The Colour of Rainbows: The Advent of Post-Postmodernity and the Notion of Forgiveness

Abstract

This paper enquires into the notion of forgiveness from multiple perspectives. To begin with, it is set in a historical political context, leading to the idea of forgiveness as a bridge between the personal and the political. In addition, my theme is explored through empirical research in the social sciences. This is followed by approaching forgiveness through a spiritual dimension as opposed to a religious or moral one. From this emerges the central idea of this paper: a reading of forgiveness as something that is closely linked to ordinary daily experience and much more prevalent than widely assumed, rather than an act of supreme religious or moral effort. Thus forgiveness is present, whenever the talion law is suspended and a different way is found. A post-postmodern approach is needed here for this conceptually enables positivity without being naïve or regressive. To bring out a further facet of my theme, it is then set in a clinical context, where forgiveness is seen as an imaginal creative act that unfolds over time. The paper ends with addressing restorative justice, a contemporary instance of the notion of forgiveness as a bridge between the personal and the political. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.