thank you very much for the thoughtful analysis. You provided a
concise understanding of Worthington's approach to the levels of explanation
analysis by noting that he broke up the virtue of forgiveness into a
biblical and psychological viewpoint, in which one tells you to forgive
whereas the latter offers methods on how to forgive (Worthington, 2014).
Furthermore, I thought you emphasized a very key aspect in that an
individual that has completed an injustice is considered fallen and needs
redemption. This is a very cohesive synthesis of ideas between the levels of
evaluation approach and also the work of Wolters on ‘creation regained’
where he describes that individuals can directionally stray off the course
of goodness and hence require the opportunity to redeem themselves
(Worthington, 2014; Wolters et al., 2005). For the integration viewpoint,
you effectively pointed out how Dr. McMinn describes forgiveness from the
perspective of the individual and not necessarily the perpetrator (McMinn,
2019). As you explained, the integration viewpoint is very layered and focuses on
the self, yielding to the practice of positive psychology; also, of note, it
is interesting to see how in some situations, depending on the topic,
different approaches can be taken in order to derive a similar conclusion.
Due to this similarity in outcome, one could conclude that the veracity of
the information has been enhanced due to the fact that it was cross-checked
and justified through different methodologies. As a follow up research
topic, it would be beneficial to add another methodology into the fold to
examine forgiveness, such as a biblical counseling perspective or
transformational psychology approach.
References
The Table | Biola CCT (2014, June 24). Why you should forgive and how to do
it [Everett Worthington, Jr. on Forgiveness] [Video]. YouTube.
https://youtu.be/5Or9OuxuYKw
