An Introduction: The Richness of Forgiveness Studies, Policy, and Practice

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal Volume 13 | Issue 1 Article 1 2-15-2013 An Introduction: The Richness of Forgiveness Studies, Policy, and Practice Calvin William Sharpe Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/drlj Part of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons, Law and Society Commons, and the Legal History Commons Recommended Citation Calvin William Sharpe, An Introduction: The Richness of Forgiveness Studies, Policy, and Practice, 13 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. Iss. 1 (2013) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/drlj/vol13/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact , . Sharpe: An Introduction: The Richness of Forgiveness Studies, Policy, and [Vol. 13: 1, 2013] PEPPERDINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION LAW JOURNAL An Introduction: The Richness of Forgiveness Studies, Policy, and Practice Calvin William Sharpe* I. FORGIVENESS STUDIES: GROUNDSWELL AND RATIONALE It may not be surprising to consider that forgiveness has been a topic in religion since the days of antiquity.1 It is less widely known that, increasing* Galen J. Roush Professor of Business Law and Regulation, Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Conflict and Dispute Resolution (CISCDR, pronounced “sister”) at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and editor of the April 2009 CISCDR symposium. I would like to thank Interim Dean Robert Rawson for embracing and supporting the live symposium; Max Mehlman, Martha Minow, Jeffrie Murphy, and Stephen Post for recommending first rate participants; the authors for their willingness to write papers for this publication and for their patience while the volume was developed and placed; Charles Griswold, Jens Meierhenrich, and Doug Wojciezak for their participation with the authors in the live symposium; Abigail Greiner and Nicole McGrath, students who did stellar research in preparing the symposium; Julie Exline and Solangel Maldonado for their comment on an earlier draft of this article; Andrew Dorchak for sharing his uncommon library expertise; and Jennifer Hines for dedicated clerical assistance. A special thanks to Kathy Hessler, who as CISCDR’s Associate Director was integral to planning the symposium and selecting participants and made a special trip back to Case Western to co-host the live symposium, even though at the time she had moved to head the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis and Clark. Since forgiveness may be a result of apology and a cause of reconciliation, forgiveness is a core concept that is intertwined with both apology and reconciliation. For this reason, forgiveness as used in the title of this article encompasses apology and reconciliation. However, the three topics are discrete, and they are discussed separately in the literature, this article, and the symposia. 1. See Genesis 50:17 (New International 1984) (Joseph is told that his dead father has left instructions for him to forgive his brothers “the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating [him] so badly”); Matthew 6:14–15 (New International 1984) (Jesus says, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”); and Ephesians 4:31–32 (New International 1984) (“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”); QUR’AN, Surat An-Nur, 22 (“Those of you possessing affluence and ample wealth should not make oaths that they will not give to their relatives and the very poor and those who have made hijra in the way of Allah. They should rather pardon and overlook. Would you not love Allah to forgive you? Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”); QUR’AN, Surat Ash-Shura, 40 (“The repayment of a bad action is one equivalent to it. But if someone pardons and puts things right, his reward is with Allah. Certainly He does not love wrongdoers.”); BHAGAVAD GITA, 16.01–03 (“Splendor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, absence of malice, and absence of pride; these are the qualities of 1 Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2013 1 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, Vol. 13, Iss. 1 [2013], Art. 1 ly, forgiveness has been a topic of rigorous philosophical and scientific examination since the 1980s.2 Jeffrie Murphy and Jean Hampton, in their influential book Forgiveness and Mercy, provided a rationale for philosophical attention to the subject as follows: Given . . . that passions are at least in part cognitive states, states of belief and not just feeling—it is reasonable to suppose that some of the emotional tensions described above [resentment and retributive emotions excited by wrongdoing] represent intellectual tensions, and thus reasonable to suppose that the gap between superstructure and substructure, between doctrine and underlying passion is not as sharp as some seem to believe. Thus there are issues here that will profit from being thought through—questions that are philosophical (and not3 merely casual) in nature and that require philosophical theorizing. Everett L. Worthington has made the following case for scientific research on forgiveness: Understanding of forgiveness and its promotion . . . have . . . benefitted by science. People forgave others for centuries. Peacemakers, religious leaders, and helpful friends advocated forgiveness. But we did not know the social, personality, and developmental processes underlying forgiving and not forgiving. We could not describe the interpersonal interactions around transgressions despite millennia of experience in human conflict. The fledgling field of scientific research known as forgiveness studies, involving both basic and clinical science, is transforming our understanding of forgiveness just as the understanding of medicine was transformed by medical research. When Rockefeller began to fund research on health and medicine in the early 1900s, many people thought he was crazy: “Why give away money to egghead scientists to do laboratory studies when there are a lot of sick people who could be helped?” they asked. People have said the same about basic research in forgiving. But basic research and theory are needed.4 those endowed with divine virtues, O Arjuna.”). See also Mark S. Rye, et al., Religious Perspectives on Forgiveness, in FORGIVENESS: THEORY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE (Michael E. McCulloch et al., eds. 2000) (comparing forgiveness in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism). 2. See, e.g., JEFFRIE G. MURPHY & JEAN HAMPTON, FORGIVENESS AND MERCY (1988); CHARLES L. GRISWOLD, FORGIVENESS: A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATION (Cam (...truncated)