Worthington, Everett L. 1946- (Everett L. Worthington, Jr.)

PERSONAL:

Born September 19, 1946, in Knoxville, TN. Education: University of Missouri at Columbia, Ph.D., 1978.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, 808 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018. E-mail—eworth@vcu.edu.

CAREER:

Academic and psychologist. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, professor of psychology. Templeton Foundation Campaign for Forgiveness Research, campaign giving director.

WRITINGS:

When Someone Asks for Help: A Practical Guide for Counseling, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1982.

How to Help the Hurting: When Friends Face Problems with Self-Esteem, Self-Control, Fear, Depression, Loneliness, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1985.

Counseling for Unplanned Pregnancy and Infertility, Word Books (Waco, TX), 1987.

Marriage Counseling: A Christian Approach to Counseling Couples, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1989.

Counseling before Marriage, Word (Dallas, TX), 1990.

(Editor) Psychotherapy and Religious Values, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1993.

(With Douglas McMurry) Value Your Mate: How to Strengthen Your Marriage, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1993.

Hope for Troubled Marriages: Overcoming Common Problems & Major Difficulties, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1993.

(With Douglas McMurry) Marriage Conflicts: Resources for Strategic Pastoral Counseling, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1994.

I Care about Your Marriage, Moody Press (Chicago, IL), 1994.

(With Kirby Worthington) Helping Parents Make Disciples: Strategic Pastoral Counseling Resources, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1995.

(With Kirby Worthington) Value Your Children: Becoming Better Parental Disciple-Makers, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1995.

(Editor) Christian Marital Counseling: Eight Approaches to Helping Couples, Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996.

(With Michael E. McCullough and Steven J. Sandage) To Forgive Is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1997.

(Editor) Dimensions of Forgiveness: Psychological Research & Theological Perspectives, Templeton Foundation Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling: A Guide to Brief Therapy, InteVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1999, expanded edition, 2005.

Five Steps to Forgiveness: The Art and Science of Forgiving, Crown (New York, NY), 2001, revised edition published as Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Wholeness and Hope, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 2003.

(Editor) Handbook of Forgiveness, Routledge (New York, NY), 2005.

The Power of Forgiving, Templeton Foundation Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2005.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Theory and Application, Routledge (New York, NY), 2006.

Humility: The Quiet Virtue, Templeton Foundation Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals and academic journals, including Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Psycho-therapy Research, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Personality, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of Family Therapy, Psychotherapy, Psychology and Health, Alcohol Treatment Quarterly, and Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

SIDELIGHTS:

Everett L. Worthington is an academic and psychologist. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 19, 1946, he completed his higher educa- tion studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia, earning a Ph.D. in 1978. He began working at Richmond's Virginia Commonwealth University in the late 1980s, eventually becoming a professor of psychology. He also serves as the campaign giving director with the Templeton Foundation Campaign for Forgiveness Research. Worthington's research interests in counseling, social, and developmental psychology center on the study of forgiveness and justice. He also deals with marital problems and aspects of religion in psychology.

As an academic, Worthington has contributed to a number of journals, including the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Psychotherapy Research, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Personality, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of Family Therapy, Psychotherapy, Psychology and Health, Alcohol Treatment Quarterly, and the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Worthington published his first book, When Someone Asks for Help: A Practical Guide for Counseling, in 1982. He published his second book, How to Help the Hurting: When Friends Face Problems with Self-Esteem, Self-Control, Fear, Depression, Loneliness, in 1985. In 1987 he published Counseling for Unplanned Pregnancy and Infertility. Worthington then published Marriage Counseling: A Christian Approach to Counseling Couples in 1989. The following year he came out with the similar-themed book, Counseling before Marriage. In 1993 he edited Psychotherapy and Religious Values. That same year he also published Hope for Troubled Marriages: Overcoming Common Problems & Major Difficulties and edited Value Your Mate: How to Strengthen Your Marriage with Douglas McMurry.

In 1994, again with McMurry, he published Marriage Conflicts: Resources for Strategic Pastoral Counseling. He also published I Care about Your Marriage that same year. Worthington published two books in 1995 with Kirby Worthington, including Helping Parents Make Disciples: Strategic Pastoral Counseling Resources and Value Your Children: Becoming Better Parental Disciple-Makers. The following year he edited Christian Marital Counseling: Eight Approaches to Helping Couples. In 1997 he wrote To Forgive Is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past with Michael E. McCullough and Steven J. Sandage.

