Swenson shows how the psalms can help people to renew meaning in their lives, without ever imposing that meaning.
William P. Brown
William P. Brown, Professor of Old Testament, Union Theological Seminary
For all our attempts, medically and culturally, to deny it, pain remains real and its effects are acute. The psalmists of ancient Israel understood pain in all its ramifications and provided resources to help others in recovering the fractured self to restore wholeness.
David B. Morris
David B. Morris, University Professor, University of Virginia, author of The Culture of Pain
Chronic pain today constitutes a vast medical dilemma that disorders bodies and fractures lives. Biblical scholar Kristin Swenson, in her lucid extended engagement with six Old Testament psalms, shows how the process of living through pain not in denial of pain or in an all-consuming search for relief can be understood as a quest to reintegrate the fractured self into a fully alive, whole person. Her insights, while not offered as therapy or as self-help advice, provide a resource that many patients, families, and caregivers as well as scholars will find valuable.
Joan E. Hemenway
This is an up-to-date and multi-faceted exploration of pain as a "whole self event" demanding response—personally, contextually, medically, theologically and spiritually. Living Through Pain is must reading for those who want to understand how shrieks and groans and desperate sighs both fracture and bring unexpected healing to the human spirit. This book is not for the faint-hearted or for those who seek easy answers. And that is good news!
Walter Brueggemann
The interface between the psalms and the reality of human suffering is a long established conversation. In this book Swenson brings new life and freshness to that interface. She does so by exacting engagement with contemporary literature on the reality of pain and medical research. The outcome is a rich dialogue whereby "pain theory" illuminates the psalms and the psalms, in turn, offer a suggestive dimension to pain theory. The book is "down and dirty" in its engagement with real life. It will be an important study for men and women of faith who live with pain and for those in the helping professions who live with the pain of others. Swenson shows how the psalms, when read and heard, are indeed instruments for the existential, concrete processing of pain in healing ways.
Dennis C. Turk
Dennis C. Turk, John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Research, University of Washington
In Living through Pain, Kristin Swenson makes use of a selection of Old Testament psalms to provide a wise and poignant evocation of the circuitous journey of chronic pain winding from suffering, anguish, and the depths of despair through dependence, self-knowledge, acceptance, and ultimately transcendence. Along the path the reader becomes aware of conceptions of punishment and abandonment to feelings of self-control and transformation. The insights and empathic understanding offered by this process provide new perspectives for health care providers, people with chronic pain, and their significant others
Arthur W. Frank
Swenson shows how the psalms can help people to renew meaning in their lives, without ever imposing that meaning.
