Suffering and the Christian Life

Description

This volume approaches questions of the status and meaning of suffering in Christian life and Christian theology through the lens of a variety of theological disciplines—biblical, historical, practical, political and systematic theology. The volume focuses on a number of questions: Is love intrinsically linked with suffering? Are suffering and loss on some level fundamentally good? How is or should suffering and diminishment be viewed in the Christian tradition? The contributors bring together essays touching on concrete issues such as depression, cancer, mental health, and refugees, and discuss broad themes like vulnerability, kenosis, and tragedy. They examine classic texts, from Paul’s letters, Romans, and Galatians, to Aquinas, Bonaventure, and John of the Cross Title Page Copyright Page Contents Contributors Introduction Chapter 1: Suffering, Sin and Death in Paul ‘Dying with’ and ‘suffering with’ Romans 6.8: ‘Dying with’ Romans 8.13: ‘Putting to Death’ Romans 8.17: Suffering with Christ Conclusions Chapter 2: Giving the Self Through Death: A Crucified Christ as Gift in Galatians Chapter 3: Gregory of Nyssa on Pain, Pleasure and the Good: An Early Christian Perspective on Redemptive Suffering Pleasure, pain and the good Blessed persecution Martyrs as the antithesis of Adam and Eve Conclusion Chapter 4: Gregory of Nazianzus on the Role of Satan in Human Suffering Gregory’s vision of hostile powers The fall Existence on earth alongside powers of opposition Christ, the devil and human suffering Victory over powers of opposition Conclusion Chapter 5: Suffering, Dereliction and Affliction in Christian Mysticism Conclusion Chapter 6: Protesy theism, Aquinas and Suferring Conclusion Chapter 7: Suffering and the desire for God in John of the Cross Conclusion Chapter 8: Stop Kissing me: Reading Mother Teresa with Bonaventure’s help Chapter 9: ‘There is Still a Lot of Pollution in There’: Undoing Violent Ideologies, Undoing the Self Chapter 10: Reading Simone Weil in East London: Destitution, Decreation and the History of Force Returning to Weil Negotiating the border: Time, temporality and the asylum system Force as a social relation Decreation Spaces of appearance: Speaking and acting through texts and traditions Conclusion: Epiphanies of the human, epiphanies of the divine Chapter 11: Reflections on Suffering and Bipolar Disorder: Three forms of Suffering Catherine’s story: What kind of suffering accompanies mental health challenges? Bipolar disorder as suffering: A place where God is not Bipolar disorder as spiritual joy The shadow side of spiritual joy: Repercussions What kind of suffering accompanies bipolar disorder? Three forms of suffering The suffering that emerges from living with bipolar disorder The suffering that emerges from particular theological responses to suffering The suffering that emerges from the threat to Catherine’s vocation, identity and desire Conclusion Chapter 12: Should I Love my Tumour? The dis-integration of the body Towards an alternative rhetoric Chapter 13: Depressive Suffering as Tragic Suffering: Theological Insights and Trajectories Suffering and salvation in comedy and tragedy Depressive suffering as tragic suffering Furthering tragic vision with depression narratives Chapter 14: The Seductions of Kenosis Kenosis, vulnerability and fragility: The issue Conversations on love and suffering: Some observations Drawing the strands together: The seductions of kenosis Chapter 15: On Vulnerability Chapter 16: Living Sacrifice: Is there a non-pathological way of Living Suffering as Sacrifice? Introduction Assumed principles A dangerous family of ideas Thinking differently about suffering Living suffering as loving, life-giving, self-giving – or living sacrifice differently Index