In today's world, relationships and lives are destroyed by conflict, greed, deception, betrayal, abandonment, abuse and other cruel acts of violence. Stories of Ponzi schemes, unethical financial dealings, infidelity, gang violence and terrorism are common place in the news. Such acts result in financial ruin, divorce, physical pain, emotional trauma and even death of loved ones. Our first instinct is to pay back evil for evil and take our own revenge. Yet is that the best course? This book explores and examines some tough questions, including: - Is it possible to recover from the loss, grief and trauma resulting from an injustice? - Will post-traumatic stress plague a victim of violence forever? - How can relationships be restored after betrayal or adultery? - Is it possible to forgive someone who has cruelly or violently injured us? - Can we actually "love our enemies" as instructed in the Bible? - Can we get forgiveness from God after committing violence, infidelity or murder? - Is there a key to personal healing, no matter what someone has experienced? The good news is there is a key to personal healing and a way to recover from the losses, grief and traumas of life. And it's called forgiveness. The Parable System of Forgiveness and Reconciliation provides a practical, proven method of forgiving anyone for any type of injustice. It also describes how to restore and reconcile broken relationships. This invaluable resource will help you do one of the hardest things you'll ever do for your own personal healing: forgive someone who has betrayed, abused, violated, or committed a violent offense against you or a loved one.

This book is about hope, and how it is sustained by the personal spirituality of school leaders. Defining this not only in religious terms but using a concept of ‘secular spirituality,’ it shows that leadership actions must rest on the foundation of a personal value system, demonstrated as ‘a lived faith in action.’ Drawing on interviews with 150 headteachers and capturing their authentic voices, it uses the metaphor of ‘reservoirs of hope’ to promote practitioner reflection on the value systems, leadership styles and sustainability strategies of headteachers, as they act as the external reservoir of hope for their schools whilst ensuring that their own internal reservoir of hope never runs dry. It also offers a theological reflection on the spiritual and moral leadership of headteachers, providing a connecting bridge between educational leadership and theology.

The Road to Forgiveness: Healing Past Wounds and Moving Forward is a profound exploration into the transformative power of forgiveness. Through compelling insights, practical guidance, and personal narratives, this book offers a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the complexities of forgiveness. From understanding its psychological and physiological impacts to embracing forgiveness in relationships, trauma recovery, and spiritual growth, each chapter provides invaluable tools to help you embark on your own journey towards healing and reconciliation. Whether you're seeking to forgive others, yourself, or seeking cultural and spiritual perspectives on forgiveness, this book serves as a compassionate companion on your path to inner peace and resilience. Discover the liberating power of forgiveness and embark on a transformative journey with The Road to Forgiveness.

Women—and men—may not admit to having disagreements or conflicts, but the very lack of admission to this inevitable aspect of relationships accentuates the tremendous need for learning how to deal with conflict. People–including those who develop a close relationship of any kind--will disagree eventually. However, when women avoid resolving disagreements, relationships end without reconciliation, and this compromises ministry success. Face-to-Face with Euodia and Syntyche explores the causes of conflict and how Christians can biblically achieve a resolution and reconciliation.

It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough questions of the church and the Christian faith, and they are not satisfied by formulaic answers. People are often suspicious of doctrine and are attracted to a broad but vague or pluralistic spirituality rather than the classical claims of Christianity. In this climate, preachers often see preaching on the central events of the Christian story, the crucifixion and resurrection, as more of a problem than a possibility, more of a burden than a joy. They wonder not only how to preach the "old, old story" of cross and resurrection but whether they should preach these themes at all. This book addresses these concerns and shows preachers how to preach the cross and resurrection in fresh, culturally relevant ways that deepen Christian discipleship. Each chapter shows the relevance of preaching the cross for addressing a particular congregational concern. What has ironically become a stumbling block in the pulpit, the stone that preachers often reject--preaching on the cross and resurrection of Jesus--can serve as the cornerstone for building up the congregation for discipleship in our world.

Offering a definitive overview of a vital aspect of human experience, this unique volume will help forgiveness researchers of the present and future to steer a more coordinated and scientifically productive course. It serves as an insightful and informative resource for a broad interdisciplinary audience of clinicians, researchers, educators, and students.

Playing off a child's question concerning whether parents would put their son to death on a cross, this book plunges headlong into the ongoing debate about the character of God. The church confesses that God is revealed in Jesus. This book explores the implications of that radical claim. Jesus' life reveals his rejection of violence and calls for an understanding of God in nonviolent terms. Weaver thus invites us to embrace a nonviolent atonement image, in contrast to our inherited atonement images. Deriving theology from the narrative of Jesus also leads Weaver into discussions about the very nature of theology, the character of the Bible, the divine violence in the Old Testament (as well as the purported divine violence in the book of Revelation), and a rethinking of historic Christology. Each of these discussions has implications for life today--for economics, forgiveness and restorative justice, violence, gender discrimination, racism, and more. This second, expanded edition of God Without Violence is an introduction to foundational issues of theology and ethics, suitable for church discussion groups and introductory college classes.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia combines the defining function of a dictionary with an encyclopedia's comprehensive presentation of accurate, dependable information. Summarizing the state of knowledge on more than 9,000 topics and including 3,500 cross-references, ISBE contains articles on every person and place mentioned in the Bible, every word in the Bible that has significant theological or ethical meaning, and all terminology that touches on the transmission and interpretation of the Bible.

Postapartheid South Africa's efforts to come to terms with its past, particularly its Truth and Reconciliation Commission's emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation, is of special interest to many in the world community. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was mandated to go beyond truth-finding and to "promote national unity and reconciliation in a spirit of understanding which transcends the conflict and divisions of the past." In contrast with other truth commissions, the TRC was led by clerics rather than lawyers and judge, and the TRC's approach to reconciliation was shaped by and imbued with religious content. The TRC submitted its final report to the Mandela administration in October 1998. Over the next two years, the Rev. Bernard Spong, former communications director of the South African Council of Churches, conducted a series of in-depth interviews about the TRC with thirty-three key religious figures. In this volume, they discuss and evaluate the following issues: •How should we understand the concept of national or political reconciliation and its requirements? •What are the differences and similarities between religious and political approaches to reconciliation? •Does national or political reconciliation require forgiveness between former victims and perpetrators? •What is the appropriate role of religious representatives in a truth commission process? And is it recommended that other countries emulate the South African model? •How do religious leaders assess the contributions and limitations of the TRC? •What kind of initiatives are contemporary religious communities taking to promote reconciliation among their members and in the wider society? The conversations presented in this volume, and the essays interpreting them, seek to illuminate issues and questions raised by the TRC model, including how to conceptualize reconciliation and the differences between political and religious approaches.