Comparing Compassionate Love and Empathy as Predictors of Transgression-General and Transgression-Specific Forgiveness

For Christians, forgiveness is exhibiting Christlike love even when it seems impossible for the amount pain that the other has caused in the forgiver. However, empirical studies on the relationships between other-focused love and forgiveness are scarce. In this study, we explored the relationships between other-focused love, empathy, and forgiveness among Christian college students. Using the data from 263 students from a large private Christian university in Central Virginia, bivariate correlations between two types of forgiveness, compassionate love, and empathy were computed, and the contribution of demographic variables, compassionate love, and empathy to the prediction of transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness was examined using three-block multiple regression analyses. Compassionate love had significant positive associations with both transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness, and compassionate love predicted both types of forgiveness after controlling for age, gender, and empathy.

Against Such Things There is No Law: Evangelical College Students’ Perceptions of the Fruit of the Spirit as Primarily Gendered

Although it is clear in Scripture that Christian spiritual growth includes the development of godly characteristics like those outlined in Galatians 5, anecdotal evidence suggests that people view some spiritual characteristics as primarily feminine in nature. In a series of three studies, evangelical Christian college students evaluated gender stereotypes interspersed with characteristics commonly described as “the Fruit of the Spirit” from Galatians 5. Despite a variety of methodological approaches, students consistently rated the Fruit of the Spirit as primarily descriptive of women. Implications of these results for broader issues of gender stereotyping and Christian life are discussed.

From Worldview to Way of Life

While Christian college students often develop a worldview that emphasizes both individual and social flourishing for the Kingdom of God, there are a number of barriers that may prevent them from living lives committed to others’ flourishing. In particular, many of their regular practices generate dispositions that lead in the direction of personal advancement, material security, and devotion to a narrow sphere of family and friends. The development of an others-focused Christian worldview may not be enough to combat these deeply rooted and self-focused dispositional tendencies. Instead, faculty, staff, and mentors must recognize the importance of students’ spiritual practices and the ways these can develop inclinations that both foster commitments to others’ flourishing and combat the self-focused dispositions that block such commitments. This article highlights some of those practices and addresses the ways in which these can help bridge the gap between students’ worldviews and their concrete “ways of life.”