A Communicative Approach to Conflict, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation

A Communicative Approach to Conflict, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation: Reimagining Our Relationships synthesizes communication and psychology scholarship that focuses on rebuilding ourselves and our relationships when things go "wrong". It provides fresh insights into the burgeoning body of forgiveness research, with an emphasis on community application and reconciliation. Written by award winning scholars in forgiveness communication, the book makes forgiveness and reconciliation research accessible to students in courses focused on personal relationships, conflict, and family studies.

Douglas L. Kelley is Professor of Communication Studies and Lincoln Professor of Relationship Ethics at Arizona State University. His research and teaching focus on intimacy and love between relational partners and how they can respond humanely to hurt and struggle. He is recipient of the 2017 Bernard Brommel Award for Family Communication and author and co-author of five books, including Communicating Forgiveness (2008), Marital Communication (2012), Moral Talk Across the Lifespan: Creating Good Relationships (2015), and Just Relationships: Living Out Social Justice (2017). Vincent R. Waldron is Professor of Communication Studies and Lincoln Professor of Relationship Ethics at Arizona State University. He researches communication practices that make relationships satisfying, productive, and just. He is author and co-author of seven books, including Communicating Forgiveness (2008), Communicating Emotion at Work (2012), Moral Talk Across the Lifespan: Creating Good Relationships (2015), The Middle Years of Marriage: Challenge, Change, and Growth (2017), and Navigating Work Relationships (2017). His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the State of Arizona, and the Bernard Osher Foundation. Dayna Kloeber, MA is a doctoral student and teaching associate at Arizona State University's Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and a former fellow of Arizona State University's Family Communication Consortium. Dayna received top student paper awards from the National Communication Association and Western States Communication Association for her research on conditional forgiveness. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Family Communication and edited books such as Communicating Interpersonal Conflict in Close Relationships and Marriage at Midlife: Counseling Strategies and Analytical Tools. Dayna's role as a community advocate for forgiveness education led her to create The Forgiveness Tree Ceremony and together with Vince Waldron and Doug Kelley she founded Arizona State University's Forgiveness Tree Project.

Section One: Reimagining the Relationships We Want Chapter One: Reimagining Our Relationships: When Things Go "Wrong" Chapter Two: (Re)Imagining Healthy Relationships Section Two: Imaginative Work: Preparing for Change Chapter Three: What Went Wrong? Catalysts for Relational Change Chapter Four: Emotional Response: Motivation for Relational Change Chapter Five: Sense Making: Understanding Relational Change Section Three: Remaking Our Relationships -- Personal and Community Applications Chapter Six: Forgiveness: Reimagining Our Response to Personal Pain Chapter Seven: Reconciliation: (Re)Imagining a New Future Chapter Eight: Reimagined Relationships, Community Applications Appendix: Interested in Conducting a Forgiveness Tree Ceremony?