Theology and Spirituality of Trauma

Pastoral Care has historically affirmed radical solidarity with human suffering. This commitment has sought to bring the most comprehensive existential, therapeutic, and theological resources to bear at understanding and thus mitigating human suffering, broadly understood. Nevertheless, contemporary insights regarding trauma have revealed that trauma presents a special variant to suffering in which the disintegration and dissociation elements of trauma make healing and recovery profoundly more difficult. Theological and spiritual perspectives on trauma can therefore offer a vital necessary supplement to trauma theory, and add greater transformational depth and capacity to both generalist ministry as well as pastoral care and counseling participation and intervention.