And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32, MEV)
Forgivingness If anxiety, shame, and narcissism sabotage forgiveness, what fosters a capacity to be a forgiving person? Mature forgivers or those with a disposition toward forgivingness are characterized by two primary virtues: empathy and humility. Empathy involves the ability to transcend narcissistic self-interest in facing the humanness of others with compassion. Humility involves the capacity to overcome shame by facing oneself nondefensively and facing others redemptively. Empirical evidence shows that empathy is positively related to forgiveness and facilitates forgiveness. Humility has been difficult to study empirically but figures prominently in numerous theoretical models of forgiveness.
© 2003 by F. LeRon Shults and Steven J. Sandage Published by Baker Academic
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