Forgiving Abuse–An Ethical Critique

SUMMARY This article argues that most Christian understandings and practices of forgiveness have lost the ethical framework that gives forgiveness meaning and makes forgiveness effective as a means of resolving the effects of abuse on individuals, communities and the abuser. From the context of a number of practical cases, it explores common Christian misconceptions about forgiveness, deconstructs common Christian practices, and offers a number of conditions that need to be present if forgiveness is to be recovered as an ethical action. The traditional Samoan practice of Ifonga is explored as an example of a communal and ethical means of redressing wrong within which forgiveness is embodied.