Love's Forgiveness

This project - funded by a £92,235 Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship - seeks to argue that forgiveness at its best should be understood as what the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard called a ‘work of love’. It draws on philosophical, theological and psychological literature, along with memoirs and novels about forgiveness, and aims also to explore how forgiveness can shed light on other character strengths such as humility, gratitude, patience and hope. A sub-theme is to explore the implications of the view of forgiveness developed for psychotherapy and for Restorative Justice.