Different people have offered a variety of interpretations
for the word “forgiveness” – and no one has brought the term
into public currency more than Anglican Archbishop Desmond
Tutu from South Africa. However, as each person nuances the
term differently, we see how various aspects of the term shape
our self-understanding, our relationships with others, and
the nature of emerging patterns of community.
1) Various Definitions: For example, forgiveness
might be seen as a commitment to a way of life and practice
(Jones). It might be defined as a commitment of the will (Suchocki).
It may also imply that which entails liberation from the past
(Müller-Fahrenholz). Forgiveness might focus upon and
be seen as applicable to the secular realm and public policy
(Shriver), or it might be seen as focused upon motivations
that reduce interactions with one who has hurt us (Worthington).
One researcher, Joanna North, writes, “Forgiveness is a matter
of a willed change of heart, the successful result of an active
endeavor to replace bad thoughts with good, bitterness and
anger with compassion and affection.” Another (Michelle Nelson)
writes of stages of forgiveness, detached, limited, and complete
along a road toward healing. Journalist and political philosopher
Hannah Arendt write of Jesus as the “discoverer” of forgiveness.
2) Consider the Following Example: Müller-Fahrenholz
writes: “To understand what forgiveness does to our relationships
we need to see the bondage that evil creates. In Song of Solomon
the African-American novelist Toni Morrison writes, ‘If you
take a life, you own it. You are responsible for it. You can’t
get rid of nobody by killing them. They are still there, and
they are yours now.’ This is a forceful way of saying that
every act of transgression constitutes a bondage that keeps
the perpetrator and victim locked together. The more violent
the transgression, the deeper the bondage” (24). M-F writes
earlier, that forgiveness generally refers to a specific act
of pardoning. “Someone repents, someone forgives. “Repentance”
and “forgiveness” are taken as the two sides of a process
in which the perpetrator of an evil act confesses his or her
remorse and the victim of that act grants pardon. Two elements
explain why forgiveness has become so cheap a notion: its
triteness and its inconsequentiality” (3). Note how “forgiveness”
defines the church: There is no worship apart from forgiveness
(Matt. 5:23-24). Forgiveness defines the material identity
of the church (John 20: 21-23). Forgiveness, as it tends toward
reconciliation, defines (II Cor 5:19) vocation. Indeed, it
might even be said that just as there are degrees to which
we are willing to forgive so, to, there are degrees to which
we might find community.
3) Examples of Recent Literature Include:
• Robert D. Enright and Joanna North, eds., Exploring
Forgiveness (University of Wisconsin, 1998), p. 20.
• Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz, The Art of Forgiveness.
Theological Reflections on Healing and Reconciliation
(Geneva: WCC, 1996/1977).
• L. Gregory Jones, Embodying Forgiveness. A Theological
Analysis (Grand Rapids: MI, 1995).
• Robert Karen, The Forgiving Self. The Road from
Resentment to Connection (New York: Doubleday, 2001).
• Donald W. Shriver, Jr., An Ethic for Enemies. Forgiveness
in Politics (NY: Oxford, 1995).
• Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving (New York:
Ballantine, 1996).
• Marjorie Suchoki, The Fall to Violence. Original
Sin in Relational Theology (Continuum, 1995).
• Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (New
York: Doubleday, 1999).
• Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Dimensions of Forgiveness.
Psychological Research and Theological Perspectives (Philadelphia:
Templeton, 1998).
