Thesis (D. Min.)--McCormick Theological Seminary, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-127).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-84).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-135) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 309 p. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: An offender's expression of remorse plays an important role following relational transgressions, yet it is not well understood how the experience and expression of remorse relate to both victim responses to hurt and forgiveness in close relationships. This study uses a social functionalist framework to investigate the role of remorse in the forgiveness process and tests whether offender remorse experiences mediate the associations between victim responses to hurt and remorse expressions. Undergraduate participants (N=671) completed questionnaires about a time when they hurt a close relational partner and reported their partners' responses to hurt, their own experiences and expressions of remorse, and their perceptions of forgiveness. Results indicated that victims' sad communication positively predicted offenders' other-oriented and affiliation remorse experiences; victims' threatening communication positively predicted offenders' self-focused remorse experience; and victims' conciliatory communication and withdrawal positively predicted offenders' affiliation and self-focused remorse experiences. Results of the mediation analyses revealed that self-focused remorse fully mediated the relationship between victim threatening communication and low status behaviors; other-oriented remorse partially mediated the association between victim sad communication and apology/concern behaviors; and affiliation partially mediated the relationship between victim conciliatory communication and connection behaviors. Victims' withdrawal behaviors and offenders' use of compensation were not related. Finally, offenders' apology/concern and connection behaviors associated positively with perceptions of forgiveness, whereas low status behaviors negatively predicted forgiveness. Use of compensation following a hurtful event was not significantly related to forgiveness. Results are interpreted within the framework of evolutionary psychology and further validate the functional approach to studying emotion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2011

This thesis explores the themes of forgiveness and cosmopolitanism through the prism of ‘care' – a term which is used here in reference to Hannah Arendt's notion of ‘care for the world'. It presents both a theory of a ‘caring forgiveness' and a ‘caring cosmopolitanism,' two world-centric theories of political action conceptualized from a reconsideration of Jacques Derrida's and Arendt's respective bodies of thought. Additionally, this thesis illustrates how a caring forgiveness and cosmopolitanism are practices that introduce new beginnings into the public realm of the political, effectively allowing people(s) to negotiate the temporal gap between past and future by facilitating their nonviolent and non-instrumental transition through time. Although there is a tendency in (global) politics to react violently as a means of re-establishing hierarchical dynamics of power in the (international) political arena, a caring forgiveness and cosmopolitanism are two forms of praxis which cultivate new action instead of perpetuating – in an automatic manner – pernicious cycles of violence. Accordingly, forgiveness and cosmopolitanism are worldly practices that can be said to care for the doing of political action in a manner that does not merely react to past occurrences of (violent) wrongdoing. This thesis consequently demonstrates how forgiveness and cosmopolitanism ‘care for the world' by ensuring that political actors continue to possess the capacity to initiate new action(s) and to develop freely new plot lines in the ever unfolding meta-narrative of human history.

M.A. (Philosophy) / South Africa has endured many hardships; the most prominent of all is the apartheid regime and effects thereof. Almost twenty years after democracy and freedom from this system of oppression, the hurt and pain generated through the traumatic events during this period linger on. Possibly the most significant effort to overcome these effects and deal with the hurt was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC had many successful accounts of victims confronting their torturers. During these confrontations, the complete truth about an act was revealed, an apology was offered to the victims and the family of the victims, and many times, forgiveness was granted. Forgiveness that was granted was often given in order to help these victims and families of the victims move past the trauma that they experienced. However, one can ask, can victims truly promptly forgive perpetrators of severe violence and murder after hearing the complete truth and hearing the perpetrators apologise? What has happened to the hurt and pain victims experienced during the traumatic event if they have not dealt with it? Does the memory of the event not still stand out in the victims’ mind? It can be said that traumatic memories, if ignored and left unaddressed, would not only affect individuals in various areas of life, but also impact negatively on society as a whole. In all probability, the individual will remain haunted by the effects of a traumatic event and as a result, would subsequently fail to enjoy a higher quality life. If numerous individuals continue to experience persistent, unresolved or untreated after-effects of trauma, one can imagine a society that has become a populace of mourning, anxious, moping and mistrustful citizens. Hence it can be said that there appears to be a need in society at large to address the issue of traumatic memories. These may include, memories associated with typical traumatic events such as rape or murder, and for the purposes of this study in particular, mass murder, for example the Holocaust or severe abuse committed against a group of individuals based on ethnicity and/or race, for example the apartheid system. In defining the term ‘trauma’ it is understood to be a violation against an individual, in the form of an injury. I believe that it is acceptable to state that physical trauma will necessitate psychological trauma. Versteeg (2012:115) has aptly described trauma as follows: It is – literally- a wound: an injury to living tissue, caused by a cut, blow or other impact, typically one in which the skin is cut or broken.

