Two Biblical Motifs of Divine Violence as Resources for Meaning-Making in Engaging Self-Blame and Rage after Traumatization
This theoretical essay addresses issues related to employing spiritually integrated therapeutic dialogue with trauma survivors for whom the Bible is a significant source of meaning-making. The discussion focuses on two common biblical motifs that involve violent depictions of God: one that construes...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2017]
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| In: |
Pastoral psychology
Year: 2017, Volume: 66, Issue: 2, Pages: 239-249 |
| IxTheo Classification: | AE Psychology of religion HA Bible NBC Doctrine of God ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
Punishment
B Spirituality B Attachment Theory B Violence B Bible B spiritually integrated psychotherapy B Rage B Constructivist meaning-making theory B God B Trauma B Irrational self-blame B Violent god-images |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This theoretical essay addresses issues related to employing spiritually integrated therapeutic dialogue with trauma survivors for whom the Bible is a significant source of meaning-making. The discussion focuses on two common biblical motifs that involve violent depictions of God: one that construes the suffering of God's people as divine punishment and one that imagines divine violence as a consequence enacted upon those who violate God's people. It is argued that these motifs can function as symbolic representations with a capacity to facilitate interpretation of traumatic experience in an adaptive manner. Psychological insights into the effects of trauma, and recovery from those effects, reveal an adaptive functionality for biblical motifs that depict the subject's suffering as divine punishment and that imagine divine violence being carried out upon those who violate the subject. Understanding that functionality, in turn, offers a resource for engaging in spiritually integrated therapeutic dialogue with trauma survivors. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6679 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Pastoral psychology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11089-016-0745-x |