Sites of Violence, Sites of Grace

Sites of Violence, Sites of Grace PDF

Author: Cynthia Hess

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2008-12-16

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 0739130838

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Cynthia Hess offers a thoughtful reconstruction of Christian nonviolence through an examination of both theological and theoretical works. She shows how contemporary understandings of violence and the human person challenge traditional views of nonviolence as pacifism and the refusal of military violence. Hess begins with an analysis of the extensive writings on nonviolence by John Howard Yoder, one of the foremost twentieth-century thinkers on this subject. She then seeks to deepen his view by probing the insights of trauma scholars who explore the powerful and lasting effects of traumatic violence on individuals and communities. These scholars often maintain that many survivors continue to hold the reality of traumatic violence within their bodies and minds, so that it becomes part of them as they move through time. In light of this claim, Hess argues that Christian nonviolence must move beyond pacifism to directly address the problem of internalized violence. In conversation with resources in Yoder's work as well as feminist theory and trauma studies, she analyzes an often-overlooked dimension of religious nonviolence: the creation of communities in which traumatized persons can survive and flourish. With its highly interdisciplinary character, this book presents a fresh perspective on Christian nonviolence that not only challenges traditional views but also reclaims the centrality of nonviolence for contemporary Christian theology and practice.

Bearing Witness

Bearing Witness PDF

Author: Karen O'Donnell

Publisher: SCM Press

Published: 2022-08-31

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0334061172

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Much like theology itself, the experience of trauma has the potential to reach into almost any aspect of life, refusing to fit within the tramlines. A follow up to the 2020 volume "Feminist Trauma Theologies", "Bearing Witness" explores further into global, intersectional, and as yet relatively unexplored perspectives. With a particular focus on poverty, gender and sexualities, race and ethnicity, and health in dialogue with trauma theology the book seeks to demonstrate both the far reaching and intersectional nature of trauma, encouraging creative and ground-breaking theological reflections on trauma and constructions of theology in the light of the trauma experience. A unique set of insights into the real-life experience of trauma, the book includes chapters authored by a diverse group of academic theologians, practitioners and activists. The result is a theology which extend far into the public square

Christian Ethics at the Boundary

Christian Ethics at the Boundary PDF

Author: Karen V. Guth

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1451469756

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In contemporary reflection on Christianity and politics, the work of realist, witness, and feminist theologians has been done in isolation. Christian Ethics at the Boundary offers the first collaborative approach to public and political theology. Extending the strong contextual work of Robin W. Lovin, Stanley Hauerwas, Kathryn Tanner, Monica A. Coleman, and Mary McClintock Fulkerson, author Karen V. Guth engages the prominent public theologians Reinhold Niebuhr, John Howard Yoder, and Martin Luther King Jr. to identify new trajectories for future work in Christian ethics.

Unspeakable

Unspeakable PDF

Author: Sarah Travis

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-06-09

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1725267977

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Unspeakable probes the relationship between trauma theory and Christian theology in order to support preachers in the task of crafting sermons that adequately respond to trauma in the pews and the world at large. How might sermons contribute to resiliency and the repairing of wounds caused by traumatic experiences? This book seeks to provide a theological lens for preachers who wonder how their ‘beautiful words’ can address suffering amid traumatic wounding. Preaching is a healing discourse that proclaims gospel, or good news. Gospel is a complicated reality, especially in the face of trauma. Drawing on various theologies and insights from trauma theory, Unspeakable challenges the notion of a triumphant gospel, seeking an in-between perspective that honors both resurrection and the trauma that remains despite our desire to get to the good news. It builds on images of the preacher as witness and midwife in order to develop homiletical practices that acknowledge the limitations of language and imagination experienced by traumatized individuals.

The New Yoder

The New Yoder PDF

Author: Peter Dula

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1608990443

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The work of John Howard Yoder has become increasingly influential in recent years. Moreover, it is gaining influence in some surprising places. No longer restricted to the world of theological ethicists and Mennonites, Yoder has been discovered as a refreshing voice by scholars working in many other fields. For thirty-five years, Yoder was known primarily as an articulate defender of Christian pacifism against a theological ethics guild dominated by the Troeltschian assumptions reflected in the work of Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr. But in the last decade, there has been a clearly identifiable shift in direction. A new generation of scholars has begun reading Yoder alongside figures most often associated with post-structuralism, neo-Nietzscheanism, and post-colonialism, resulting in original and productive new readings of his work. At the same time, scholars from outside of theology and ethics departments, indeed outside of Christianity itself, like Romand Coles and Daniel Boyarin, have discovered in Yoder a significant conversation partner for their own work. This volume collects some of the best of those essays in hope of encouraging more such work from readers of Yoder and in hopes of attracting others to his important work.

