Classically, both in the world and in our churches, we have seen despair as the ultimate unforgivable sin. The simple notion was that neither God, nor anyone else, could save you if you simply gave up, despaired, made yourself impossible to reach. Most often in the popular mind this was applied to suicide. To die by your own hand was seen as despair, as putting yourself outside God’s mercy.
But understanding despair in this way is wrong and misguided, however sincere our intent. What is despair? How might it be understood?
