Description
Book SynopsisNew Calvinism and the Victim endeavors into the overlapping areas of psychological trauma and systematic theology by investigating the dynamic interplay between the psychology of holding maximalist theological beliefs and recovery from abuse trauma. Maxwell examines the effect that the Calvinist belief can have upon the traumatized Christian who negatively internalizes its superlative doctrines of divine control and human moral corruption. The project seeks to understand these intersecting realities by investigating a triptych of inquiries: From a theological perspective, can a Christian lose his faith because of a traumatic experience? Moreover, what are the consequences of such a loss? And, how could Reformed theology exacerbate this religious detachment?
Ultimately, the research suggests that there are experiential harmonies between the belief in Reformed theology and the experience of trauma, which are neither existentially necessary nor therapeutically negligible—rather, they are conceptually likely based on both philosophical analysis and psychological research.
Table of ContentsPart 1: Reformed Theology
Chapter 1: Maximalist Conceptions of Divine Control and Human Corruption
Chapter 2: The Unique Obstacle of Reformed Theodicy
Part 2: Traumatized Faith
Chapter 3: The Imagination and Its Operations
Chapter 4: Faith and the Imagination
Chapter 5: How Trauma Works
Chapter 6: Trauma in The Religious Imagination
Part 3: Pistic Resilience
Chapter 7: Perseverence And Resilience: Introducing Pistic Resilience
Chapter 8: Passive Pistic Resilience: Divine Patience with Distrupted Faith
Chapter 9: Active Pistic Resilience: Spiritual Fortitude Within Disrupted Faith
Part 4: Pistic Recovery
Chapter 10: The Traumatized Christian and the Reformed Community
Chapter 11: Recovering a Sanctified Notion of Personal Autonomy
Chapter 12: Autonomy in Community
