Page 95 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

Christian Psychology alive

to other vital Christian doctrines and themes, Teaching Forgiveness and Spiritual
such as sanctification, soteriology, grace, rep- Formation
entance and the doctrine of God, and the pro- Theological education is viewed by seminary
blem of evil. It is a window into the “big story” teachers as unique in it’s emphasis on forma-
of God’s redemptive program. tion, especially in two areas: 1) engendering a
spiritual awakening and 2) fostering the grow-
3. They gain an appreciation of potential wea- th of pastoral qualities of empathy, compassion
knesses of the Christian understanding of for- and love (Brookfield & Hess, 2008).
giveness, pitfalls and blank spots in our theology
and practice. They have to consider Bonehoffer’s Peter Cha (2008) summarizes the need for se-
critique of “cheap grace”, look full in the face of minaries to intentionally support spiritual for-
abuse of Christian forgiveness in the scandals of mation among their students.
clergy sexual exploitation of children in Roman
Catholic circles and the enablement of domestic “In the past, when students came to seminary
violence in Evangelical churches. In both cases having been “formed” in their Christian ho-
abuse of the innocent has often been swept un- mes and local congregations, being immersed
der the rug in the name of forgiveness without in seminary life may have sufficiently rein-
forced their spiritual formation journey; in
reference to meaningful repentance and justice. such a context, seminaries may not have felt
One student noted: the need to develop specific programs expli-
citly for their student’s formation. Given the
“I realize that “cheap grace” has abounded needs of today’s students, however, many se-
in my own life and ministry. A grace without minaries are recognizing that formation by
judgment. Living life in-between the bookends osmosis and other passive approaches no lon-
of the already-not-yet-Kingdom of God has ger serve their students well. Seminaries need
created a kind of apathy. It’s almost as though to find ways to invite their students to parti-
the sentiment is such that – in this period of cipate in well-designed formation experiences
grace – I have misunderstood grace for a lack that prepare them for their future ministries.
of intent to judge. It’s not that God has a lack (Peter Cha, 2008. pg. 35)
of intent to judge, but rather, He has judged
– and His judgment is grace. Ultimately, this Ramsey talks about her experience team tea-
judgment of grace compels one to repent out ching a course on forgiveness at one mid-we-
of gratitude for God’s judgment.” (S.H.)
stern seminary:

4. Finally, students learn about Christian for- Most fundamentally, we trusted (and spoke
giveness when they have to encounter other of this explicitly) that the Holy Spirit would
approaches to addressing interpersonal wrongs, be present in this course – as we and the stu-
such as restorative justice and Jewish tradition. dents read, watched videos, and participated
In one assignment students stage a mock debate in conversations in and outside of class. We
in class comparing Jewish and Christian con- were, after all, dealing with the dark topics of
ceptions of repentance, forgiveness and recon- individual brokenness and systemic evil; we
ciliation. The Jewish tradition is very clear that needed to cast our fears on God. We recogni-
only victims can forgive their perpetrators, and zed as well that the forgiveness and healing
then only are obligated to do so when repen- we were attempting to understand more fully
could only be embodied through trust in God.
tance is evident. This stands in sharp contrast For this reason, we spoke often of the “impos-
to Christian teaching relating to forgiving on sibility” of human forgiveness and contrasted
behalf of others and the possibility of unilate- it to the forgiveness that occurs when persons
ral forgiveness even without repentance. Here who are broken cooperate with god and work
they learn about another faith’s approach to re- to heal the world. (Ramsey, 2008, pg. 122)
pentance and reconciliation, helping them to
appreciate what is unique about the teachings
of Jesus but also the importance of taking rep-
entance more seriously in the church.
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