Reflecting on the “Marks of Jesus”

Who Is Present in Absence?: A Pentecostal Theological Praxis of Suffering and Healing, 2019

What transpires when Classical Pentecostals pray for God to intervene amidst their suffering, but God does not? Traditionally, Classical Pentecostals center on encountering God as demonstrated through the relating of testimonies of their experiences with God. In seeking to contribute to a theology of suffering for Pentecostals, Pam Engelbert lifts up the stories of eight Classical Pentecostals to discover how they experienced God and others amidst their extended suffering even when God did not intervene as they had prayed. By valuing each story, this qualitative practical theology work embraces a Pentecostal hermeneutic of experience combined with Scripture, specifically the Gospel of John. As a Pentecostal practical theological project it offers a praxis (theology of action) of suffering and healing during times when we experience the apparent absence of God. It invites the reader to enter into the space of the other’s suffering by way of empathy, thereby participating in God’s act of ministry to humanity through God’s expression of empathy in the very person of Jesus.

In a poetic, powerful, passionate, and challenging book, Diane Langberg, with her many years of counseling experience, takes us on a disturbing (and healing) journey into the hearts of the survivors of many different types of terrible trauma all over the world-into our own bent and broken hearts, and then into the heart of an amazing, loving God who was humiliated, crucified, and abandoned so that we (and the whole creation) might be healed and delivered from the power of evil. This is a superb master-class in counseling and pastoral care with a gifted, experienced, and wise therapist." Richard Winter, MD, Therapist and Professor of Practical Theology and Counseling, Covenant Theological Seminary "Through this book, Dr. Langberg names one of the most insidious threats to spiritual health in our generation: trauma and the wounded heart. While disturbing, her unrelenting campaign identifies the next 'mission field' of the church, those who are suffering silently. This book is for all who hunger to help a loved one, congregant, or client apply the truth of God's Word as a healing ointment to the hidden anguish that trauma leaves in its wake." Roy Peterson, President, American Bible Society "This book reflects the glory and love of God throughout forty years of counseling experience. Diane is a masterful teacher and counselor for victims of abuse and violence. Reflecting Christ, she inspires new and experienced counselors and encourages them to bring the love of God to suffering hearts. This book is a masterpiece." Luciene Schalm, President of REVER (Restoring Lives, Equipping Restorers) Ministry, Brazil; missionary of Comunidade Cristã Siloé "We live in a broken world and evil is real. Where the true light of the gospel of Christ goes, the darkness of evil in this world retreats. William Wilberforce reflected the character of Christ into the eighteenth century British Empire and faithfully led the fight against slavery for forty years until it was outlawed. Diane Langberg has for forty years looked into the eyes of those wounded by evil and been a powerful voice for healing, justice, and truth. This book is a place of insight, wisdom, encouragement, and challenge for the body of Christ to love our precious Lord and to reflect his heart and love to the brokenhearted." Greg Pritchard, PhD, Director, European Leadership Forum President, Forum of Christian Leaders "Diane Langberg has seen the effects of trauma all over the globe from Rwandan survivors of genocide, to inner city kids plagued with PTSD, to suburban moms trapped in violent marriages, to middle schoolers who cut themselves just to feel something, to big steeple pastors in American churches. Suffering is real and it really hurts body and soul. In Suffering and the Heart of God, Diane Langberg never diminishes the pain of suffering, but neither does she despair. By looking to the suffering of the cross of Christ, Diane Langberg leads us to hope and healing." Frank A. James, PhD, DPhil, President, Biblical Theological Seminary "This book is a powerful invitation into the fellowship of the suffering, a reparative work of the vulnerable, afflicted, and abused. Dr. Langberg is gentle and caring to the victims, confrontational to the abusers, and challenging to the church, which often fails to be a refuge. As a therapist and trainer, this is the best manual I've seen on what a therapist's heart should look like. A good portion of the book is dedicated to teaching how not to be consumed by the evil in this world, pointing to Christ who can offer restoration to all." Stefana-Ioana Racorean, Family psychotherapist and trainer, Dianoia Institute of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice; The Association of Christian Psychologists in Romania "As someone who has prosecuted, investigated, and confronted child sexual abuse for over twenty years, I have encountered dark suffering up close. As a Christian, I have spent many hours agonizing how to reconcile such suffering with a God who calls himself "love." Suffering and the Heart of God is an amazing book that does a masterful job in helping to see suffering through the heart of a loving God who knows and understands suffering and the pain it creates. This book brings hope to the sufferer who wonders where God is in the midst of it all. It's a must-read!" Boz Tchividjian, JD, Executive Director, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) "I challenge you to name a more influential Christian psychologist today than Dr. Langberg. This is not hyperbole! While an impressive communicator, brilliant thinker, and an astute therapist, the real reason for her influence is her willingness to be a student first-of broken people, of herself, and of God. Too often influential leaders spend much time touting themselves. This book will show you something different, in that you will see more of God and his heart for suffering people than you will of Dr. Langberg-just as she would want it."

