Abstract
This article investigates how to understand interpersonal forgiveness from a Christian perspective through content analysis of research-based literature on forgiveness. The analysis is supported by theory of power approach, and the science of diaconia is used as a lens to describe a Christian perspective. The focus is on how forgiveness can be used and misused when encountering people with traumatic experiences of violation manifested by sexual misconduct in church context. The aim is to discuss an understanding of forgiveness that conveys freedom and redresses for the offended, but also for the offender.
The content analysis led to the following thematic categories: (1) forgiveness of fellow humans related to God’s forgiving of human, (2) the role and function of forgiveness in the personal life of human, and (3) forgiveness as an issue between people. Here, an important aspect is the necessity of exploring the three perspectives in dialogue with each other, to decrease the risk of misusing forgiveness by not addressing the issue of responsibility. Forgiveness must be conceptualized within the preconditions for God’s forgiving of humans by considering how the violation has influenced the violated’s self-understanding (the inner relational dimension) and the contextual status of the violator’s position of power (the outer dimension). This provides a basis from which to consider whether forgiveness will contribute to an uplifting and liberating outcome or is misused by avoiding clarification of the party responsible for the violation.
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Notes
Konstan (2010) has explored the understanding and importance of forgiveness in a historical perspective (e.g., in Greek, Hebraic, and early Christian traditions).
Derived from the Greek, meaning “to serve”.
Lutheran World Federation quotes The Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (2002, p..305, WCC Publications).
Smith (2008) differentiates between power as possibility, position, process, and product.
“Supererogatory” (from the Latin) means superfluous, not enjoined, or required.
The English theologian and psychologist John Patton (2003) claims that forgiveness presented as attitude and acting is most common in the fields of theology and psychology.
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Kleiven, T. Power to forgive: interpersonal forgiveness from an analytical perspective on power. Int J Philos Relig 93, 147–162 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-022-09857-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-022-09857-8