I'm presently, working on my Thesis for Pepperdine University. This Thesis is focusing on forgiveness as it is practiced in and through the small group context. In my research, I've come across some fascinating words that relate to forgiveness. Seeing as how this blog is presenting the power of Words... in words and deed... I think this relates.
My research is looking at a particular type of group; Christian small groups. Because of this context, I've needed to understand more about the Biblical words for forgiveness. This is important because these groups look to the Bible for definitions on such matters and for guidance and practice. Below is a section written to understand forgiveness from the anxient texts of the Old and New Testaments.
One of the first things likely to strike a contemporary western reader who investigates New Testament discussions of forgiveness is how little it appears to have to do with feelings and how much it has to do with actions and relationships.For the Christian, sin, or imperfect motives and actions, causes separation and alienation from God and others.For Christians, they see a God who desires forgiveness to be experienced in a vertical relationship with the Creator, and in our horizontal relationships with family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances.First there is forgiveness from God through Jesus Christ, and out of this is comes a congruent lifestyle of Christ-likeness, by forgiving others.
Because Christians look to the Bible for guidance, it is significant to understand the key words that are used for forgiveness.There are a number of words that relate to forgiveness (Richardson, 1966).Kippur (atone) and shalach (let go) speak of God’s forgiveness exclusively, never humankind’s. Nasa’ (lift up, bear, dismiss, send away) is the term for forgiveness most often used in the language of the Old Testament, and may refer to either human or divine forgiveness. The New Testament translates three Greek words to speak of forgiveness. Apoluo (let go, loose) and charizomai (be gracious) appear far less frequently than aphiemi (let go, send away, pardon, forgive), which more nearly serves as a parallel to nasa’, the Old Testament term. In forgiveness, barriers are removed as sins are sent away and persons are drawn together in relationships.In the New Testament, agapao or agape (love) refers (among other things) to God’s constant love toward undeserving sinners. Agapao or agape denotes a love determined by the character of the subject rather than the merit of the object. Jesus exclaimed, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). The word for love in each occurrence derives from agapao.”
For the Christian, agape and chassed, are the yin and yang of forgiveness.Forgiveness in the bible is often spoken of in terms of letting go of one's claim against another and of releasing debtors from the requirement to repay (Matthew 6:12–14; 15:14; 18:27, 32, 35; Luke 6:37; 7:42–43). It is also seen as a gift that is bestowed upon the one forgiven (II Corinthians 2:7–10; Ephesians 4:32).Forgiveness for the Christian is a historical communal practice based on scripture.This forgiveness can be seen as a foregoing of righteous anger and a giving of a gift whose aim is reconciliation. In modern terms, this can been seen as the practice of empathy and giving altruistic gifts. Both of these are skills and practices that could serve any individual, group and/or organization.
A friend of mine wrote the following for his Thesis. he is looking at Self-differentiation as a tool for developing leaders. I was struck by this, because a lot of work that I do is to help individuals understand how they got "stuck" and to encourage them to move forward with Faith. I'm reminded of the practicalness of "family of origin" information, as I recently spoke with a Trainer for teams that travel the country raising money for their Non-Profit. He uses family of origin training to: affirm, encourage, and empower the individual to have a greater self-awareness as they are "on the job" traveling the country.
Just before his death, Friedman began broadening these leadership concepts in A Failure of Nerve—Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (1999). The work he completed is available in manuscript form. It is here that Friedman made the point that leadership is self-differentiation and stated that leadership capacity can be enhanced by improving one’s self-differentiation. Self-differentiation is characterized by the ability to remain calm in the presence of others’ emotions (ER), the ability to take a stand when others are pressuring conformity or herding (IP), the ability to stay in contact with those that are in or causing emotional pain (EC), and the ability to stay a self when others are promoting togetherness (FO). The ability to maintain all of this in balance is leading—it is being self-differentiated (Friedman, 1999). Further, it is the family of origin who serves as the base for how well any individual is able to be self-differentiated. Returning to the family of origin, to the extent possible, allows an individual to work through any residue or unfinished family business left within the family relationships. Working through the residue allows one to relate more fully to other family members and others in general (Friedman, 1985). Thus, an understanding of one’s own family processes will assist one in leading the self as well as leading others through similar processes that lead toward self-differentiation in them.