In this paper, I source recent innovations in grief theory to reimagine Christian lament and the theological parameters of legitimate grief. John Perrine contributed exegetical insights, adding him as co-author, on pp. 187–192.

Brill Publishing, 2019

The “Bargello Diptych: The Adoration of the Magi and Crucifixion” (Unknown French Master, 14th century) juxtaposes themes of adoration and glory, on the one hand, with sorrow and suffering, on the other. How can such themes be brought together in this diptych? Is the artist’s rendering an attempt to glorify suffering, mocking the millions who have and do suffer today? Augustine struggled with these very questions, asking: ‘What is it we love in Christ - his crucified limbs, his pierced side, or his love? When we hear that he suffered for us, what do we love? Love is loved. He loved us, that we might in turn love Him [and others].’ Three things are evident in Augustine’s remarks: (1) The cross of Christ is not about the suffering, brutality, or cruelty; (2) it is about the act of self-giving love revealed through suffering; (3) and, Christ’s suffering is for our benefit. If God’s love through the cross and resurrection of Christ is understood in this manner, is there, perhaps, a profound wisdom expressed by contemplating the themes of glory and suffering together? This paper is an attempt to think theologically about suffering. In doing so, we see God’s compassionate love as the affective attitude that he eternally chooses to take toward his creatures, voluntarily taking on the form of a Suffering Servant even to the point of death. Death and suffering, though, do not overcome him as we are when we experience passiones. Rather, God accomplishes redemption by confronting evil and suffering on its own terms and defeats it without employing its methods, bringing comfort, peace, and hope to our suffering existence. In turn, when we, who are addicted to mistaken identities and false realities, become ‘unselfed’ by God’s suffering beauty, we find meaning as we image God’s compassionate actions, particularly in the midst of suffering.

2012

My subject is the redemption of profound suffering. I begin with the presumption that there is no suffering beyond the redemptive reach of God's grace. Drawing on insights from a number of academic disciplines, as well as on a wide variety of literary accounts of profound suffering, I consider the impact of the suffering of interpersonal violence on the formation of individual identity. I frame identity-formation in temporal terms, considering the impact of suffering in each temporal dimension: past, present, and future. In considering the past, I focus on the nature of memory, and argue that the memory of suffering resides in the body, soul, and mind, continually shaping the individual, and that a theological account of memory, therefore, cannot be reduced to-2-with its memory? 2 Is there any chance of surviving such violence and experiencing redemption in this lifetime? What this Project Is The claim of this project is four-fold. First, human identity is inherently temporal. Second, the experience of profound suffering, as a temporal experience, has a formative impact on identity. 3 Third, God is actively at work in the world making all things new. (This claim necessarily means that suffering can be redeemed; that there is no suffering, no memory of suffering, which can ultimately overpower the redemptive work of Jesus.) And fourth, that the redemptive work of Jesus is evident, if only in occasional glimmers, in even the most profound situations of suffering. That it is evident does not, however, necessarily mean it is immediately visible. Redemption, I suggest, is a particular type of revealed knowledge that can only be seen by one who has been trained to see. The community of the church has been gifted with particular, concrete practices which shape the imagination of disciples such that they can see, and are therefore called to bear witness to, this redemption. Secular therapeutic practices help individuals learn to cope

This book is a series of meditations on passages of scripture in which I reflect on how, as a Christian, I can use the insights I have gained from my work as a theologian and scholar of religion to find hope in my daily struggle with a long term illness.

