Moments like these bring varied thoughts and emotions for many in our community as we continue to find ways to labor toward justice and peace and the rebuilding of trust. Our collective healing is tied to being aware of systemic injustices, and then doing the hard work of listening, managing the threats felt within our bodies, and transforming the fears that continue to separate us from our neighbors.

May we be people of faith who know and do justice, love to extend mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Let us continue to pray for George Floyd鈥檚 family, for each other, for our nation, and for the family of Derek Chauvin. May our prayers be not only words, but grow hands and feet to serve in difficult times and in challenging places. May our cries for justice and reconciliation extend beyond social media and into action within our relationships and within the fabric of our communities.

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by Shelly Rambo

鈥淚n Spirit and Trauma, 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.鈥�

Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships

by Curt Thompson, MD

鈥淒r. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Explaining discoveries about the brain in layman鈥檚 terms, he shows how you can be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people.鈥�

A Journey Of Faith In The Face Of Severe Learning Disability

By Frances Young

Theologian Frances Young writes a personal narrative about her son鈥檚 learning disability and 鈥渉ope and help for all who struggle with faith in the face of unremitting suffering.鈥� Though not distinctly about trauma, Young asks difficult questions about life, God, and how we are to respond in the midst of difficult circumstances.

By Resmaa Menakem

鈥淚n this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn’t just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans鈥攐ur police. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.鈥�

by Thomas Lewis (et. al)

鈥淎 General Theory of Love demonstrates that our nervous systems are not self-contained: from earliest childhood, our brains actually link with those of the people close to us, in a silent rhythm that alters the very structure of our brains, establishes life-long emotional patterns, and makes us, in large part, who we are.鈥�

Living in the Afterlife of Trauma

By Shelly Rambo

鈥淪helly Rambo rereads the Thomas story and the history of its interpretation through the lens of trauma studies to reflect on the ways that the wounds of race, gender, and war persist. Wounds do not simply go away, even though a close reading of John Calvin reveals his theological investments in removing wounds. This erasure reflects a dominant mode of Christian thinking, but it is not the only Christian reading.[…] Again, the visceral display of Jesus鈥� wounds, when placed at the center of Thomas鈥� encounter in the Upper Room, enacts a vision of resurrecting that addresses the real harm of the real wounds of war.鈥�

By Elie Wiesel

鈥淔irst published in 1958, Night is the autobiographical account of an adolescent boy and his father in Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel writes of their battle for survival and of his battle with God for a way to understand the wanton cruelty he witnesses each day. In the short novel Dawn, a young man who has survived World War II and settled in Palestine joins a Jewish underground movement and is commanded to execute a British officer who has been taken hostage. In Day, Wiesel questions the limits of conscience: Can Holocaust survivors forge a new life despite their memories?鈥�

Theology in a Ruptured World

By Serene Jones

鈥淐entral to its overall theme is an investigation of how individual and collective violence affect one鈥檚 capacity to remember, to act, and to love; how violence can challenge theological understandings of grace; and even how the traumatic experience of Jesus鈥� death is remembered. Jones focuses on the long-term effects of collective violence on abuse survivors, war veterans, and marginalized populations and the discrete ways in which grace and redemption may be exhibited in each context.鈥�

The Bible鈥檚 Traumatic Origins

By David Carr

鈥淗uman trauma gave birth to the Bible . . . the Bible鈥檚 ability to speak to suffering is a major reason why the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity have retained their relevance for thousands of years. In his fascinating and provocative reinterpretation of the Bible鈥檚 origins, the author tells the story of how the Jewish people and Christian community had to adapt to survive multiple catastrophes and how their holy scriptures both reflected and reinforced each religion鈥檚 resilient nature.鈥�

The post 9 Theology and Trauma Books to Read appeared first on 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology.

