Source: (1998) In Dimensions of forgiveness: Psychological research & theological forgiveness, ed. Everett L. Worthington, Jr., 341-354. With a preface and an introduction by Everett L. Worthington, Jr. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
Smedes maintains that forgiveness and hope are vitally linked. Therefore in this chapter he identifies and examines four stations on the journey from forgiveness to hope. The four stations are these: (1) estrangement (the occasion for the journey); (2) forgiveness (the necessary path for the journey); (3) reconciliation (the ever-elusive destination of the journey); and (4) hope (the energy to keep traveling). He qualifies his use of the “journeyâ€? and “stationsâ€? metaphors by noting that life is not so neat and logical that we travel through these stations in a strictly sequential manner. Rather they are guideposts that can help to interpret and direct our experiences and our selves in the course of our sojourn. Smedes proposes that we should study and learn hope as much as we should study and learn forgiveness.
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