Prior Research on Divine Forgiveness

Few empirical studies have investigated divine forgiveness. Existing studies have documented its relation to religion/spirituality, personality traits, sociodemographic variables, mental health, and physical health. In most of these studies, divine forgiveness is not the central topic studied but rather a variable that is included along with numerous other variables that are the focus of study. Perhaps not surprisingly, divine forgiveness is typically assessed using a single item, usually “I know that God forgives me” (Fetzer Institute, 1999). Single-item measures “are often used without attention to psychometric quality” (Furr, 2011), a viewpoint that clearly describes work on divine forgiveness.

With a link between divine forgiveness and religion/spirituality established, it is incorrigible that this link is ignored in many studies examining the relation between divine forgiveness and other variables. This leaves open the possibility that their findings simply may reflect the effect of religiosity/spirituality more generally.

Given the above observations, it is not surprising that a recent review of research on divine forgiveness concluded that it comprises “a scattered body of work that lacks coherence” (Fincham, 2020). In supporting conceptually sound and methodologically rigorous research, the current project seeks to lay the foundation that will help to change the current state of research on divine forgiveness.