It seems strange for me to have only come across the term “trauma theology” in the past few days through a counsellor friend.
But given my personal and professional experience has lent me to the field, I feel led to explore the ideas that have been piqued.
The following is deliberately incomplete . . .
What we’ve all struggled with in terms of the concept of Theodicy (one definition: “the defense of God’s goodness and divine providence in life in view of the existence of evil and outcomes of suffering”) is it endeavours to find explanation about things that cannot be explained.
Why does God allow suffering? How on earth could any human being, pastor or minister or counsellor, have any idea on how to answer that question? It is so very variegated. It is so very nuanced. And endeavouring to answer that question only relegates any logical or valid real reason to nonsense.
Seeking an answer misses the point, a ploy of the enemy. More is the point of finding God within the suffering — this is still a tricky phenomenon for those who have suffered trauma.
How can the Bible help? Incredibly, Paul captured the essence of the attempt to explain the inexplicable in 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2. Paul explains that God shames the strong and the wise, and instead blesses the weak and the weary — (there is a key here to be explored later). God reveals human wisdom as folly in the realm of suffering and trauma. Then we go back inside the Old Testament and find ourselves utterly at home in the inexplicable via Ecclesiastes, Job, the lament psalms, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and so many of the other prophets. Even the books of history are full of stories of injustice and suffering, with no pat answers.
Then in the New Testament again we find solace in the Passion narratives of Jesus suffering on the cross, and we can also land in 2 Corinthians — yes, the whole ‘tearful’ letter — and verses like James 1:2 leave us wondering! “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when you face trials of many kinds.” What that says is there must be a way to healing, but the biblical vista is one of hope grounded in a future perspective of maturity and completeness — much of which is cast forth in the hope in eternity. Christians are called to endure. There is suffering here in this life that we can only endure with the help of fellow sojourners. Trauma predisposes us to crave the love of someone, and ideally a community, who will walk alongside us.
The human brain is responsible for absorbing stimuli that are anything from the mundane to the potentially traumatic. The trouble with the brain is when it senses danger, it cannot think logically and can only experience the event — think trauma — for what it is. The feeling part of the brain is all we have to cope with stimuli that is too quick for the thinking part of our brain to process. Then when the thinking part of the brain does come on line, it must deal with one hell of a mess.
For the sufferer (or would-be-sufferer, in the case of those who are about to be impacted by trauma), there is such a temptation — or need — to find an explanation for their suffering. “There must be some reason for what happened or why it happened or what I’m to do about it, including how I’m to recover, that makes sense,” but there are no neat answers, and we know that the common experience of those who have been traumatised is that it literally sticks inside our bodies, becoming of a sense autonomic, with horrendous, ongoing after effects.
For the counsellor or would-be-counsellor, as well there is such a temptation to actually bring from oneself a legitimate way of helping, otherwise we would feel we were ripping the client off. “Surely I must be able to ‘do’ something!” “Surely I’m to be helpful as a ‘highly trained specialist’ in my ‘field of expertise’.”
When we bring nothing but our love
into the field of trauma-work,
and we are otherwise an empty vessel
to be filled with another’s pain,
then we are equipped.
Trauma theology says that all the person needs in their trauma is a faithful witness to that trauma, someone with the discipline to show up and shut up, with the discernment and wisdom to know they are out of their league, but also with the willingness to speak caring truths in defense of the one they walk alongside.
Central to Christian theology is the suffering servant, Jesus. If anyone can identify with our trauma, Jesus can. As can Job. As can David chased by Saul. As can many other biblical figures.
In the Holy Spirit, we have One that “walks alongside” and it is this ministry of Presence that a fellow sojourner has the privilege of undertaking. It is a slow and enduring work, one done without thought of destination, but fully encapsulated in the word, “journey.”
IMAGE: taken today (10 March 2026) at Piney Lakes, Perth, Western Australia.
