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. Re-examining 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.

Shelly Rambo is Assistant Professor of Theology at Boston University School of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts.