Thesis (S.T.M.)-Dallas Theological Seminary, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves [70]-73.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [56]-61).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-126). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNR11570

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis argues that Augustine’s account of Christian neighbour love properly characterizes and illuminates the political relevance of forgiveness within Christian community. The Christian commitment to love the neighbour is offensive to Hannah Arendt’s conceptualization of political freedom and political action, yet Augustine challenges Arendt’s notion of Christian ‘otherworldliness’ by locating the source of authentic forgiveness and political identity within the divine kenotic love of Christ. For Arendt, political forgiveness has the capacity to release us from the unforeseen and potentially devastating consequences of action as it safeguards our political interrelatedness and distinct human individuality. Arendt’s central objection to Augustinian forgiveness concerns its rootedness in Christ’s divine love, which, Arendt argues, destroys the public realm in which human political freedom rests. However, an Augustinian theological imagination responds to Arendt’s critical account of love by showing how the Incarnation is the exemplar of human political interaction. For Augustine, Christ as neighbour – in his divinity and humanity - makes forgiveness comprehensible as a politically relevant enactment of restorative love, and the worldly life of Christian community witnesses to this enactment as it points to coming fullness of God’s kingdom. Augustine offers us a way of thinking about a politic of forgiveness that tempers our expectations of political life as it broadens our understanding of love’s capacity to restore. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Forgiveness is a construct that has captured the interest of researchers and practitioners across various fields, from philosophy to biology; however, defining and measuring forgiveness has been a challenge because of its complex nature. By drawing on relationships discovered in past studies, reviewing definitions across disciplines, and noting weaknesses in current forgiveness measures, the task of developing a broadly applicable forgiveness measure with strong theoretical and psychometric roots resulted in the creation of the General Measure of Forgiveness (GMF). The GMF is a brief, Likert response questionnaire that is appropriate for both relationship and non-relationship transgressions; heretofore, there has not been an established measure for non-relationship trangressions. This study was an initial investigation into the psychometric properties of the GMF. In an online design, college participants (n=343) were administered the GMF along with an established interpersonal measure of forgiveness, the Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI: Enright & Rique, 2004), and other measures of theoretically related and unrelated constructs. For the forgiveness measures, participants completed the GMF and EFI (order counterbalanced) in response to the same self-generated relationship transgression, then completed the GMF in response to a self-generated non-relationship transgression. Results supported the internal consistency of the GMF (Cronbach's alphas of .93 for both relationship and non-relationship forgiveness) and an exploratory factor analysis identified a primary factor accounting for about 30% of the total item variance. Convergent and discriminant validity analyses resulted in largely predicted relationships (e.g., r = .81 for GMFrelationship and EFI; r = .78 for GMFnon-relationship and a single-item assessment of forgiveness; r = -.26 for GMFrelationship and anger and aggression). These results are encouraging as use of the GMF could open new areas of research in non-relationship forgiveness and enhance research and application of relationship forgiveness. Specifically, the GMF holds promise for improving research by providing a brief, non-proprietary, and broadly applicable measure of forgiveness. Broadly, the study suggests that a general measure of forgiveness is feasible. / Master of Science

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-129).

The purpose of the present study was to explore the forgiveness process that evolves between romantic partners over time by conducting a descriptive analysis to unveil injured partners' perceptions of how and why forgiveness developed within their relationship. Individuals who had previously forgiven their current romantic partner for a hurtful transgression were asked to recount the forgiveness process that transpired between themselves and their partner starting with the occurrence of a negative event. Studying these retrospective accounts allowed the researcher to reveal the conversations and critical events that laypeople attributed to the forgiveness process. In addition to verbally recalling why the levels of forgiveness changed over time between themselves and their loved one, injured partners were asked to visually depict how the forgiveness process transpired within their relationship by graphing the forgiveness trajectory that they recalled experiencing with their partner over time. As a result, specific types of forgiveness trajectories that demonstrated injured partners perceptions of how forgiveness changed over time within their relationship were revealed. / text

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 281-295).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-140).