Review: Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Wholeness and Hope

Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Wholeness and Hope by Everett L. Worthington Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'd imagine that a reader picking up this book would approach it in a similar manner to myself - I know that I ought to forgive, yet I do not feel like doing so, and even if I wanted to try, my entire being would resist it. I never felt preached at, spoken down to, or guilt-tripped at any point; rather, I was winsomely persuaded to consider the beauty of forgiveness from both ends the theological-psychological spectrum. This book exemplifies what it is like when the Word of God and the Works of His Hand is explained, understood and then (hopefully) for the reader, applied to life. Because if it is true, these two will be in agreement.

Having graduated as a psychology student, I appreciate how Dr Worthington explains (and even coaches us readers in a step-by-step fashion how to apply it to ourselves) without employing any jargon. As an academic myself, I relate that it is so much easier to communicate with the technical language; conveying in lay-man lingo is truly a challenging and tedious task. His use of simple vocabulary and easily comprehensive commentaries to the psychological concepts and processes were top-notch. Dr Worthington does it so so very well.

An often used but usually poorly executed writing tool would be to reveal a person story in an attempt to come across as authentic or to connect with the reader. Dr Worthington's recounting of his mother's murder is nothing like that. The sincere pain and subsequent struggle pulled a few cords on my heartstrings. His citation of Scripture was never eisegetical and the flow of the book's thesis was logical and highly fathomable. If it didn't make sense, I would have been compelled to examine the fallaciousness of my stubborn attitude. I often found myself having to pause at moments (instead of speeding ahead to finish the book) to consider what I had just read because I realised that I had to wrestle with God's truth presented before me. It was also very comforting and reassuring to learn that the memories of past events that arose emotions of anger are a natural occurrence; so one does not have to question oneself about the validity of one's forgiveness toward an offending party.

This is truly a masterpiece of a book and I heartily recommend it. A caveat would be that for the copy I received, the print was blur. The difficulty in reading was circumvented when the excellent staff at IVP provided me with a kindle edition to utilise.

I received this book from InterVarsity Press for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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