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Good Grief? A Psychological Reading of Lamentations
Abstract
Cet article dresse un parallele entre la structure des Lamentations, qui laisse apparaitre cinq perspectives differentes sur le chagrin et la peine, et les travaux de la psychologue E. Kubler-Ross qui a beaucoup travaille avec des mourants. Cette lecture psychologique met en relief le presuppose theologique de la liberte divine et engage la justice de Dieu dans l'acceptation de la culpabilite humaine.
... Furthermore, several collected volumes have been published that focus on the study of the biblical books as literary responses to trauma (Kelle et al. 2011;Becker et al. 2014;Boase and Frechette 2016a). While trauma first found its way into biblical scholarship through the poetry of Lamentations (e.g., Linafelt 2002;Reimer 2002;O'Connor 2002), the approach took root fully in studies on the prophetic literature. Especially the three Major Prophets have attracted attention, as their characters can be understood to reflect the traumatic experiences of the people (O'Connor 2012; Poser 2012). ...
The article analyses the theology of homecoming in the book of Isaiah and makes a case for using resilience theory as a hermeneutical frame for the task of Hebrew Scripture theology. Defined as “positive adaptation despite adversity”, resilience builds on the crisis setting of wide parts of the Hebrew Scriptures and demonstrates that the formation of theology represents a resilience discourse. In the case of the Isaianic prophecies of return, three concepts of return are distinguished (return, gathering and homecoming, a second Exodus) that respond to the adversities of exile and diaspora. Thus, the prophecies offer a literary home that the different religious communities through time can inhabit.
... This theme, however, is not only understated but altogether absent from chapters 2 and 4. Rather, EDWARD l. GREE STEIN the emphasis in Lamentations is on the excessive, abusive wrath of God and the ensuing depredations it has caused (Reimer 2002;Greenstein 2004). In this vein, when the speakers in Lam. ...
This article provides a discussion on lamentation and lament within the Hebrew Bible. It also reviews the necessary fluidity of elegiac forms that virtually all the historical essays elaborate. The two categories of lament-lamentation over death or destruction and complaint over distress-are treated both separately and in relation to one another. Acts of mourning and lamentation are intermeshed in the Hebrew Bible, and it is unsurprising that the tropes and images employed in biblical laments-falling, sitting in dust, and weeping are the most obvious-will often correspond to gestures of mourning. The lamentation over a city and temple in Ancient Israel and in Mesopotamia are elaborated upon. In the book of Lamentations, it may be suggested that amid the outpouring of grief, shared by a desolate community, there is both explicit and implicit protest against the God who would wreak such devastation-'eikha, 'How can it be?'.
This article aims to explain about lament from the perspective of psychology and pneumatology. Psychology helps to explain psychic state of one who laments because of experiencing grief and bereavement; and pneumatology understands lament theologically by seeing and knowing God, self, and the world through the experience with the Holy Spirit in the believers. The two perspectives above are synthesized to understand the lament in the context of the life of believer. The method used is an interdisciplinary study between psychology and pneumatology by looking for connecting points that might fill and complement each other, especially in explaining the lament of believer. The thesis of this article is that the act of lament is a self-actualization of believer which can be explained from a psychology-pneumatology perspective and in lament the Holy Spirit transforms the life of believer. Lamentation can lead to an attitude of trust in God and the courage to continue with life again or, in psychologically term, a "restoration-oriented” life. Keywords: Spirit/Holy Spirit, lament, psychology, pneumatology, transformation. Abstrak: Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan perihal ratapan dari perspektif psikologi dan pneumatologi. Psikologi membantu untuk menjelaskan keadaan psikis orang yang meratap karena sedang mengalami kedukaan (grief) dan kehilangan (bereavement); dan pneumatologi memahami ratapan secara teologis dengan cara melihat dan mengenal Allah, diri, dan dunia melalui pengalaman dengan Roh Kudus. Kedua perspektif di atas disintesiskan untuk memahami ratapan dalam konteks kehidupan orang beriman. Metode yang dipakai adalah studi interdisipliner antara psikologi dan pneumatologi melalui mencari poin-poin penghubung yang mungkin saling mengisi dan melengkapi terutama dalam menjelaskan ratapan orang-orang beriman. Pernyataan tesis tulisan ini adalah tindakan ratapan merupakan sikap mengaktualkan diri dari orang beriman yang dapat dijelaskan dari perspektif psikologi-pneumatologi dan di dalam ratapan Roh Kudus mentransformasi hidup orang beriman. Ratapan dapat membawa kepada sikap percaya kepada Allah yang semakin mendalam dan berani melanjutkan kehidupan kembali atau istilahnya secara psikologi memiliki “restoration-oriented.” Kata-kata kunci: Roh/Roh Kudus, ratapan, psikologi, pneumatologi, transformasi.