Quotes

鈥淭o what extent do we think that God actually took on our humanity?鈥� Dr. Chelle Stearns

鈥淕od is aware of the wounds of our body, the hurts to our soul, the aspects of our spirits that are downtrodden 鈥� God is not simply elevated and distant, but close, and probably we feel the hunger for closeness most when we are in pain. So the sense of aloneness that can come from pain and the sense that god is with us, coming alongside people to engage them in woundedness, in another type and depth of healing.鈥� Dr. J. Derek McNeil

鈥淭he presence of God isn鈥檛 just solidarity, this is a presence that works on the world constantly. It calls to us into a way of being that doesn鈥檛 accept the pain and suffering in the world. And that鈥檚 the other side of it – it鈥檚 not a given that there is suffering, but there is fierce resistance against it as well.鈥� Dr. Chelle Stearns

鈥淚t raises for me 鈥� puts me in the mind of thinking not about 鈥榟ow does God fix it,鈥� but 鈥榟ow does God live presently in it with us?鈥欌�� Dr. J. Derek McNeil

鈥淪o what body, what kinds of bodies are enough, are full enough, are really human, to the point of imagining Jesus taking on their flesh?鈥� Dr. Chelle Stearns

鈥淲here does our brokenness fit with our hope of restoration?鈥� Dr. J. Derek McNeil

鈥淣o wonder people responded to Jesus the way they did. He actually saw their faces, confronted their sorrows. It鈥檚 not just that he healed people and touched them, he saw who they were and this deep longing we have as humans, regardless of where we come from, but yet we each have that deep sorrow within us of we just want to be seen for who we are and known more deeply鈥攏ot just deeply but being known truly, honestly, warts and all.鈥� Dr. Chelle Stearns

Resources

• Watch Dr. Chelle Stearns speak on 鈥�Lament and Hope Through a Trauma-Informed Theology鈥� at our Seventh Annual Stanley Grenz Lecture
• Learn more about , author of 鈥淏lessings for a New Baby鈥�
• Read

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In these spaces of fear, we鈥檙e often less able to access our active practices of filtering our biases and choosing to act differently鈥攍eading to harm, most often of our Black and Brown community members. In the last few weeks in June, we鈥檝e seen anti-Asian assaults in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and white supremacist propaganda posted in Seattle鈥檚 Chinatown and International District. We鈥檝e watched in horror the high profile lynchings in the form of police and vigilante killings of Black folks in Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, Washington, and undoubtedly more places before this piece is published. We鈥檝e seen the less publicized police killing of Black first responder Breonna Taylor when police broke into her home in Louisville, KY. And we鈥檝e heard reports of the devastatingly disproportionate toll of Covid19 among the Navajo Nation. And undoubtedly, between when this is written and published, there will be more names of people harmed鈥攕ome we will learn and more will never be published because the events aren鈥檛 filmed.

While we鈥檙e stuck at home glued to our digital windows to the world, many of us may become more acutely aware of acts of violence that have been happening all along. Under our current load of fear and stress, these traumas each have their own particular impact, but they also have a cumulative impact on each of us鈥攁nd most of all on those who see your own faces reflected in these particular victims and who live under this every day.

And I am a white man working at 天美视频, where our mission is: 鈥渢o train people to be competent in the study of text, soul, and culture in order to serve God and neighbor through transforming relationships.鈥� In the past months, I鈥檝e sat in Zoom meetings with students, alumni, staff, and faculty of this majority-white聽institution, and I have heard story after story from people of color about the impact of this season of isolation and visible violence, as well as specific experiences of discrimination, violence, silence, and pain.

Racism is a primordial wound on the heart of our culture and it touches us all. It is a sin that cuts in so many directions鈥攙ictims, perpetrators, bystanders, and descendants. And as I seek to understand my role in all this, and my turn of repentance, to love God and my neighbors, I am drawn back into wisdom from the Biblical texts.

In the story of Israel, God set in place cities of refuge鈥攑laces where people could flee from reckless vengeance killings. These towns were also set aside as the homes of the Levites, the priestly clan. The Jewish Talmud offers deeper understanding about the teachings on these places of refuge. Requirements are outlined: these cannot be large cities or small towns, and they must have a water source. If there is no water source, a well or a canal must be dug. The roadways into these cities must be twice the standard width of the highways going in and out of the largest cities. And every intersection leading toward these cities must be clearly marked.

