Written by teachers, theologians, and practitioners well known for their expertise in the field, God and the Victim probes and examines issues of evil, justice, victimization, and forgiveness. Working from the view that crime is primarily a spiritual issue, the authors look at examples of victimization in the Bible for guidance about how we can better minister to victims today. --from publisher description.
How does severe interpersonal harm affect our freedom and the ways in which we relate to ourselves, others, and God? This book addresses the challenges that trauma and feminist theory pose to cherished theological convictions about human freedom and divine grace.
Robin Jones Gunn reveals poignant truths from her life as well as from the lives of women in the Bible as she flips the notion that we are at the mercy of circumstances. She asks, what if God has dreams for you? What if he is accomplishing those dreams in the midst of shattered hopes? When life doesn’t go as expected, it’s easy to feel like a victim. We look at the events that have gone wrong and view our lives as impaired. What if we could see our future as God sees it? Would our view radically change if we understood we are indeed victims rather than of happenstance? God, the Relentless Lover, has vigorously sought you. He has instilled dreams in your heart that are grander than you can imagine. But the route to their fulfillment often is through a path you wouldn't seek. What if God wants to take the hopes that tug at your heart and enliven them? Are you ready to live inside the mysterious joy of being a victim of grace?
She's seen slave dungeons in Ghana. Genocide in Rwanda. Systemic sexual abuse in Brazil. Child abuse and domestic violence in the US. After forty years of counseling abuse survivors around the world, Dr. Diane Langberg, a world renowned trauma expert, remains certain that what trauma destroys, Christ can and does restore. This book will convince you, too, of the healing heart of God. But it's not a fast process, instead much patience is required from family, friends, and counselors as they wisely and respectfully help victims unpack their traumatic suffering through talking, tears, and time. And it's not a process that can be separated from the work of God in both a counselor and counselee. Dr. Langberg calls all of those who wish to help sufferers to model Jesus's sacrificial love and care in how they listen, love, and guide. The heart of God is revealed to sufferers as they grow to understand the cross of Christ and how their God came to this earth and experienced such severe suffering that he too is "well-acquainted with grief." The cross of Christ is the lens that transforms and redeems traumatic suffering and its aftermath, not only for the sufferer, but it also transforms those who walk with the suffering. This book will be a great help to anyone who loves, listens to, and seeks to help someone impacted by trauma and abuse. There is no quick fix, but there is the hope for healing through the love of God in Christ.
An extraordinary true story of grace, mercy, and the redemptive power of God When her father was murdered, Laurie Coombs and her family sought justice—and found it. Yet, despite the swift punishment of the killer, Laurie found herself increasingly full of pain, bitterness, and anger she couldn’t control. It was the call to love and forgive her father’s murderer that set her, the murderer, and several other inmates on the journey that would truly change their lives forever. This compelling story of transformation will touch the deepest wounds and show how God can redeem what seems unredeemable.
Helps adult victims of sexual assault move from brokenness to healing. This book outlines a theology or redemption and includes an application of how the disgrace of the cross can lead victims toward grace.
Christian tradition holds that an individual's ability to respond to God's graceto love both God and neighboris not wholly vulnerable to earthly contingencies, such as victimization. Today, however, trauma theory insists that situations of overwhelming violence can permanently damage a person's capacity for responsive agency. For Christians, this theory raises the very troubling possibility that humans can inflict ultimate harm on each other, such that some individuals' eternal destiny can be determined not by themselves but by those who do great harm. Jennifer Beste addresses the challenges that contemporary trauma theory and feminist theory pose to deeply-held theological convictions about human freedom and divine grace. Do our longstanding, widespread beliefs regarding ones access to Gods grace remain credible in light of recent social scientific research on the effects of interpersonal injury? With an eye toward the concrete experiences of trauma survivors, Best carefully considers the possibility that one can be victimized in such a way that his or her receptiveness to Gods grace is severely diminished, or even destroyed. Drawing on insights present in feminist and trauma theory, Beste articulates a revised Rahnerian theology of freedom and grace responsive to trauma survivors in need of healing. Her thinking is characterized by two interconnected claims; that human freedom to respond to Gods grace can in fact be destroyed by severe interpersonal harm, and that Gods love can be mediated, at least in part, through loving interpersonal relations. Offering crucial insights that lead to a more adequate understanding of the relation between Gods grace and human freedom, Bestes important theory reconfigures our visions of God and humanity and alters our perceptions of what it means to truly love ones neighbor.
A Colorado native, Shauna Hyde grew up with three brothers, no sisters, and a father who was a pastor of a local community church. She was taught that women married for life and no woman she knew was a pastor. This ‘normal’ crashed around her when her first husband left her with a newborn baby to raise alone. Her second husband confessed his unfaithfulness; again her world hit a bruising reality wall despite her efforts to be the ‘best little wife’. Shauna started studying karate and began to see a correlation between the two disciplines that opened her soul to be empowered by the grace of God. God, in turn, taught her and used her to empower others.”As a United Methodist minister who is also a black belt in Shota Kahn karate I am often asked how I can be both a martial artist and a pastor. There have been a lot of jokes about how I will force people to the altar or smack people who get out of line. Then there is always the joke about no one wanting to disobey me in the church because I know how to hurt them In reality, anyone who is a true martial artist and/or has a deep understanding of the martial arts knows that it is not about violence – it is about mercy, self-discipline, a lot of routine practice, and a whole other host of characteristics that I would like to address in this book].”Shauna shares what she has learned with a solid Biblical foundation through thought-provoking questions that work well individually and with small groups. “Karate is a tool that can help people grow, understand, and become disciplined. Church is a tool that also helps people grow, understand, and become disciplined. The greatest tool of all to be used to empower others is the constant and abundant application of grace.”
"Providing practical tools and exercises, counselor Darby Strickland shows how anyone can recognize clues suggesting abuse, identify oppressive behavior, and work with a victim to bring clarity, help, and healing"--
