What Job’s Friends Could Have Done
Facilitating Post-Traumatic Remaking in the Theodrama of Salvation
- Counseling, Grief & Mental Health
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
In a world that is becoming more aware of the impact of traumatic experiences on the lives of individuals, the church is faced with the challenge of examining how to do life well, together, in a way that helps rather than hinders those who are living in the aftermath of trauma. Beginning with the question of what Job's friends could have done differently to help Job in the midst of his suffering, the present work draws on Kevin Vanhoozer's theodramatic model and the Object Relations Theory of British pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott to provide biblically rooted guidance for developing a trauma-sensitive church. In bringing these perspectives together exploration takes place into what it means to be made in the image of God in the theodrama and what the church's role is in enabling the christological form of this image to take shape in each individual, particularly in the aftermath of individual trauma. The work of Winnicott provides fresh insight into how this development might be facilitated by the church within the theodrama of salvation.
Endorsements (3)
“How ought the church care for the traumatized who, like Job, have suffered a catastrophic experience that disrupts their ability to ‘play their part?’ Torr weaves psychoanalytic insights into the mother/child relationship onto my theodramatic vision of the Christian life. If, as Calvin says, the Church is both ‘Mother’ to those to whom God is Father and ‘theater’ of the gospel, then it, like Job’s friends, can best heal the traumatized by becoming a theater-cum-nursery of redemption.”
“Stephen Torr has made a significant contribution to practical theology. His work to better inform the ways we think about pastoral care to those who have experienced trauma is both useful and noteworthy in that it extends both theological and psychological understandings of trauma. His dialogue between biblical studies, theology, and the psychology of D.W. Winnicott is especially creative and engaging.”
“Stephen Torr is passionate that the church learns how to minister to those with trauma, so that they might experience healing from their wounds. To that end he takes us on an extensive tour of Kevin Vanhoozer’s theodramatic approach to theological anthropology and ecclesiology, with a healthy dose of Donald Winnicott’s psychology of maturation, while reflecting on Job and his friends and suggesting implications for the church today.”
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