Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

  The Sunflower On the Possibilities   and Limits of Forgiveness By   Simon Wiesenthal Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton This book, The Sunflower, offers a challenging story by Holocaust survivor,  Simon Wiesenthal and I recommend it to all interested in the subject of forgiveness and its conceptual neighbour, reconciliation.  In the year 1943, Simon Wiesenthal is in a Nazi concentration camp. He is sent to work in a German  army hospital. He is called to attend to a Nazi soldier who wants forgiveness from a Jew for being part of the murder of  300 Jews by setting fire to a building then shooting those who jumped from windows as they tried to escape. Following his confessional story, the German asks forgiveness. Wiesenthal leaves the room without a word. The next day, he learns the soldier died and left his belongings to him but Wiesenthal refuses to take them. Wiesenthal ruminates then invites people to respond to his dilemma--should he have forgiven the soldier? Following is a quote

  Moving Forward Six Steps to Forgiving Yourself      and Breaking Free from the Past By   Everett L. Worthington Jr. Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton   Ev (Everett L. Worthington Jr. Ph.D.) has a real life story to tell. Ev is an internationally recognized forgiveness scholar who has studied forgiveness as a scientist, helped others forgive as a psychologist, and spread the good news freely in workshops and on his website. But Moving Forward is different. Moving Forward helps us to forgive ourselves. And more than that— Moving Forward is intensely personal. Ev tells his own struggle with self-forgiveness as he dealt with his mother’s murder and his brother’s suicide. Worthington shares six steps to self-forgiveness. He blends science, stories, and faith as he reveals how to forgive ourselves. I will briefly describe the steps below. 1. Receive God’s forgiveness. Ev is a Christian so it is natural that he would begin the process by confession of past wrongdoin

Handbook of Forgiveness Second Edition Edited by Everett L. Worthington, Jr. &     Nathaniel G. Wade (Eds.) Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton, Ph.D. Let me state at the outset, I recommend the Handbook of Forgiveness, Second Edition to anyone interested in forgiveness studies. And, it belongs on the shelves of university and seminary libraries around the world. ***** I began following forgiveness studies in 2001. I had returned to academia after a full-time career as a psychologist. I naively thought all professors ought to conduct and publish research. As I was searching for research ideas, I came across a few forgiveness studies. I recognized the name, Ev Worthington—we had become friends as new graduate students at the University of Missouri. After contacting him, I received a massive packet of forgiveness articles. Now my task was to find something that had not been done. Meanwhile, I met Nathaniel Wade—not in person, mind you, but by his conne