Texts of Trauma - Reading Challenging Old Testament Texts

Within the Old Testament the depiction of, and context of trauma is frequent and present in different genres across the whole corpus. Traumas include those arising from warfare and/or forced migration/exile, family conflict, abuse of power, sexual violation, and adverse psychological, social and economic realities. Such depictions may be explicitly negatively evaluated, but even so raise complicated questions for those who hold these texts as Christian scripture and/or theologically, ethically, and pastorally formative. The nature of justice, the character and work of God, and the pastoral use of texts of trauma name some of these questions, particularly when these texts of trauma are read within a Christian context.