Discover Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a powerful tool for personal growth and community restoration. It can improve physical and mental health, heal from trauma, and bring people together.

What is Discover forgiveness?

What makes forgiveness possible? Why is it so important? Is it always a good thing, or is there a downside? 

Discover Forgiveness is a digital hub of forgiveness scientific research and resources curated by leading scholars to answer these questions and make the benefits of forgiveness more accessible to all.

Explore the science and discover the tools that can help you and those you support.

Forgiveness Tools

There is a growing library of evidence-based interventions that make forgiveness more actionable and accessible. From academic curriculum for teachers to workbooks for mental health professionals, religious leaders, and individuals, explore forgiveness tools that provide practical advice on how to walk the path of forgiveness.

Research

Scientific research into forgiveness is a relatively new domain of empirical study. Over just the past 20 years, scholars have pulled back the curtain on this universally human experience - and the results are extraordinary. Discover Forgiveness features nearly 70 studies on the extensive physical and mental health benefits that come with releasing hurt, anger, and resentment and choosing to forgive.

Dialogues

A global community of practice including faith leaders, mental health practitioners, and educators are providing direct support, education, and counsel on why it is important to forgive and the process of how to forgive. Dialogues exploring these practices are captured in this library, including a series of Forgiveness Forums and other efforts to educate, empower, and mobilize more people to consider forgiveness.

Templeton World Charity Foundation

Discover Forgiveness is a joint initiative of the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) and the John Templeton Foundation (JTF), and is supported by a Forgiveness Scientific Advisory Council that includes representatives from around the world with interdisciplinary expertise in the science of forgiveness and related fields.

Featured Resources for Getting Started

Incorporating the Developmental Considerations in a Proposed Forgiveness Education Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents

Research
North America
Educators
Education
What Forgiveness Can Do
Physical and Mental Health

Forgiveness Psychoeducation with Emerging Adults: REACH Forgiveness and Community Campaigns for Forgiveness

Research
Non-Region Specific
Educators
Education
How Forgiveness Is Measured

Exploring Forgiveness through Theologically Informed Education: Lessons from Judaism

Research
Educators
Education
Spirituality and Religion
What Forgiveness Can Do

Forgiveness Education in Fourth- through Eighth-Grade Classrooms: Development and Evaluation of a New Forgiveness Curriculum

Research
North America
Educators
Education
How Forgiveness Is Measured

Beyond HIV Shame: Effects of Self-Forgiveness in Improving Mental Health in HIV-Positive Individuals in Poland

Research
Europe
Mental Health Professionals
Physical and Mental Health
What Forgiveness Can Do

Let it Rest: Sleep and Health as Positive Correlates of Forgiveness of Others and Self-Forgiveness

Research
North America
Mental Health Professionals
What Forgiveness Can Do
Physiology
Physical and Mental Health