Periskop – Forum for kunsthistorisk debat, 2023

You must carry your little cross / in these troubled times / learn to suff er without complaining / if you want to be happy.

2013

A popular local Pentecostal chorus, well known around West Africa, begins with the lines, “Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread; God of miracles na my papa O! (I will neither suffer, nor will I beg for bread; for the God of miracles is my Father!). This seemingly innocuous chorus is reflective of the growing sentiment among many African Christians today who seek a life free from suffering because of their perceived favored status as children of God. Life, however, is full of crises and Christians are not exempt from them. How a Christian handles lingering crises such as suffering reveals much about their commitment, conviction, and allegiance to the Savior. Often, Christians from backgrounds that are animistic face extreme pressure and temptation to revert to pre-Christian practices in their quest for solutions to the problem of suffering. While they remain in their new faith, some may have no qualms about visiting a shaman or diviner for help, thereby slipping into the practice...

South African Baptist Journal of Theology, 2009

The intention of this article is not to give an answer to the problem of theodicy which arises because of suffering in this world, but to move beyond the polemic and to give attention to how a person can worship God by finding meaning and hope in suffering. In giving a pastoral response this paper argues that the appropriate use of God images in suffering will help a person find meaning in suffering thus enabling him\her to become more positive in his/her faith and worship of God. Usually, when we reflect on worship, we do not put suffering and worship together. Yet suffering and worship are connected. Because the process of suffering enables us to become purer and humbler people, if we cooperate with God. It is the pure and humble who have truly learned to love God for who he is and to worship him most deeply.

2017

There are many books on leadership and noble servitude in the church, and Hill is not shy to admit it; indeed, his work shows a deep appreciation of the insights of others on the subject of Christian leadership and community dynamics. Servant of All certainly takes its place among them as a sincere account of the New Testament's vision for Christian communities. As Hill explains, this is not a vision of a required structure or an eternally ordained hierarchy, but of an ethosa 'countercultural community' that exhibits 'a distinctive, even radical character … that challenges problematic social norms', a place where 'an alternative reality' preached and practiced by Jesus 'is not only conceptualized' but 'demonstrated' (pp. 176-78). Indeed, Hill's book not only teaches Christians about the relevance of the New Testament for questions about status and ambition; his writing will excite them to live out the New Testament's answers as 'ministers of reconciliation' in the pulpit and in the pew, in the board room and in the soup kitchen, and anywhere in between.

NCC Review, 2022

Religion is a man-made entity, experienced more by faith than by sight. While the belief in religion in society has started to fade away in the western parts of the world on one side, there is a revival on the other side. Each individual at some time or other experiences suffring, either physically or mentally. This article draws examples from the Christian faith. Examples ranging from King David’s life to the 20th century can equip people to grow more in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Instances of suffering are stepping stones to one’s leap of faith in Christ. One helpful aid to this is qualitative analysis of christian devotional lyrics, which can help create solutions to problems and challenges people face.

A Christan Approach To Suffering and Death

2012

In Eastern Christianity, suffering is not treated as a special topic. A special theology of suffering is not well-defined, although the theme is present in important aspects of Orthodox doctrine: anthropology, providence, soteriology, sanctification and eschatology. As a consequence of Adam"s sin, suffering overwhelms the entire human being: body and soul. The ontological restoration of all of humanity is achieved in the divine-human person of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, in His quality as Son of God Incarnate. Once Christ entered the world, human suffering acquired a soteriological meaning: from individual despair it became a saving cross, a sacrifice expiating sin, an opportunity for man to obtain the power of grace in his battle with sin and its aftermath. Suffering, as estrangement from God"s grace, does not elude the irrational created nature either. Called to protect and sanctify nature, man becomes its serving priest, an intercessor of God"s grace, capable of restoring it from corruption.