Faces of Forgiveness : Searching for Wholeness and Salvation

by Shults, F. LeRon, and Steven J. Sandage

• ISBN13: 9780801026249
• ISBN10: 0801026245
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Baker Academic

Summary

A psychologist and theologian fuse Christian forgiveness and psychology with the unifying motif of the face, thereby building on the psychological research linking emotions related to forgiveness with the human face to offer illuminating insights into what forgiveness really means.

Author Biography

F. LeRon Shults (Ph.D., Princeton University; Ph.D., Walden University) is professor of theology at Agder University in Kristiansand, Norway, and the author of several books, including Reforming the Doctrine of God and Reforming Theological Anthropology. Steven J. Sandage (Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University) is a licensed psychologist, associate professor of marriage and family therapy at Bethel Theological Seminary, and coauthor of To Forgive Is Human. Shults and Sandage are the coauthors of The Faces of Forgiveness, winner of the Narramore Award from the Christian Association for Psychological Studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(18)
Relationality and Interdisciplinarity
Hermeneutics and the Face
Forgiveness: Three Fields of Meaning
Part 1: Faces of Forgiveness in Psychology
Steven J. Sandage
Forgiveness and Intersubjective Formation	29	(34)
Forgiveness and Intersubjectivity
The Facial Mediation of Forgiveness
Forgivingness
Conclusion
Saving Faces	63	(40)
Saving and Losing Face
Face to Face
Systemic Estrangement
Relational Hermeneutics
Sacred Faces
A Model of the Forgiveness Process
Conclusion
Part 2: Faces of Forgiveness in Theology
F. Leron Shults
Facing, Forgiveness, and the Christian Doctrine of Salvation	103	(65)
The Theological Significance of Facing
The Mysterious Divine Countenance
The Face of Jesus Christ
The Presence of the Holy Spirit
The Theological Significance of Forgiveness
Forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible
Forgiveness in the New Testament
Forgiveness in the Christian Tradition
Soteriology after the Turn to Relationality
Substantial Problems in the Doctrine of Salvation
From Ordo Salutis to Salutary Ordering
Salvation as Sharing in the Divine Nature
Forgiveness as Sharing in Divine Grace	168	(57)
Forgiveness and Faith
Facing Epistemic Anxiety
Finding Personal Identity in Jesus Christ
Knowing in Sacramental Community
Forgiveness and Love
Facing Ethical Anxiety
Dying to Sin with Jesus Christ
Acting in Baptized Community
Forgiveness and Hope
Facing Ontological Anxiety
Conforming to the Image of Jesus Christ
Being in Eucharistic Community
Part 3: Modeling Forgiveness: Interdisciplinary Explorations
Steven J. Sandage
F. Leron Shults
Facial Hermeneutics	225	(16)
Case Study: ``Faces of Contempt''
Case Interpretation
Intertextual Explorations
Salvation by Face	241	(14)
Case Study: ``Demanding to Be Faced''
Case Interpretation
Intertextual Explorations
Bibliography	255	(12)
Index	267