Contact Information
Phone: 804-828-1150
Office: 800 W Franklin, rm 101
E-mail: eworth@vcu.edu
Web sites: Forgiveness and Marriage Resources and A Campaign for Forgiveness
Research and Clinical Interests
I study forgiveness and related constructs (such as justice, humility, and mercy). I also study religion and spirituality in counseling and marriage, especially (but not exclusively) Christianity. I also have developed a marriage/couple enrichment psychoeducational group intervention, which has been adjudicated as one of four having enough evidence to merit a designation of empirically supported. Many publications combine two or three of these topics. I suppose these all would fit under a general heading of Positive Psychology today.
Selected Publications
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2009). A just forgiveness: Responsible healing without excusing injustice. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Davis, D. E., Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Hook, J. N. (2010). Relational humility: A review of definitions and measurement strategies Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 243-252.
Wood, B. T., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Exline, J. J., Yali, A. M., Aten, J. D., & McMinn, M. R. (2010). Development, refinement, and psychometric properties of the Attitudes toward God Scale (ATGS-9). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2, 148-167.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. (2011). Religion and spirituality. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 67, 204-214.
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2006). Forgiveness and reconciliation: Theory and application. New York, NY: Brunner/Routledge.
Recent Courses Taught at VCU
- Introduction to Psychology, undergraduate level
- Positive Psychology, undergraduate level
- Forgiveness: Theory, Research, and Practice, graduate level
- Principles of Psychological Measurement, graduate level
Recent Grants
Relational humility. Principal Investigator (Co-Investigators D. E. Davis, J. N. Hook). January 2010-December 2014. John Templeton Foundation, $344,584 TC ($299,638 DC).
Forgiveness in Christian Colleges. Principal Investigator ( Co-Is: N. Wade, C. Witvliet, S. J. Sandage). September 2001-November 2013. Fetzer Institute, $72,000 TC ($65,000 DC).
National study of the effectiveness of Christian marriage counseling. Principal Investigator. American Association for Christian Counselors Foundation, $39,000.
Forgiveness and relational spirituality. Principal Investigator (Co-Investigators M. McCullough, S. Sandage). September 2006-August 2010. Fetzer Institute, $350,000 DC and TC.
Recent Awards
- AACC Silver Award for Outstanding Influence and Leadership in the Development and Advancement of Christian Counseling Around the World, September 30, 2011 (AACC is the American Association of Christian Counselors, membership over 50,000)
- APA Division 17 (Society for Counseling Psychology) Dorothy Booz Black Award for Counseling Health Psychology, August 2011
- VCU University Award for Excellence
- Narramore Award for Integration of Psychology and Christianity, Christian Association for Psychological Studies, April 2008

