Living through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness [Hardcover]

Kristin M. Swenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2005

Pain disintegrates a person, fracturing self and relationships. In Living through Pain Kristin M. Swenson charts the multifaceted personal and social problems caused by chronic pain and surveys professional efforts to mitigate and manage it. Because the experience of pain involves all aspects of a person--body, mind, spirit, and community--Swenson consults an ancient resource for wisdom, perspective, and insight. Her close reading of selected psalms from the Hebrew Bible demonstrates that the challenge of living through pain is timeless. Swenson shows how these ancient texts offer a vocabulary and grammar for understanding and expressing the contemporary experience of pain. The psalms tell of suffering and healing. They decry pain's propensity to fracture even as they demonstrate a person's ability to mend. Pain is a universal experience, and this book invites readers to consider more fully what is involved in the process of healing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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. --David B. Morris, University Professor, University of Virginia, author of The Culture of Pain

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. --Dennis C. Turk, John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Research, University of Washington

Swenson presents the psalms as living companions to persons in pain. Her reading of the psalms prescribes no doctrine. Instead, she guides us in opening ourselves to this often strange language and allowing the verses to resonate within us. Swenson shows how the psalms can help people to renew meaning in their lives, without ever imposing that meaning. --Arthur W. Frank, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, author of The Wounded Storyteller and The Renewal of Generosity: Illness, Medicine, and How to Live

About the Author

Kristin M. Swenson (Ph.D. Boston University) is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (July 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932792155
• ISBN-13: 978-1932792157
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,622,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invites readers to consider more fully what is involved in the medical, psychological, spiritual, & personal process of healing, February 3, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness (Hardcover)

Pain can have a deleterious impact on personality and on relationships. In Living Through Pain: Psalms And The Search For Wholeness, Kristin Swenson (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University) charts the multifaceted personal and social problems caused by chronic pain and surveys professional efforts to mitigate and manage it. Swenson also consults selected psalms from the Hebrew Bible which demonstrate that the challenge of living through pain is both timely and timeless as these ancient texts offer a vocabulary and a grammar for understanding and expressing the contemporary experience of pain. Pain is a universal experience, and Living Through Pain invites readers to consider more fully what is involved in the medical, psychological, spiritual, and personal process of healing. Highly recommended reading for anyone who suffers, or who has a friend or loved one who suffers, from the debilitating effects of chronic pain.