ABSTRACT
To guide our trinitarian analysis of empathy, the authors will pick up on the way in which the Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas develops two central notions in trinitarian theology. Communion and relationship are terms that express the trinitarian virtue that we are concentrating on in this second half, participation. The persons in the Trinity participate in each other's being. Participation points to a foundational activity in counselling, namely empathy. Empathic communion is established on the level of imagination. Indeed, imagination is a key term in an accurate description of the empathic process. The psychologist Alan Waterman sets identity formation in the context of the way in which the projects of the self provide a person with meaning and purpose. He equates the term 'identity' with having a clearly delineated self-definition comprised of those goals, values, and beliefs to which the person is unequivocally committed. Identity is the central focus of his developmental schema.