In short, it was never sufficient to name a place as a city of refuge. The lasting work had to be put in, in order for it to be a legitimate place of hospitality for those in danger of violence. As much as I long to call myself a person who is anti-racist, is so much more than that. This language from the Talmud changes the way that I hear the gospel message preached by John: 鈥淧repare the way of the Lord and make straight paths for him.鈥�

And it changes the way that I read Isaiah 40:3-5:

A voice of one calling:
鈥淚n the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.鈥�

Last week, our community prayed this passage alongside . He gives voice to the ache and longing for justice present in this passage and in the Black community. As I listen to his voice I am reminded that there is no good news to the gospel of Jesus if it does not bring loving justice to our world.

In my own life as a white man, and in my work in 天美视频 community, it is not enough to be aware of violence. And it is not enough to name myself an ally. In order to credibly love my neighbors, I must join in the lament of my siblings in pain, and even more, we must together continue to do the mundane and invisible work of creating and maintaining access ways, and sources of life for Black, Brown and Native people in our communities. And as a white man, I must enter my own lament. My own source of life is cut off by racism when I do not engage in this justice work, where I myself am often the worker who joins late in the day.

In my particular work at 天美视频 this looks like grieving and strategizing with students; implementing and revisiting equity strategies as we distribute Covid19 benevolence funds; from the beginning, addressing racial and socioeconomic disparities as we lead workshops on self-care for ongoing trauma; and daily making space in our community rhythms of prayer to hold grief and explore our own work in justice building. It also means showing up in my own community鈥攄emanding justice and accountability for Stonechild Chiefstick, a Native man killed by police who have gone uncharged in my county last year, and for Bennie Branch and Manuel Ellis, both Black men killed by police in nearby Tacoma. And it means listening when my Black neighbor speaks about her fear for her teenager鈥檚 life, and doing work with our local police to ensure that this child is safe in our shared community.

None of these things give me or 天美视频 the right to label ourselves a place of refuge. Instead, they are some of the daily practices we engage relationally and, in so doing, are ourselves being transformed. We have the blessing of not being a monolith. And while we are a majority white learning community, we are also a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multicultural community that continues to be shaped and led by one another. To be a place of refuge, dialogue, and repair in our society, we must be engaged in this work as a daily spiritual practice, inviting our souls, our economics, our politics, and our relationships to be contoured to the Spirit of God at work in the world.

This past Sunday, Christians celebrated the feast of Pentecost. Humanity has always been in need of God鈥檚 flames uniting us with all people in love and justice. The fires across USAmerica are calling out for love and justice for Black bodies in our nation. I believe that the Spirit needs us to be people whose lives are marked by doing the work that creates justice and peace.

As a school, we can never really be a permanent city of refuge, but we can be a place along the way where people join with God and learn from one another about how to build such places together in our homes and congregations; nonprofits and friend groups; therapy offices and neighborhoods. As a white person, a huge part of my learning is listening and bearing wit(h)ness, and another huge part is consistently acting, speaking, and sharing in this blessed work, especially when society privileges me in such a way that I could choose to simply check out and reap the benefits handed to me because of my white skin.

This is important, holy work. And it is important work to talk about together. As wrong as it is to put up signposts pointing to places that are not actual refuge, it is also crucial to illuminate the pathways where work really is being done. This both opens us up for accountability and brings us into dialogue with those who have much to teach us. There is not a 鈥渞ight鈥� way for white folks to do this work and come out looking good. We must move into it making mistakes and repenting all along the way. Some may experience this as a deterrent, but for those who receive it as the blessing it is, it is a way forward into sharing the weighty blessing of Pentecost.

