Why Compassion?

“Has following Jesus really made me a more compassionate person?” This question has troubled my soul.

For example, when I was a young Christian new to pastoral ministry, an intoxicated man tried to throw himself in front of my car to attempt suicide. I pulled over on the side of the road, got him into my vehicle, and drove him to a place where he could get some help. This man still attends our church semi-regularly today. And yet as a clergy person there have been times I’ve intentionally avoided people who needed help because I was trying to get to church on time.  

Throughout the past sixteen years in ministry, I noticed that many long-time church attenders exhibited no more social compassion than others. I started looking into sociological studies to see if my experience was supported by research. It was.

A trail of studies going back to the 1960’s demonstrates regular church attendance is not correlated with increased social compassion (Lenski, 1961; Glock and Stark, 1965; Allport and Ross, 1967; Rokeach, 1969a, 1969b; Christenson, 1976).¹ Other studies note the overall decrease in compassion among U.S. undergraduates between 1979-2009 (Konrath et al, 2011; Twenge, Campbell & Freeman, 2012).² In general, our society has been trending downward in empathetic concern for others.

Yet it is possible a shift is occurring. Hopeful emerging research demonstrates an increase in compassion (measured as empathetic concern and perspective taking) between 2008 and 2018 (Konrath et al, 2023). One weakness of this study was relying on self-report data. Also, data collection ended just before the onset of the pandemic. Will we see a decrease or increase in compassion following the pandemic? Further research is needed here. However, it is fascinating and disturbing that while church attendance and overall involvement in a religious community decrease, there seems to be a rise in social compassion.

In 2021, my research journey began in the field of study I know best, biblical theology. What I rediscovered both within the Scriptures and across church history was the golden thread of compassion. More specifically, I find compassion to be the most accurate and comprehensive way to describe the God of the Bible.  

A Compassionate God  

The universe begins in the imagination of God. God dreams forth what could be, then God speaks it into existence. God is good, and what God creates is good. The divine community speaks to each other at each phase of the creative process and says, “this is good!”

Then God gets down in the mud of the newly watered creation and plays around, slapping together mud pie humans. It is then and only then that we get the first “very good!” Human beings, made in the image of God, and given dominion over all creation, are called very good (Genesis 1:26-27).

As image bearers, we are like a re-presentation of the divine Triune community. We reflect the goodness of God and we are given a responsibility over creation. To till and keep, to be fruitful and multiply, to cultivate and care for the creation God has made.

The first word over humanity is not “totally depraved” or broken beyond repair, but rather “very good.” Fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.

Creation itself is an act of compassion. In God’s supreme goodness, God wants to share God-self. This is an act of ultimate love.

When we think of compassion, we may assume it starts with suffering. It’s the ability to empathize with another, “suffer with” (Latin compati “to feel pity,” from com “with, together”). But our understanding of compassion comes from a fallen perspective. Compassion is not about pity at all.

We were not created to suffer—we were created to love.

As relational beings, created in the image of a relational God. Compassion touches on something universal to our relational nature. The ability to empathize, to think, feel, relate with another being, is at the heart of every relationship. It’s the ability to know, to love, to care.

Compassion involves an integration of cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes. So, there is noticing or sensitivity to another’s situation, sense making related to that situation, feelings that resemble empathetic concern, and then actions aimed at easing or preventing any suffering. The compassion response lights up the amygdala, one of the oldest parts of the human brain. It activates the vagus nerve system which regulates critical body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion.

The cognitive, affective, behavioral dimensions of compassion are merely the physiological hardware of relationships. Its original design is the capacity for empathy. Empathy being the center of every relationship. It is the fundamental building block of love.

The original intent of compassion is not about suffering, but rather delight. To delight in our other. To delight in God. To delight in God delighting in us. This is the true maker’s mark in us, and it is compassion that has distinguished the human species from all others (more on this later).

God delights in the goodness of creation. God delights in us. God gives us the innate ability to delight. This is the foundation of love.

At the tail end of Genesis 2 we hear the first “not good.” It is not good that humanity should be alone. As relational beings we are created for relationship. Isolation, loneliness, lack of community, is not good.

In this garden paradise there is only one restriction, don’t eat of a single tree, for if we eat of that tree we “will surely die.” Here a strange newcomer to the story arrives, a talking serpent. The serpent beguiles humanity into doing that very thing we should not do. This is our original trauma.

Fortunately, in the very next scene we find God coming to the garden with the compassionate call “Where are you?” And the entire Bible is basically the story of a compassionate God calling out “where are you” ever since. A God who delights. A God who cares. And a God who hears our cries and feels our suffering (Exodus 6: 5-8).

The overarching interpretive framework for compassion is the Passio Dei (Latin for “passion of God”). Theologically the passio Dei is grounded primarily in the incarnation, suffering, crucifixion, and death (passion) of Jesus.

The way God moves toward the world in love is through compassion. Or as the Psalmist reveals, “The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation” (Psalm 145:8-9). YHWH is described in the Old Testament as רַחוּם (rachûwm) compassionate or “filled with compassion.”

God as trinity, is drawing the world into God’s life, because “God is love.” This God of love is a God of compassion. In my next post, I want to describe the “way, truth, and life” of Jesus as a spirituality of compassion.

For now, I want to make a simple observation. Most people who were once involved in a church and now are not report a negative experience with Christians as their reason for disaffiliation.[1] One in three Americans report having experienced religious trauma.[2] So the greatest deterrent to the Christian faith seems to be at some level… Christians. Can we reconnect head, heart, and hands in a spirituality of compassion? Can churches once again become a community where people are formed to delight in, love, and show empathetic concern for others? Could that focus bring a little healing to a lonely world?

This is the “why” of compassion research for me. Thanks for coming along on the journey.

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[1] Springtide Research, The State of Religion and Young People, 2021.

[2] "Percentage of U.S. Adults Suffering from Religious Trauma: A Sociological Study" Global Center for Religious Research, 2022.

1. Lenski, G. (1963). The religious factor. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Allport, Gordon W., J.M. Ross. 1967. “Personal religious orientations and prejudice.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 5:432-433.
Glock, C. Y., & Stark, R. (1965). Religion and society in tension. San Francisco: Rand McNally.
Rokeach, Milton. 1969a. “Value systems in religion.” Review of Religious Research 11:3-23. Rokeach, Milton. 1969b. “Religious values and social compassion” Review of Religious Research 11:24-39. 1973.
Rokeach, Milton. 1973. The Nature of Human Values. New York: The Free Press.
Christenson, James A. “Religious Involvement, Values and Social Compassion.” Sociological Analysis, 1976, Vol 37, No. 3, pp. 218-227, 225.

2. Konrath, S., Martingano, A. J., Davis, M., & Breithaupt, F. (2023). Empathy Trends in American Youth Between 1979 and 2018: An Update. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 0(0).
Twenge JM, Campbell WK, Freeman EC. Generational differences in young adults' life goals, concern for others, and civic orientation, 1966-2009. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 May;102(5):1045-62.