The Empty Church

The Empty Church PDF

Author: Shannon Craigo-Snell

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-08

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0190630094

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Why go to church? What happens in church and why does it matter? The Empty Church presents fresh answers to these questions by creating an interdisciplinary conversation between theater directors and Christian theologians. This original study expands church beyond the sanctuary and into life. Shannon Craigo-Snell emphasizes the importance of liturgical worship in forming Christians as characters crafted by the texts of the Bible. This formation includes shaping how Christians know, in ways that involve the intellect, emotions, body, and will. Each chapter brings a theater director into dialogue with a theologian, teasing out the ways performance enriches hermeneutics, anthropology, and epistemology. Thinkers like Karl Barth, Peter Brook, Delores Williams, and Bertolt Brecht are examined for their insights into theology, worship, and theater. The result is a compelling depiction of church as performance of relationship with Jesus Christ, mediated by Scripture, in hope of the Holy Spirit. Liturgical worship, at its best, forms Christians in patterns of affections. This includes the cultivation of emotion memories influenced by biblical narratives, as well as a repertoire of physical actions that evoke particular affections. Liturgy also encourages Christians to step into various roles, enabling them to make intellectual and volitional choices about what roles to take up in society. Through liturgical worship, the author argues, Christians can be formed as people who hope, and therefore as people who live in expectation of the presence and grace of God. This entails a discipline of emptiness that awaits and appreciates the Holy Spirit. Church performance must therefore be provisional, ongoing, and open to further inspiration.

Spirit and Trauma

Spirit and Trauma PDF

Author: Shelly Rambo

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2010-09-02

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1611640814

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Rambo draws on contemporary studies in trauma to rethink a central claim of the Christian faith: that new life arises from death. Reexamining the narrative of the death and resurrection of Jesus from the middle day-liturgically named as Holy Saturday-she seeks a theology that addresses the experience of living in the aftermath of trauma. Through a reinterpretation of "remaining" in the Johannine Gospel, she proposes a new theology of the Spirit that challenges traditional conceptions of redemption. Offered, in its place, is a vision of the Spirit's witness from within the depths of human suffering to the persistence of divine love.

The Dark Womb

The Dark Womb PDF

Author: Karen O'Donnell

Publisher: SCM Press

Published: 2022-02-28

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 0334060931

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The experience of reproductive loss raises a series of profoundly theological questions: how can God have a plan for my life? Why didn’t God answer my prayers? How can I have hope after such an experience? Who am I after such a loss? Sadly, these are questions that, along with reproductive loss, have largely been ignored in theology. Karen O’Donnell tackles these questions head on, drawing on her own experiences of repeated reproductive loss as she re-conceives theology from the perspective of the miscarrying person. Offering a fresh, original, and creative approach to theology, O’Donnell explores the complexity of the miscarrying body and its potential for theological revelation. She offers a re-conception of theologies of providence, prayer, hope, and the body as she reimagines theology out of these messy origins. This book is for those who have experiences such losses and those who minister to them. But it is also for all those who want to encounter a creative and imaginative approach to theology and the life of faith in our messy, complex world.

Broken Bodies

Broken Bodies PDF

Author: Karen O'Donnell

Publisher: SCM Press

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0334056241

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The Body of Christ is a traumatised body because it is constituted of traumatised bodies. This monograph explores the nature of that trauma and examines the implications of identifying the trauma of this body. Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises. It offers new pathways for considering what it means to ‘be Christian’ and explores the impact that the experience of trauma has on Christian doctrine.

Hauerwas the Peacemaker?

Hauerwas the Peacemaker? PDF

Author: Nathan Scot Hosler

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-04-14

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1532671504

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"War has been abolished in Christ" is a strong claim by theologian Stanley Hauerwas. Wars, however, continue to rage, and historic numbers of people are displaced globally. Despite critics' assessments that Hauerwas contributes to Christians disengaging, his work provides certain tools for the work of peacebuilding. In this work, Hauerwas's contribution to peacemaking as a part of his ecclesiology and broader theological/ethical work will be assessed. Hauerwas's peacemaking within his work stands within the context of ecclesiology and related themes of witness and Christology. The possibilities of his work on peacemaking to extend to peacebuilding practice and foreign policy formation are explored, and a critique is leveled regarding his engagement with racial justice. Additionally, certain practices of reading in theology and training in this language are extrapolated to engage the task of policy formation and analysis in contexts where religion is an active factor. This study concludes that Hauerwas's theological ethics of peacemaking makes a valuable contribution, but must be extended into specific practices.