One of the gifts of working in a place where psychology and theology intersect, is that while therapeutic changes often happen confidentially behind closed doors, the world of communities of faith are rich with public symbols and places to both contain and display communal grief and repair. Here, in the work of racial justice, we need both of these together. We need deep, internal, and interpersonal work. And we need communal and symbolic actions that disrupt oppression and create structure for cultural change.

May we join with the Spirit to create spaces of refuge and repair in our neighborhoods and in our world.

The post Stewarding My Own Whiteness in the Work for Justice appeared first on 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology.

While our bodies and souls ache with the recent abuses of power, we also recognize them as the most recent manifestation of a system that is older than our country. Our collective healing is tied to repentance and to the dismantling of systemic injustice and fear that continues to horrifically terrorize and target Black and Brown bodies. The work before us is immense, urgent, and important.

Faith communities have a vital role in cultural transformation. Churches are a source for many of us to discern God鈥檚 hopes for humanity, to align our desire with God鈥檚, and to reorient ourselves towards the pursuit of that vision.

We are aware that, although we long for more diversity, 天美视频 community is predominantly white. With that in mind, we compiled resources for churches that are predominantly white to engage race, no matter where they are in the conversation. In this era, perhaps churches can join not only the lament of the oppressed, and also make active progress towards the invitation to justice and peace.

Starting Places for Small Group Discussion

Articles

鈥�,鈥� from Women of the ELCA, is an 11-page guide for a process and tools for race conversations.

For a leadership team, 鈥�,鈥� adapted by Scott Winn. This document names components of dominant culture that are often invisible to those who live in it; it points out the air we breathe. Where do these components feel true of your congregation鈥檚 culture? What other options might you cultivate? Follow-up with 鈥�,鈥� adapted by Partners for Collaborative Change.

Books

has anti-racism reading lists for , , , and .

, by Resmaa Menakem. He addresses three audiences concurrently: white people, black/brown people, and law enforcement officers. For each, he not only teaches theory but also guides through practices for healing our bodies in order to heal relationships and communities.

by Adrian Pei illustrates examples of white supremacy and racism through leadership in a ministry setting. Recommended for use with a leadership team.

by Jemar Tisby addresses the American Church鈥檚 complicity in racism by examining the history of Christianity in the United States.

Videos & Movies

BlacKkKlansman is not only entertaining, its characters provide multiple entry points into conversations on race, culture, and law enforcement.

In addition to the book, The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby is also a.

Trainings and Experiences

, from The United Church of Christ, is a free, downloadable curriculum for white faith communities wishing to “engage in safe, meaningful, substantive, and bold conversations on race.鈥�

provides culturally relevant professional development, keynotes, consulting, coaching and one-on-one diversity leadership support to organizations committed to improving their ability to work effectively across cultures.

exists to establish healthy multiethnic, economically diverse, socially just churches.

facilitates conversations and trainings for congregations to address race issues within the community.

When travel re-opens, consider a group pilgrimage to the in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. J. Derek McNeil writes about his experience here.

Resources for Children & Youth Engagement

has resources to inform children about race, including , , , , and .

Theologies and Frameworks for Pastors

Videos

Dr. Soong-Chan Rah on , and the following .

Dr. Angela Parker (former professor at 天美视频) on , and calling us to resist being a chaplain of the empire.

In their final year of school, students in our Master of Arts in Theology & Culture and Master of Divinity programs create an integrative project 鈥� our version of a master鈥檚 thesis. Some of this year鈥檚 projects are on:

• (links go to 10-minute video presentations of their work)

Relevant projects from previous years include:

Alumni gather annually in Symposia to share what they鈥檝e learned while 鈥渟erving God and neighbor through transforming relationships鈥� in 20-minute presentations. Relevant topics:

• Redeeming Identity in a Rapidly Changing Context

Books, Articles, and Lists

We curated this list of theologians and women of color who are at the forefront of conversations about womanist theology, gender, feminism, and race in the church.

by James Cone marries practical theology and social justice work.

by Linda Royster, identifying Christ as the 鈥渟uffocating Son of Man,鈥� present with those whose breath is cut off at the hands of government systems.