Change is the new normal, but so it has been for ages. Experience to navigate change is something you get just after you needed it, unless you tap into age-old experience. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is bringing about wide-ranging changes. With people having to adjust, the question is whether Christianity, with its roots in preindustrial times, may support people to navigate these changes. This conceptual article focusses on the relationships amongst constructs, exploring logical arguments about how these constructs are associated. The 4IR is briefly described from differing vantage points, as to whether it is a valid description thereof. Whether a revolution or evolution, it is a complex system, and therefore the theory of complex systems is used, with the conclusion that one may merely participate in such systems. Being novel situations, one needs to participate creatively, based on a cognitive understanding of creativity. Creative solutions do not materialise out of thin air but are the novel use of existing knowledge structures. Christian traditions include institutional memories of how people managed situations of radical change, as reflected in Genesis 1 and Lamentations 4. These passages provide building blocks that may be used in creative coping strategies during times of change. Both passages suggest the strategy to juxtapose order and chaos, and borrowing from that, a ‘Grip-Grapple-Grow’ scaffolding system is suggested. To test the usability thereof, the issue of face masks during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic was touched upon, to evaluate how the interplay amongst 4IR, disruption, (Christian) beliefs and technological advancement may play out.
Contribution: The Fourth Industrial Revolution is speeding up the pace of change, with people having to adapt. This article explores processes of change management, juxtaposing the theory of complex systems, the cognitive science understanding of creativity and institutional memories afforded by some Christian traditions reflecting on how people managed order and chaos.
Change is the new normal, but so it has been for ages. Experience to navigate change is something you get just after you needed it, unless you tap into age-old experience. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is bringing about wide-ranging changes. With people having to adjust, the question is whether Christianity, with its roots in preindustrial times, may support people to navigate these changes. This conceptual article focusses on the relationships amongst constructs, exploring logical arguments about how these constructs are associated. The 4IR is briefly described from differing vantage points, as to whether it is a valid description thereof. Whether a revolution or evolution, it is a complex system, and therefore the theory of complex systems is used, with the conclusion that one may merely participate in such systems. Being novel situations, one needs to participate creatively, based on a cognitive understanding of creativity. Creative solutions do not materialise out of thin air but are the novel use of existing knowledge structures. Christian traditions include institutional memories of how people managed situations of radical change, as reflected in Genesis 1 and Lamentations 4. These passages provide building blocks that may be used in creative coping strategies during times of change. Both passages suggest the strategy to juxtapose order and chaos, and borrowing from that, a ‘Grip-Grapple-Grow’ scaffolding system is suggested. To test the usability thereof, the issue of face masks during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic was touched upon, to evaluate how the interplay amongst 4IR, disruption, (Christian) beliefs and technological advancement may play out. Contribution: The Fourth Industrial Revolution is speeding up the pace of change, with people having to adapt. This article explores processes of change management, juxtaposing the theory of complex systems, the cognitive science understanding of creativity and institutional memories afforded by some Christian traditions reflecting on how people managed order and chaos.
