather than considering forgiveness exclusively in terms of an encounter between individuals or groups after injury, he argues that availability for the possibility of forgiveness represents an original forgiveness, an essential condition for the prospect of human relations. De Warren develops this notion of original forgiveness through a reflection on the indispensability of trust for human existence, as well as an examination of the refusal or unavailability to forgive in the aftermath of moral harms. De Warren engages in a critical discussion of philosophical figures, including Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Mikhail Bakhtin, Edmund Husserl, Gabriel Marcel, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean Améry, and of literary works by William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Heinrich von Kleist, Simon Wiesenthal, Herman Melville, and Maurice Sendak. He uses this discussion to show that in trusting another person, we must trust in ourselves to remain available to the possibility of forgiveness for those occasions when the other person betrays a trust, without thereby forgiving anything in advance. Original forgiveness is to remain the other person’s keeper—even when the other has caused harm. Likewise, being another’s keeper calls upon an original beseeching for forgiveness, given the inevitable possibility of blemish or betrayal.




Understanding Forgiveness and Addiction


Book Description

This book integrates and synthesizes numerous empirically supported positive psychological constructs and psychotherapeutic theories to help understand addiction and facilitate recovery through the lens of forgiveness. Proposing forgiveness as an alternative and critical tool to understanding the process of addiction and recovery, whether in the context of substance use, compulsive behavior, and/or suicidal behavior, the book discusses multiple theoretical points of view regarding the process of forgiveness. Additionally, foundational theories underlying the process of recovery, the psychological and spiritual nature of forgiveness, and the nature of the association of forgiveness with health all receive detailed coverage. Considerable attention is also paid to the extant empirical support for the association of forgiveness with addiction and recovery. The text’s comprehensive integration of theory, research, and clinical application, including guidelines regarding forgiveness as a treatment for recovery from addiction, provide a roadmap forward for addiction counselors and other recovery specialists.




Practicing Forgiveness


Book Description

In Practicing Forgiveness, the author reviews the contextual and cultural aspects of forgiveness with stories, humor, clinical examples, research, and empirical findings while examining the influence of environment and religion. The content is presented in such a way so as to serve as a resource to both professional mental health providers (who can benefit from the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of working with clients through the forgivenessprocess) and lay readers (who can benefit from the processing and self-help components of the book).







Forgiveness Is a Choice


Book Description

By demonstrating how forgiveness, approached in the correct manner, benefits the forgiver far more than the forgiven this self-help book benefits people who have been deeply hurt by another and caught in a vortex of anger, depression, and resentment.




Forgiveness in Context


Book Description

The last 20 years have seen the development of a growing body of psychological literature on the long-neglected subject of forgiveness. Forgiveness has been widely regarded as a purely religious construct. However, recently it has been advocated in many different secular contexts as offering an appropriate and healthy means of release. The book continually engages the reader on both psychological and theological levels in a sustained dialogue that has not permeated any of the books already available on forgiveness.




The Art of Forgiveness


Book Description

Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian Gospel. It goes hand in hand with love, mercy, and grace, the fundamental theological virtues. However, forgiveness is easier to define than it is to embody. This unique collection of essays brings together theologians, ethicists, and ministry practitioners into a constructive dialog which explores the complex and crucial concept of forgiveness: what it is, where it is to be found, and how it might be practiced. These essays reflect the perspectives of those from various traditions who nonetheless take the Christian Scriptures seriously, believe that forgiveness is central to living out the Gospel, and are creative in the ways in which forgiveness can be practiced. Forgiveness is an art and not simply a science; as such it requires trust, skill, and hope alongside love, mercy, and grace if it is to be embodied. This volume offers a unique window into the art of forgiveness and the faithful and innovative ways in which it is to be understood, embodied, and cultivated.




Forgiveness and Health


Book Description

This volume collects the state-of-the-art research on forgiveness and mental and physical health and well-being. It focuses specifically on connections between forgiveness and its health and well-being benefits. Forgiveness has been examined from a variety of perspectives, including the moral, ethical and philosophical. Ways in which to become more forgiving and evolutionary theories of revenge and forgiveness have also been investigated and proposed. However, little attention has been paid to the benefits of forgiveness. This volume offers an examination of the theory, methods and research utilized in understanding these connections. It considers trait and state forgiveness, emotional and decisional forgiveness, and interventions to promote forgiveness, all with an eye toward the positive effects of forgiveness for a victim’s health and well-being. Finally, this volume considers key moderators such as gender, race, and age, as well as, explanatory mechanisms that might mediate links between forgiveness and key outcomes.




Forgiveness


Book Description

Using real stories, expert opinion, politics, psychology and the author’s own insights, Forgiveness explores the messy, complex and gripping subject of forgiveness. 'Cantacuzino's gift for empathy shines through her conversations... She tackles her complex [message] with clear prose and an open heart... This nuance feels like a cool breeze in a heatwave. If there is a message here, it's to listen more, think more and preach less' Sunday Times ‘This is an utterly memorable book – beautifully written, fascinating in its insights, and extraordinarily moving. We all need to forgive, and this book, through its recounting of the stories of people who have something really significant to forgive, will be an inspiration to help us reach a state of forgiveness. This is a book that will stay with the reader for a very long time’ Alexander McCall Smith I forgive you. Three simple words behind which sits a gritty, complex concept that is so often relevant to our ordinary, everyday lives. These words can be used to absolve a meaningless squabble, or said to someone who has caused you great harm. They can liberate you from guilt, or consciously place blame on your shoulders. Marina Cantacuzino seeks to investigate, unpick and debate the limits and possibilities of forgiveness, exploring the subject from every angle – presenting it as an offering, never a prescription. Through real stories, expert opinion and the author’s experiences, the reader gets to better understand what forgiveness is and what it most definitely isn’t, how it can be an important element in breaking the cycle of suffering, and ultimately how it might help transform fractured relationships and mend broken hearts. Forgiveness is a blueprint for how to live a more harmonious, richer life. 'Tender, valuable, and often beautiful, Forgiveness shows how we can get tabled up in hate, and how we might cut ourselves free' Gavin Francis