Living Through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness »

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

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.

Library Journal

Swenson (religion studies, Sch. of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth Univ.) has written a thoughtful and touching treatment of human suffering as described in Psalms 6, 22, 38, 69, 88, and 102. These ancient texts show us, she avers, that pain is a "visceral experience that is at once both difficult to tell and demands a hearing." Our lives are strengthened not by the pain itself "but for the process of our response to it." Intelligently written and distinctive, this book is highly recommended. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.