RT Article
T1 Two Biblical Motifs of Divine Violence as Resources for Meaning-Making in Engaging Self-Blame and Rage after Traumatization
JF Pastoral psychology
VO 66
IS 2
SP 239
OP 249
A1 Frechette, Christopher G.
LA English
PB Springer Science Business Media B. V.
YR 2017
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1565825896
AB 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.
K1 Attachment Theory
K1 Bible
K1 Constructivist meaning-making theory
K1 God
K1 Irrational self-blame
K1 Punishment
K1 Rage
K1 Spirituality
K1 spiritually integrated psychotherapy
K1 Trauma
K1 Violence
K1 Violent god-images
DO 10.1007/s11089-016-0745-x