CW: sexual and physical abuse, spiritual abuse, grooming, molestation, childhood trauma In this episode we’re joined by Ryan George, who is the author of Hurt and Healed by the Church: Redemption and Reconstruction After Spiritual Abuse. During our conversation, Ryan tells us his story, which centers on how his father was an abusive pastor in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist context, influenced by Bill Gothard’s teaching. As Ryan articulates, he had every reason to leave the...
CW: violence against children, assault, domestic partner violence, adverse religious experiences, suicide Rev. Dr. Scott Harrower is Lecturer in Christian Thought at Ridley College and an ordained minister in the Anglican Church. In this episode, Revd Dr. Harrower offers a theological response to trauma through the doctrine of the Trinity–reflected in large part in his book God of All Comfort. We talk about how his background as a nurse informs his work as a theologian...
CW: adverse religious experiences Dr. Charles Kiser is a pastor and theologian with Storyline Christian Community in Dallas, TX, and Dr. Elanie Heath is the former Dean of Duke Divinity School and the author of The Mystic Way of Evangelism and Loving the Hell Out of Ourselves (and Others). In this episode, we talk about Dr. Kiser’s and Dr. Heath’s recent book Trauma-Informed Evangelism. In addition to defining terms like “trauma” and “trauma-informed,” they tell...
CW: murder, depression Dr. Matthew D. Kim is the Professor of Practical Theology; Holder of the Hubert H. and Gladys S. Raborn Chair of Pastoral Leadership at Truett Seminary at Baylor University. In this episode, Dr. Kim introduces us to his book Preaching to People in Pain (Baker Academic, 2021) and his broader philosophies around trauma informed preaching. He explains some of the ways that preachers can attend to the pain of their congregations, attend...
CW: adverse religious experiences, church-related trauma, narcissistic leaders Dr. Scot McKnight is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and Laura Barringer is an author and a Kindergarten Teacher. In this episode, they summarize their two recent books (A Church Called Tov and Pivot). In the first part, in light of abuse related to Willow Creek Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, they describe harmful dynamics and harmful responses when abuse is brought to light....
CW: wartime violence, civilian casualities, suicide Dr. Brian Powers is Vann Fellow in Christianity and the Armed Forces and Executive Director of the International Centre for Moral Injury at Durham University. In this episode Dr. Powers defines the term “moral injury” and helps us to understand some of the applications of this term with respect to military personnel, veterans, and frontline healthcare workers. He relates moral injury and trauma, and he also illustrates instances of...
CW: sexual assault, forced migration, intimate partner violence. Dr. Alexiana Fry is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen and the author of Trauma Talks in the Hebrew Bible. In this episode, we talk about how she began working on this topic as well as several different texts that have or could be read in light of trauma (e.g., Judges 19; Lamentations). She offers helpful complications for thinking about these difficulties in ways that...
Dr. Tim Middleton is Tutorial Fellow in Theology & Director of the Centre for Baptist Studies at Regent’s Park College at Oxford University. In this episode, we talk about ecological trauma—the trauma experienced by the earth and as a result of climate change and other ecological conditions. Dr. Middleton explains how his work intersects with trauma theologies and brings Christology into the conversation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John...
CW: microaggressions, institutional trauma, intergenerational trauma Pastor Juliet Liu is a co-pastor of Life on the Vine in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and she serves as Chair of the Board for Missio Alliance. In this episode, we talk about what constitutes racial trauma, how this occurs differently in different environments, how intergenerational trauma affects the children of those who have experienced racial trauma, and various practices that can help to process trauma. Pastor Liu...
CW: suicidal ideations, obsessive compulsive disorder In this episode we’re talking about trauma and mental illness with John Andrew Bryant. John Andrew Bryant is a caregiver, writer, and part-time street pastor in a small steel town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he is the author of A Quiet Mind to Suffer With, published in 2023 with Lexham Press. He defines and then shares his own experiences with OCD including how a particularly severe season of his...
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