Worthington edited Dimensions of Forgiveness: Psychological Research & Theological Perspectives in 1998. The account collects papers from a symposium on defining the field of forgiveness within the boundaries of social science. Eugene O. Bowser, writing in Library Journal, commented that the contributors to this volume "have succeeded admirably in their mandate." Bowser also took note of the book's bibliography, calling it both "large" and "admirably annotated."

In 1999 Worthington published Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling: A Guide to Brief Therapy. In 2005 the book was released again in the form of an expanded paperback edition.

Worthington published Five Steps to Forgiveness: The Art and Science of Forgiving in 2001. The book serves as a delineated guide for readers looking for a process to overcome hardship caused by another person in their life. Worthington explains the importance of learning to forgive and gives very personal examples of how he used this process in forgiving the person who murdered his elderly mother.

Booklist contributor Marlene Chamberlain observed that Worthington "clearly explains" each of the five steps, offering "helpful keys to achieving each step and for moving" forward. A contributor to Publishers Weekly suggested that "those trying to recover" from something bad that was done to them in their life "will find solace" in Worthington's book.

Worthington revised Five Steps to Forgiveness in 2003, publishing it as Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Wholeness and Hope. The account expands the previous book's message and resets it within a Christian context, covering the psychology, neurology, and theology of the act of forgiveness. C. Robert Nixon, writing in Library Journal, noted that the author "provides a grasp of both the process and the desirability of forgiving."

Worthington then published two books in 2005, including The Power of Forgiving and the edited Handbook of Forgiveness.

Worthington published Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Theory and Application in 2006. The book uses the potent example of learning to forgive his mother's murderer in showing the importance and the feasibility of forgiving those who have done wrong to you. He outlines the theory of forgiveness, covers the biological aspects of stress and dealing with it, reviews contemporary research on the topic, and gives models for clinicians to follow in order to help patients through their difficulties.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, reviewing the book in the Journal of Psychology and Theology, remarked that "although Worthington reviews some biological studies, I would liked to have seen some recognition of LeDoux's (e. g., 2002) research and theorizing about the brain's emotional processing." Sutton recalled that the second section of the book "certainly provides an important overview of the role of personality variables in understanding forgiveness but it is not clearly tied to the proposed stress-and-coping metatheory." In the third section of the book, Sutton noted that "the in-depth discussion of the steps involved in these models along with practical exercises and therapy scripts afford the clinician an opportunity to put research into practice at the next opportunity."

In 2007 Worthington published Humility: The Quiet Virtue. The account highlights the importance of humility, showing how it can be used in everyday situations and with people who are common fixtures in one's life. Worthington explains ways to develop humility, including getting rid of narcissistic behavior, reducing one's sense of entitlement, practicing other related virtues, and overcoming pride.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, jointly reviewing the book on the Spirituality & Practice Web site, explained various points in his book before concluding that "those interested in nurturing this virtue can turn to a wide range of spiritual teachers, past and present, for guidance, counsel, and wisdom on becoming a humble person." Booklist contributor Donna Chavez described the book as "an inspirational text for the practice of a virtue in peril of extinction."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2001, Marlene Chamberlain, review of Five Steps to Forgiveness: The Art and Science of Forgiving, p. 17; October 15, 2007, Donna Chavez, review of Humility: The Quiet Virtue, p. 6.

Internet Wire, November 2, 2005, "New Book Explores the Power of Forgiving."

Journal of Psychology and Theology, winter, 2007, Geoffrey W. Sutton, review of Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Theory and Application, p. 347.

Library Journal, January 1, 1999, Eugene O. Bowser, review of Dimensions of Forgiveness: Psychological Research & Theological Perspectives, p. 104; August 1, 2003, C. Robert Nixon, review of Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Wholeness and Hope, p. 92.

People, June 14, 1999, "Healing Power," p. 93.

Publishers Weekly, October 1, 2001, review of Five Steps to Forgiveness, p. 53.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 11, 2008, "VCU Expert Has Work Tested in His Own Life."

ONLINE

Spirituality & Practice,http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (August 12, 2008), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Humility.

Virginia Commonwealth University, Psychology Department Web site,http://www.has.vcu.edu/psy/ (August 12, 2008), author profile.