Suicide is a significant public health concern and the second leading cause of death for college-age students in the United States. Although psychopathology (e.g., stress, anxiety, and depression) contributes to suicide risk, individual-level protective characteristics may be preventative. For instance, involvement in religious communities is inversely associated with suicide risk. Other factors, like surrendering to God or a deity (i.e., relinquishing control to God, entrusting one’s life to God’s purposes), are not well understood, but may also be beneficial. Further, psycho-spiritual processes, such as forgiveness, may help to explain the linkage between religious attendance/surrender and suicide. At the bivariate level, we hypothesized that religious attendance (RA), surrender to God (STG), and feeling forgiven by God (FFG) would be positively related; that depression, anxiety, stress, and suicide risk (SR) would be positively related; and that religious and psychopathological variables would be inversely related. In multivariate analyses, we hypothesized RA and STG would be negatively associated with suicide risk, and that FFG (1storder mediator) and psychopathology (i.e., stress, depression, and anxiety; 2ndorder mediators) would mediate this linkage, such that greater religious attendance/surrender would be related to increased FFG and, in turn, to less psychopathology and suicidality. Students from a rural southeastern university (N=249) completed self-report measures, including: a single-item measure of RA; the Surrender to God Scale; Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality – forgiveness items; Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales; and, Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire – Revised. Pearson-product moment bivariate correlations were utilized to assess for associations between, and independence of, study variables. Multivariate mediation analyses were conducted using Hayes’ PROCESS macro in SPSS, utilizing a 10,000 bootstrapping sample and covarying age, race, and sex. All bivariate hypotheses were supported, in expected directions (p<.001). All multivariate hypotheses in the RA models were supported, such that a total effect, but not an indirect effect was observed for depression (β=-.036, SE=.009,t=-4.104, p<.001), anxiety (β=-.036, SE=.009,t=-4.104, p<.001), and stress (β=-.036, SE=.009,t=-4.104, p<.001), indicating mediation. All hypotheses in STG models were supported, such that a total effect, but not an indirect effect was observed for depression (β=-.092, SE=.016,t=-5.700, p<.001), anxiety (β=-.092, SE=.016,t=-5.700, p<.001), and stress (β=-.092, SE=.016,t=-5.700, p<.001), indicating mediation. In all models, specific indirect effects occurred through the FFG pathway, suggesting the importance of intrinsic, relational aspects of religiosity for the reduction of suicide risk. A specific indirect effect between STG and SR through stress was observed, suggesting that relinquishing control to a “higher power” may be beneficial for stress reduction. Our novel findings highlight several potential mechanisms of action linking religious factors and SR, and may have clinical implications. Therapeutic promotion of religious involvement, when appropriate, and fostering a sense of forgiveness (e.g., via cognitive behavioral therapy, REACH model of forgiveness) may aid in the reduction of psychopathology and suicide risk in the collegiate population.

Approximately 22% of households in the U.S. have at least one child living with a disability. Due, in part, to being overwhelmed by caregiving challenges, parents may report experiencing a deep and unbearable psychological pain (i.e., psychache), characterized by despair, anguish, and hopelessness. Yet, risk for distress may be lessened by seeking and accepting social support (e.g., parenting advice). Spiritual coping (e.g., prayer) may also be beneficial, encouraging meaning-making and better psychological adjustment. Availability of social and religious support may also indirectly affect distress by encouraging self-forgiveness. For example, social feedback and support could minimize self-blame for a child’s diagnosis or self-criticism for perceived parental shortcomings. Through spiritual connections, forgiveness of God may manifest, promoting perception of the child as a “blessing” or opportunity for growth, rather than a punishment (e.g., “why me?”). As such, we examined the potential mediating effect of forgiveness in the association of coping styles and psychache among parents of children with disabilities. At the bivariate level, we hypothesized that coping styles (i.e., social and spiritual support) and types of forgiveness (i.e., of God and self) would be positively related, and that all would be negatively related to psychache. At the multivariate level, we hypothesized that types of forgiveness (included in same model) would mediate the associations of coping styles and psychache, such that higher levels of seeking social or spiritual support would be associated with greater forgiveness of the self and God and, in turn, less psychache. Parents raising children with physical or developmental disabilities (n=253) were recruited from support groups and organizations, and social media websites. Our sample was predominantly mothers (n=203; 80.2%), White (n=186; 73.5%), and married (n=172; 68%). Participants completed self-report measures including: Family Crisis Oriented Personal Scales, Fetzer Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality, a one-item measure of forgiveness of God, and the Psychache Scale. Bivariate correlations and mediation analyses, per Hayes (2013), were conducted, covarying age, race, and type of guardian (e.g., mother or father). At the bivariate level, hypotheses were supported; all variables were significantly related to one another in the hypothesized directions (p < .05). Multivariate hypotheses were also supported; there was a significant total effect between seeking social support and psychache (t=-3.13, p=.002; 95% CI[-.533, -.121]) and a nonsignificant direct effect (t=-1.35, p=.18; 95% CI[-.302, .057]) when types of forgiveness were added to the model, indicating mediation. Additionally, there was a significant total effect for the association of spiritual coping and psychache (t=-3.24, p=.002; 95% CI[-.813, -.197]), and the direct effect fell out of significance when forgiveness was accounted for (t=-1.13, p=.26; 95% CI[-.448, .121]), indicating mediation. In sum, coping through pursuit of both social and spiritual support was associated with greater self-forgiveness and forgiveness of God and, in turn, to lower risk for psychache. Therapeutic interventions may include community support groups (e.g., health information from providers; connect to other families) or collaborations between psychologists and spiritual leaders. Existential therapy and self-forgiveness activities (e.g., loving-kindness meditation) may also be beneficial for alleviating distress among parents raising children with disabilities.