Navigating Trauma in the Church
It's time for church leaders and believers to stop offering prettily packaged responses from a safe distance. It's time for us to sit in the ashes with the hurting, our Sunday clothes covered in dirt and grime, our faces lined with tears. Trauma brings people to the ash heap, so that is where the church needs to go.
The church should serve as a refuge for people in pain. And yet, we often end up unintentionally causing more hurt to trauma survivors. Theological platitudes and positive thinking aren't simply dismissive to those who suffer, but they inevitably retraumatize the wounded. Does the Bible have anything practical to offer for church leaders as they engage the pain in their congregations?
Biblical scholar Michelle Keener shows us that the book of Job provides embodied and practical answers for the church today. In this incredible tool for ministry leaders and trauma survivors alike, Keener offers:
– deep wisdom at the intersection of trauma theory and the book of Job for Christian communities
– reflection questions for ministry practitioners and those walking alongside those who have experienced trauma
– engagement with the idea of a shattered worldview and how to overcome the effects of that experience.Comfort in the Ashes helps leaders navigate their own trauma and gives practical guidance for supporting others whose worlds are falling apart. God meets us in our ashes and our pain. It's time for the church to do the same.
Table of Content
Foreword by Scot Mc Knight
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. What Is Trauma?
2. Job’s Experience of Trauma
3. The Ministry of Presence
4. Talking About Trauma
5. When Words Fail
6. Where Is the Justice?
7. Out of the Whirlwind
8. Behemoth, Leviathan, and Job
9. Putting a Shattered World Back Together
10. A Church of Dust and Ashes
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Scripture Index
About the author
Scot Mc Knight (Ph D, University of Nottingham) is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He is the author of many books, including Reading Romans Backwards, Pastor Paul, The King Jesus Gospel, and commentaries on James, Galatians, and 1 Peter. He is also the coeditor of the Story of God commentary series and general editor of the forthcoming second edition of the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.
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