Forgiving Others Take Your Part ?

Is Forgiveness Good for Us ?

Theology and psychology offer complementary perspectives on the phenomenon of forgiveness. Psychology can illuminate the process of forgiveness and offer strategies that can help people to forgive, while Christian theology has a broader understanding of the concept of forgiveness than that of contemporary psychological literature and offers an ultimate context for forgiveness where these 'rational' approaches might run aground. Where psychology is almost entirely concerned with giving forgiveness, theological discussion is concerned in a more balanced way with both receiving and giving it. Psychological interventions have tended to focus on the person forgiving, with that individual 'standing alone' from any forgiving community, an important aspect of the theology of forgiveness. Both of these could be research emphases that positive psychology could aim to redress. In Tea and Toast this Tuesday we will tackle the latter, examining the role the community plays in forgiving an offence perpetrated against one of its members. Is it possible, for example, for the community to forgive the child murderer ?