Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A Trauma-informed Approach for Theological Qualitative Research
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Katie Cross
Abstract
Trauma has become a cultural touchstone and is an increasingly popular topic in theological research. While this is to be welcomed, there is little guidance for trauma researchers in theology, particularly for those seeking to interact directly with trauma survivors through qualitative research. This article offers a trauma-informed approach for theologians undertaking qualitative research. It introduces three theologically underpinned research themes: waiting, witnessing, and embodying. These methods emphasize the safety of research participant and researcher, and present a challenge to more traditional methods of research through the centring of bodily experience and an understanding of the fragmentary nature of traumatic experience.
Zusammenfassung
Trauma ist zu einem kulturellen Prüfstein geworden und ein zunehmend beliebtes Thema in der theologischen Forschung. Obwohl dies zu begrüßen ist, gibt es nur wenige Anleitungen für Traumaforscher in der Theologie, insbesondere für diejenigen, die durch qualitative Forschung direkt mit Traumaüberlebenden interagieren wollen. Dieser Artikel entwirft einen traumasensiblen Ansatz für Theolog:innen und Theologen, die qualitative Forschung betreiben. Er stellt drei theologische Forschungsthemen vor: Warten, Bezeugen und Verkörpern. Diese Methoden betonen die Sicherheit der Forschungsteilnehmenden und der Forschenden. Sie stellen eine Herausforderung für traditionellere Forschungsmethoden dar, indem sie die körperliche Erfahrung und das Verständnis des fragmentarischen Charakters traumatischer Erfahrungen in den Mittelpunkt rücken.
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- International Report
- Pakikibaka at Pagsamba: Country Report on the State of Practical Theology in the Philippines
- Research Report
- Comprehensive Schools as the Frontier of Religious Education: Current Developments and Emerging Principles in Germany
- Research Articles
- Hope, Meaning, and the Goodness of Life on the Whole: A Trauma-Informed Eschatological Practical Theology
- Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A Trauma-informed Approach for Theological Qualitative Research
- Character of Protestant pastors: A focus group study
- “What else could we have done?”
- Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings on Scrupulosity Among Hong Kong Catholics and Protestants
- Faith in Flux: Using Transformative Learning Theory to Explore Religious Doubt in Adult Christians
- Pain as a Profound Mystery: Proposing Hopeful Anthropocene Pastoral Care and Counseling through Eschatological Self
- Book Reviews
- Manual Stetter, Die Konstitution der Toten. Eine Religionsethnografie der Bestattungspraxis, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 323 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07569-0, 98 €.
- Phillis Isabella Sheppard, Tilling Sacred Grounds: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience, Lanham (Lexington Books) 2024, 153 pp., ISBN 978-1-7936-3864-9, $39.99 USD.
- Philipp Öhlmann, Ignatius Swart, Birgit Weyel, Simangaliso Kumalo, Marie-Luise Frost (Eds.), Lived Religion and Lived Development in Contemporary Society. Essays in Honour of Wilhelm Gräb. Research in Contemporary Religion (RCR), Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2024, 511 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-50071-2, 99 €.
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- International Report
- Pakikibaka at Pagsamba: Country Report on the State of Practical Theology in the Philippines
- Research Report
- Comprehensive Schools as the Frontier of Religious Education: Current Developments and Emerging Principles in Germany
- Research Articles
- Hope, Meaning, and the Goodness of Life on the Whole: A Trauma-Informed Eschatological Practical Theology
- Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A Trauma-informed Approach for Theological Qualitative Research
- Character of Protestant pastors: A focus group study
- “What else could we have done?”
- Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings on Scrupulosity Among Hong Kong Catholics and Protestants
- Faith in Flux: Using Transformative Learning Theory to Explore Religious Doubt in Adult Christians
- Pain as a Profound Mystery: Proposing Hopeful Anthropocene Pastoral Care and Counseling through Eschatological Self
- Book Reviews
- Manual Stetter, Die Konstitution der Toten. Eine Religionsethnografie der Bestattungspraxis, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 323 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07569-0, 98 €.
- Phillis Isabella Sheppard, Tilling Sacred Grounds: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience, Lanham (Lexington Books) 2024, 153 pp., ISBN 978-1-7936-3864-9, $39.99 USD.
- Philipp Öhlmann, Ignatius Swart, Birgit Weyel, Simangaliso Kumalo, Marie-Luise Frost (Eds.), Lived Religion and Lived Development in Contemporary Society. Essays in Honour of Wilhelm Gräb. Research in Contemporary Religion (RCR), Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2024, 511 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-50071-2, 99 €.