In the opening of the Jewish War , Josephus claims not only that his history represents the true and full account of the war, but that, in violation of Greek historiographical conventions, its language expresses his personal grief. Josephus’ expression of personal emotion differentiates him from the Greek tradition, in which lament is customarily expressed in other genres. Josephus borrows instead from the biblical tradition of lament to mourn the fall of Jerusalem. The concept of moral injury from trauma studies describes the psychological damage caused by betrayal in combat settings, a phenomenon which Josephus’ comments about the causes of the disaster resemble. This elucidates why Josephus emphasizes his emotions in his history, drawing on past Jewish responses to imperial-colonial encounters to shape his personalized response to the catastrophe of his own day.
The book of Lamentations raises many theological problems, especially relating to divine responsibility for human suffering, but one of its most overtly theological discussions occurs in Lam 3:34–9 and 58–9. In a commentary that seeks to bridge the gap between biblical scholarship and Christian systematic theology, Robin Parry develops his own Christian typological reading of this chapter of Lamentations, building on patristic interpretation but sensitive to issues relating to Christian supersessionism. While acknowledging that the human figure in Lamentations 3 is not presented as a savior who dies to rescue an oppressed people, Parry argues that the connection between the man's suffering and the suffering of Jerusalem is much like the link between Jesus’ death and the destruction of the holy city; in each case the man embodies in his own life-story the divine judgment.
The biblical book of Lamentations has received extensive scholarly attention in the past decade, research that moves beyond traditional historical-critical approaches. Although these traditional approaches have by no means been abandoned, new trends are nevertheless emerging. This article will survey the diverse field of research on Lamentations with particular focus given to feminist, psychological, theological, ecological, post-colonial and reception-historical approaches to Lamentations. The essay will, however, begin by presenting the rich work done on historical treatments of the book, as well as discussing the text and versions of Lamentations.
Psychological approaches to biblical texts have gained currency, particularly in lament literature. One notes, however, an increasing interest in the intersections between Lamentations and psychological analysis as well. Upon a survey of literature, one quickly realises no singular methodology prevails: scholars have applied to Lamentations the insights of Kübler-Ross' grief process as well as the insights of John Archer, Yorick Spiegel, Sigmund Freud and the perspectives of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Whilst useful in identifying and assessing pain in the poetry, these approaches undervalue the crucial indicators of prayer in Lamentations. These indicators press research to the fecund field of the psychology of prayer. This essay exposes diverse applications of psychological approaches to the book, presents an analysis of both the benefits and limitations of this research and then relates prayer and pain in its poetry by exploring the connections between Lamentations and the psychology of prayer.
Covering a rich landscape of literary, theological and cultural creativity, the authors explore the astonishing variety of interpretations inspired by Lamentations, one of the shortest books in the Bible.Features a wealth of reactions - covering two and a half millennia - to this ancient text's influential and unflinching account of the devastation wreaked by war Explores a kaleidoscope of examples ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls; Yehudah Halevy; John Calvin; and composer, Thomas Tallis; through to the startling interpretations of Marc Chagall; contemporary novelist, Cynthia Ozick; and Zimbabwean junk sculpture Deploys "reception exegesis", a new genre of commentary that creatively blends reception history and biblical exegesis Offers sensitive treatment of challenging theological and psychological responses to one of the most disturbing books of the Hebrew Bible Widely relevant, with nuanced reflections - both religious and secular - on human suffering and the disasters of war.
Since the early 2000s, several scholars have explored the use of trauma theory as an interpretive lens to understand some of the most difficult and painful texts in the Bible. The use of trauma theory does not constitute a method of interpretation but a frame of reference that, when coupled with other methodologies (e.g., psychology, post-structuralism, post-colonialism, refugee studies, etc.), can yield innovative results. While trauma theory has proven useful in the study of exilic texts in particular, scholars have ventured beyond the narrower concern of exilic literature, investigating the use of trauma theory for other portions of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. The impact of trauma is a significant component of the human condition that lies beneath the production of a wide variety of biblical texts.
