“I Forgave Life, Not My Father”: Justice in Forgiveness Narratives

Abstract

Forgiveness and justice have often been seen as incompatible. However, research findings on forgiveness and justice are mixed. The present study investigated the experiences of justice in the forgiveness narratives of 22 Finnish adults, applying McAdams's life story interview method. Bamberg's narrative positioning analysis was used as a theoretical framework, identifying these theory-driven self-positions: (1) discovering the maturing self, (2) embracing the benevolent self, (3) drawing the self's boundaries of forgiveness and (4) externalising the self's justice. Participants constructions of justice were varied and complex, depending on where they were in their forgiveness process. Initially, the self was positioned as experiencing great injustice and unforgiveness, but as the process continued, this was reversed. The participants' diverse positions reflected negotiation and reconciliation with cultural teachings of forgiveness and justice; especially balancing Christian self-sacrifice with forgiveness, and forgiveness for one's own good. The results suggest that forgiveness and justice are not opposites: participants had active agency in defining what justice meant to them and what was forgivable and unforgivable. Future studies could explore the possibilities of forgiveness in retributive and restorative justice settings.