Because law enforcement disproportionately kills African-Americans, and addressing that discrepancy is an urgent need, these resources are largely about the Black experience. We recognize that healing must also be done with Native, Latin American, and Asian American bodies, history, and culture, perhaps especially here in the Pacific Northwest. Because we know our community is primarily white, and because it is white people鈥檚 fear that puts black and brown bodies in danger, these resources also discuss white identity and show white bodies doing the work of engaging race.

We recognize that this is not a comprehensive list of resources. Send an email to submissions@theseattleschool.edu to let us know what you would add.聽

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This, of course, is not the first time I have been overwhelmed with grief as I mourn the senseless deaths of black men and women. One moment comes to my mind quite poignantly, as it links the past and the present. In 2015, I traveled with my wife to Montgomery, Alabama to be in conversations with a mixed-race group about racial trauma and incarceration. One afternoon we were asked to travel to the site of a lynching in Elmore County in the town of Wetumpka that occurred on June 17th, 1898. I found myself overcome with grief, on my knees in the dirt filling two-gallon jars with the brown and grey clay of Alabama soil. We filled four jars, each stenciled with a name, a city, and a date. The names belonged to the four black men lynched together that day.聽

A hundred and seventeen years later, we had traveled to Wetumpka, Alabama to remember and honor these men whose lives were taken for unknown reasons. The remembering of these men was both an act of defiance and reverence, linking them to us, as we sang, prayed, and cried for Ham Thompson, Reese Thompson, Louis Spier, and Solomon Jackson.聽

Those four names are joined by more each day, and were preceded by millions before them. The names stretch out and feel endless as we attempt to remember them, know their lives, and honor their stories…Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd.

As someone who studies change, I know that some change can only come from disruption and disorder. While I do not condone or support violent expressions, I understand the need to re-affirm that the killings must stop. I was struck by the words of Max Bailey, a protester in Denver: 鈥淚f you can tell me something better for me to do鈥攊f you can tell me a way that we could change the world without trying to make noise like that, then I鈥檒l get out of the streets鈥� (CNN, Madeline Holcomb, 2020).

The tragedy is that we have yet to find the ways to make for justice and peace. None of us鈥攃onservative, progressive, or anywhere in between鈥攃an fully answer the question of how to find justice and peace for a nation toiling with its original sin of slavery.聽

To call for peace without justice mutes the message of Jesus, decontextualizing the violence his body suffered and abstracting the tree he hung on, cheapens grace. Our hope is not in that Jesus escaped the humiliation, torture, and death, but that his death wasn鈥檛 the end of the story. Death will not be the end of our story.

Now, we have hard work in front of us. As a nation, we are at a crossroads. The status of our mistrust and divisions will tear us apart and we will not recover. This society will not hold together through coercion nor anarchy, but only through the rebuilding of trust. This means enemies must begin to hear truths from each other, and consistent action must be taken to lower the threat of harm to each other. There must be those who hold the center ground, those who can mediate a different relationship, those who can help us see past the splitting, those who offer a different love. We must be those who hear the gospel of Jesus as both a message of justice and grace.

We know that justice is not ultimately found in the streets. This is about being heard and being tired in the worst expressions of our trauma and rage.

The system will only change with the engagement of former combatants, those who believe that their very existence is linked together.聽

When I came to this little school, my hope was that we would come to see our mission as more than training people to be therapists, pastors, social entrepreneurs, and artists. My hope was that we might learn to equip people to become agents of change鈥攍eaders in a movement through transforming relationships and mending society. My hope is that we might train people to serve others in healing their trauma鈥攏ot just from their own life and story, but the generational trauma carried in and between their bodies. I believe in this mission and have hope for the mending and re-weaving of the fabric of society.聽

This is an extension of our mission into the world: serving God and neighbor through transforming relationships.聽

May we be people of faith who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. May our prayers not only be words鈥攎ay our prayers move into our hands and feet in service to our neighbor. May our cries for justice extend into our relationships and the fabric of our communities.聽

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My answer is both simple and complicated.