In the process of compiling sources, hundreds were entered into our data base (many of which were annotated), but in the end they could not be included in the final selection for the printed edition of the bibliography. Furthermore, since having completed collecting sources for the printed edition, hundreds more books and articles have been published. Hence, this web bibliography expands and updates the printed edition, entailing approximately 1,500 additional sources. The sources in this web bibliography are listed by date of publication within the same categories as in the printed bibliography. Note that citations generally appear once, though many of them could have been assigned to more than one category. One advantage of this digital version of the bibliography is that you may search for specific words pertinent to your research. It would be incorrect to assume that this web bibliography, if combined with the printed version, is exhaustive. From the outset of the project, strict criteria for inclusion were followed, meaning that generally only essays and books that appeared to be exceptionally significant were considered. Please refer to the authors' preface in the printed edition for more information.
The latter part of Psalm 24 describes the personified gates of Jerusalem as raising themselves up in order to allow the King of Glory to en-ter. This, in addition to the rest of the strong mythical overtones of the psalm, creates an image of architecture coming alive to join in the celebratory entry of the divine ruler.There are numerous, but no definitive, suggestions as to the identity of who or what is supposed to be entering the gates and under what circum-stances as well as how the raising gates are to be understood. In this essay it is argued that the psalm only supplies half the data and that it forms the optimis-tic complementary ending to the anguished cry of despair of Lam 2,8–9. Ap-plying critical spatial analysis to these two texts, in addition to other support-ing material, will not only show that one is a response to the other, but may also provide a more secure dating for the psalm and its social setting as well as a clearer understanding of the specific metaphor of personified architec-ture.
The Neo-Babylonian defeat of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 resulted in an era - commonly, though now anachronistically, known as the 'exilic age' - considered to be of fundamental significance in the historical, social, and theological development of ancient Israel. Although perceived by the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and modern scholarship as a foundational epoch, examinations of the exile tend to focus on the fraction of the community who experienced forced deportation after the collapse of Jerusalem, namely, those members of the community relocated to Babylonia. Since recent scholarship has raised awareness of renewal among the community left in Judah, the book reassesses the historical circumstances and the theological reflection made in the homeland. In drawing together recent analyses of the archaeological data and the strategies of governance adopted by the Neo-Babylonian empire, the evidence points to sufficient infrastructure in sixth-century Judah to allow for communal and religious life. The author then surveys the heterodox and Yahwistic worship practices thought to stem from this community. It is shown that interpreters have accepted perspectives of the religiosity of Templeless Judah generated by ideological stances in the ancient world and in modern scholarship. In order to gain access to the thought and distinguish themes from the people in the homeland, the author studies the book of Lamentations. Rather than formulating great theological constructs, the Judahites agonised over their troubles in prayer. In so doing, the laments attributable to Templeless Judah helpfully provide a means to ascertain other literature with a similar provenance.
This article begins from an appraisal of the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in the area of coping with dying. In that appraisal, some reason are noted as to why we should not consider her stage-based model to be the heart of the useful lessons that she taught. Instead, three lessons are suggested that we can and should learn from the work of Kübler-Ross on coping with dying. Three further elements round out this exposition: 1) some broader conclusions are drawn about the processes involved in coping with dying; 2) an argument is offered on behalf of our need to develop better theoretical models to explicate what is involved in coping with dying; and 3) some requirements are suggested that should be satisfied by any adequate model in this field.
Cohen's exposition of the rabbinic reading of Lamentations: The Destruction: From Scripture to Midrash
These two factors are similarly reflected upon in S. J. D. Cohen's exposition of the rabbinic reading of Lamentations: The Destruction: From Scripture to Midrash, Prooftexts 2 (1982), 18-39; see esp. the juxtaposition of the themes »the causes of the catastrophe« and »God's justice«, 25-29.