Holy Resilience: The Bible’s Traumatic Origins
Overview
A leading biblical scholar offers a powerful reexamination of the Bible’s origins and its connections to human suffering.
Human trauma gave birth to the Bible, suggests eminent religious scholar David Carr. The Bible’s ability to speak to suffering is a major reason why the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity have retained their relevance for thousands of years. In his fascinating and provocative reinterpretation of the Bible’s origins, the author tells the story of how the Jewish people and Christian community had to adapt to survive multiple catastrophes and how their holy scriptures both reflected and reinforced each religion’s resilient nature.
Carr’s thought-provoking analysis demonstrates how many of the central tenets of biblical religion, including monotheism and the idea of suffering as God’s retribution, are factors that provided Judaism and Christianity with the strength and flexibility to endure in the face of disaster. In addition, the author explains how the Jewish Bible was deeply shaped by the Jewish exile in Babylon, an event that it rarely describes, and how the Christian Bible was likewise shaped by the unspeakable shame of having a crucified savior.
- Analyzes the themes of catastrophe, trauma, and suffering throughout Scripture
- Explores what the Bible teaches about suffering and resilience
- Examines how a history of traumatic events has shaped Judaism and Christiainity
- Israel, Judah, and the Birth of Scripture
- The Birth of Monotheism
- Judah’s Survival
- Jerusalem’s Destruction and Babylonian Exile
- Abraham and Exile
- The Story of Moses
- The Return Home
- Traumatic Crystallization of Scripture
- Christianity’s Founding Trauma
- The Traumatized Apostle
- The Traumatic Origins of Judaism and Christianity
- The Posttraumatic Gospel
- Contemporary Study of Trauma and Ancient Trauma
[Carr] rereads the familiar materials of the Bible in light of trauma theory and opens the way for a fresh and suggestive interpretation . . . Carr has provided an accessible guide for further work, and this new cognitive discipline for scripture study is sure to be of immense importance for some time to come.
—Walter Brueggemann, Christian Century
Clear and persuasive, Holy Resilience illuminates the origins of the Bible by bringing the early history of a traumatized people to light. This fascinating and engrossing book peels away the veils of history to teach us about ourselves.
—Mark Epstein, MD, author of The Trauma of Everyday Life
David Carr’s brilliant book is a magisterial reinterpretation of the emergence and sustenance of biblical Scripture. It is a pioneering, powerful, and poignant treatment of a traumatized people making sense of a catastrophic world—yet still able to find hope in compassion and endurance in empathy!
—Cornel West
- Title: Holy Resilience: The Bible’s Traumatic Origins
- Author: David M. Carr
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication Date: 2014
- Pages: 336
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Theology