A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice

Everett L. Worthington Jr.

InterVarsity Press, Oct 13, 2009 - Religion - 252 pages

When serious injury or wrongdoing takes place, we cry out for justice to be done. At the same time, Christian faith calls for forgiveness and mercy. But forgiveness is often seen as letting people off the hook. Is it truly possible to forgive a betrayal, a rape, a genocide? How can Christians forgive without excusing wrongdoing? Psychologist and leading forgiveness researcher Everett Worthington demonstrates how Christians can and must hold forgiveness and justice together. He gives Christian foundations for understanding just forgiveness and dealing with wrongdoers. With concrete examples and field-tested exercises, Worthington shows how just forgiveness can be accomplished in families, churches and the world at large. This comprehensive guide offers practical resources for both individuals and communities, addressing situations from interpersonal to societal levels. Scripture tells us that righteousness and peace will kiss. Here's how we can respond to transgressions with justice, forgiveness and humility.

Contents

• III: 19
• IV: 38
• V: 54
• VI: 73
• VII: 99
• VIII: 125
• IX: 127
• X: 148
• XI: 172
• XII: 192
• XIII: 216
• XIV: 231
• XV: 233

About the author

Everett L. Worthington Jr. (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and former executive director of the Templeton Foundation's A Campaign for Forgiveness Research. Worthington has studied forgiveness since the 1980s and has published more than two hundred articles and papers on forgiveness, marriage and family, psychotherapy and virtue in a wide variety of journals and magazines. He was the founding editor of Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal and sits on the editorial boards of several professional journals. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN and The 700 Club and been featured in award-winning documentary movies on forgiveness such as The Power of Forgiveness and The Big Question. He is the author of seventeen books including Handbook of Forgiveness, Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling and Forgiving and Reconciling.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice
• Author: Everett L. Worthington Jr.
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0830837019, 9780830837014
• Length: 252 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Christian Life / Personal Growth; Religion / Christian Ministry / Counseling & Recovery; Religion / Christian Theology / Soteriology