Suffering Well and Suffering with: Reclaiming Marks of Christian Identity(New Studies in Theology and Trauma)

We live in a society that has little tolerance for suffering. Suffering is not only unpleasant. Profound, innocent suffering can upend our sense of identity. Yet, we push suffering people to the periphery to avoid an uncomfortable truth: We are all subject to suffering. In a time when Christian churches suffer the loss of authority, influence, and membership, Patterson challenges the idea that we need such power to live on earth as in heaven. Only God can transform suffering into joy. Drawing on her experience with cancer, Patterson claims Christians hold certain responsibilities while we wait for this transformation. Revisiting the story of Job, she confronts the problem of suffering and what it takes to suffer well. This sets the scene for what a fleshy, wounded Jesus Christ calls us to do: use suffering to build compassionate relationships with others who suffer.

About the Author :
Aimee Patterson is a Christian ethicist at The Salvation Army Ethics Centre and adjunct faculty at Booth University College. Patterson holds a PhD in religious ethics from McGill University and wrote her dissertation on the ethics of care at the end of life. She is a repeat award winner with the Canadian Christian Communicators Association. This book is an outcome of Patterson's personal experiences with suffering and compassion.

Review :
"Aimee Patterson knows the deep, excruciating, endless realities of suffering. In this book she moves readers to feel the pain, to know the bodily, intellectual, and emotional suffering in their bones, to consider the morality of suffering including the necessity of suffering with others who ache, agonize, and grieve. With beautiful clarity she places the power of suffering well and suffering with before our eyes, urging us to faithful action." --Roy R. Jeal, professor emeritus of religion, Booth University College "In this open, honest, and profound reflection, Aimee Patterson brilliantly takes us through a diagnosis to the isolating power of illness, to transformation, to questions of theodicy, to a superb retelling of Job, and to a reclaiming of Christianity as a faith of and for suffering. This book--a call for us to be present to and in our shared vulnerability--is an invaluable one for a church and a world that is in dire need of a renewed commitment to the sacred ministry of suffering (well) with others." --Cory Andrew Labrecque, professor and chair of bioethics and theological ethics, Université Laval "This powerful book offers a rare combination of academic substance and personal testimony. Aimee Patterson's traumatic story is moving in and of itself, and she tells it with courageous honesty. But her rich theological analysis transforms the story into a challenging and hope-filled prescription for a post-Christendom church that has forgotten how to suffer well and suffer with others. It is a profound contribution that will inspire scholars and church leaders alike." --James E. Pedlar, chair of Wesley studies, Tyndale University "Aimee Patterson's book combines an authenticity born out of her personal experience as a young wife and mother who unexpectedly was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and her deep knowledge of the Christian tradition to help us think about what it means to suffer well and to suffer with (others). When I finished reading the book I felt as though I had been treading on sacred ground." --Donald E. Burke, professor of biblical studies, Booth University College