The simple answer is that I think that studying at the intersection of theology and trauma is a generative place to re-imagine redemption, reconciliation, and healing. The more complicated answer is that trauma (in its multifarious forms) lingers and manifests in unpredictable ways in the brain, body, and relationships. This can be extremely problematic for one鈥檚 neat and tidy theological system.

Systematic theologians attempt to make sense of life by isolating and working on particular questions and issues. This process requires abstraction of life into theory. This theory then helps to refocus one鈥檚 focus or approach to real life questions, yet it can be difficult to get back to application (or practice) in the everyday if reflective space is not purposefully given or sought out.

Unfortunately, theology can sometimes leave us in our heads, while ignoring the realities of life.

Trauma, on the other hand, requires a practical application. It connects us to real life, often because we have personal experience. Trauma causes humans, in general, to reevaluate how one makes sense of the world. This reevaluation is inherently religious, regardless of one鈥檚 creed or faith, because it frames how one makes meaning out of the crazy chaos of life. We can tell stories, make movies, write books, and reframe our stories of trauma and sorrow, but the reality is that one鈥檚 brain, body, and community most likely will never function well or be the same again.

Trauma blurs all of our categories. It requires something of our neat and tidy abstractions because it breaks in and intrudes on the daily. Trauma turns our linear existence into chaotic and sometimes surrealist perceptions of life.

In short, trauma holds us accountable to the embodied reality of human existence. Pat answers ring hollow in the light of trauma. It requires new questions, nuanced approaches, improvised responses, and a 鈥渘ew imaginary鈥� (as Grace Janzten says). If we are to respond well to the challenge of trauma, then we have to reevaluate our core theological commitments and practices. I believe that this improvisational stance toward life, faith, and healing (we could even say faith, hope, and love) is the core theological task for today鈥檚 world.

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Faculty, students, staff, and members of our community gathered to hear Dr. Stearns explore how a trauma-informed theology can help us find new paths toward hope and restoration. As a community, we were invited to reflect on the integration of theology and trauma with our bodies. 鈥淥ur bodies,鈥� said Dr. Stearns, 鈥渟hould be holistically included in our spiritual practices.鈥�

鈥淗ope is not an illusion, but a witness to God鈥檚 presence.鈥�

Watch the full video of Chelle鈥檚 lecture on 鈥溾�楳y Heart Flows on in Endless Song鈥�: Lament and Hope Through a Trauma-Informed Theology.鈥� Following her lecture is a reflective panel discussion with Dr. Darren Sumner, Danielle Elliott (MATC 鈥�15), and Rev. Dr. Jane Roland. Each, through their respective lenses of theology, art, and integrative practices, offer valuable insight into Dr. Stearns lecture.

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Abby: 鈥淪o many of the people I interact with are desperate for the symptoms to go away鈥搕hat鈥檚 why they come to therapy. There is a complexity and a depth, and even an honor and richness that we can offer with [saying] your whole self is telling us something. My gut has been one of the primary ways for me to listen to my own trauma or my own wounding.鈥�

Abby: 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 most excited about with the concentration: honing in on more of what it means to be with someone whose mind, body, soul, emotions have been hijacked.鈥�

Derek: 鈥淭his is challenging work. It feels like not just individual healing, but cultural healing. We seem to have not known how wounded we were even though we knew on some level we were deeply wounded. To come to reckon with that wounding and then to come with both strategies, ways of holding, and spiritual ways of being to bring some healing as well as learning feels very important at this moment鈥�

As Derek and Abby discuss the Concentration in Trauma and Abuse, they step into what most excites them about this new offering and what their learning in the play and work of this profession

Abby: 鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to see how I get to marry the Allender Theory with EMDR 鈥�

Derek: 鈥淥ne of the things I鈥檓 excited about with the concentration is us raising the question that we kind of already know. Is this important? Yes. Is this something we have to engage? Yes. I deeply appreciate the sense of calling from you personally as well as The Allender Center corporately for stepping into this.鈥�

