Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Ph.D., is Professor of the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Worthington was founding editor of Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal, and serves on other editorial boards of professional journals. He was founding Executive Director and Treasurer of A Campaign for Forgiveness Research, a not-for-profit organization devoted to supporting research into forgiveness (www.forgiving.org), which led to being editor of Handbook of Forgiveness (Brunner-Routledge, 2005). He is a leader in the field of forgiveness research, teaching, publishing, and dissemination.
Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I: A Stress-and-Coping Theory
of Forgiveness and Relevant Evidence. Models of Forgiveness. A
Biopsychosocial Stress-and-Coping Theory of Forgiveness. Evidence That
Unforgiveness is a Stress Reaction. Emotion in the Stress-and-Coping Theory
of Forgiveness. Evidence Supporting the Emotional Replacement Hypothesis.
Part II: Personality Traits of Forgivers and Nonforgivers. Forgiveness and
the Big Five Personality Traits. Dispositions Related to Unforgiveness and
Forgiveness. Personality can be Changed. Part III: Clinical Applications to
Promote Forgiveness and Reconciliation. A General Approach to
Psychotherapy. Intervening Specifically to Promote Forgiveness. Intervening
to Promote Forgiveness of Self. Intervening to Promote Reconciliation.
Research Support for Helping People REACH Forgiveness. Promoting
Forgiveness and Reconciliation Within Society. Conclusion: Forgiveness is
not a Panacea. Appendix: What is Forgiveness? References. Index.