Abby: 鈥淚 could geek out for hours on neuroscience, the vagus system, our gut, how trauma is stored in our bodies, what is dissociation. I tell this students in Practicum III, 鈥榊ou have no excuse to be bored in this profession. There are so many avenues that it can take.鈥欌��

Resources to Go Deeper

• You can follow the what The Allender Center is up to at
• Abby mentions the memoir by Truddi Chase, , which follows her journey with dissociative identity disorder from abuse to recovery.
• Abby and Derek discuss her involvement with developing our new Concentration in Trauma and Abuse here at 天美视频. You can learn more about the program and application process on our website.
• In their discussion about the prolific presence of abuse, Abby recalls hearing the news breaking in 2009 about the .
• Derek and Abby talk about collective trauma, where stories are often held in our collective bodies, and Abby mentions that she鈥檚 been reading a book by Resmaa Menakem titled,

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Esther: 鈥淩eality is person-like, and our essential human desire is to know, to understand, to have intimate contact and communion with reality.鈥�

There is a contagious sense of delight in how Esther presents her ideas, and it鈥檚 a bit sneaky: She鈥檚 engaging dense, complex theories, and if you鈥檙e not already into philosophy it might be easy to say 鈥淥h I鈥檓 not interested in that,鈥� or 鈥淭hat鈥檚 over my head.鈥� But if you listen, you might start to hear a contagious, almost childlike joy. Esther describes it as 鈥渆xuberant realism鈥濃�攁 grounded, thoughtful desire to approach the big questions of life with vibrant love and an openness to delight. With this posture, philosophy is not about abstract theory detached from our day-to-day realities; it鈥檚 a discipline that invites us to wrestle with the deep needs of our time in new and meaningful ways.

鈥淭here鈥檚 one thing you need to be philosophical, and that is to be born. Because to be human is to be philosophical.鈥�

Esther: 鈥淚t has everything to do with love of God, but it has everything to do with love of his reality, too.鈥�

Much of this conversation stems from the conviction that our 鈥渄efective modernist epistemology鈥� and our attempts to control reality are problematic, and that we are in need of a new perspective on our relationship to the real. Esther shares how, in her teaching and writing, her hope is to cultivate 鈥渓overs of the real鈥濃�攊ndividuals whose adoration for God and God鈥檚 creation compels them to ask better questions, to pursue meaningful work, and to welcome each other with hospitality and delight. Derek and Esther discuss how that turn toward others is also reflected in what we know of human psychology: to be gazed upon with delight, and to offer delight toward others, is a central part of developing an integrated identity.

Esther: 鈥淭o be seen with delight by someone else is something that allows you to find yourself in that gaze.鈥�

Derek: 鈥淚n the current political climate of our country, it鈥檚 been hard to delight in each other, very hard to see beauty. What we seem focused on is ugliness, and our inability to see each other and delight in each other has been a real challenge.鈥�

Esther鈥檚 insights and philosophies have profound implications on how we conceive of God, how we serve each other, and how we respond to trauma and dis-integration in our world. We are deeply grateful for her work and for the generosity of her presence with us. Thanks to Dr. Esther Meek for joining us, and thanks to all of you for listening!

Resources to Go Deeper

• For more from Esther Meek, you can watch her presentation from the 2018 Stanley Grenz Lecture Series, including a panel conversation with Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Chelle Stearns: Integration in a Dis-Integrated World.
• Esther鈥檚 writing has been an important presence in our classrooms for many years. To jump into her work for yourself, a good starting point might be .
• Esther cites Francis Schaeffer鈥檚 book as helping her realize at a young age that her questions about God and the world were not sin, they were philosophical.
• Much of Esther鈥檚 ideas have been developed in conversation with the work of Michael Polanyi, whose text seemed like the only voice in Esther鈥檚 philosophical quest that addressed her deepest questions about reality.

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