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| Shelly Rambo |
“The structure of
trauma introduces what I refer to as the ‘middle’—the figurative site in which death
and life and no longer bounded. Instead, the middle speaks to the perplexing
space of survival. It is a largely untheologized site, because the middle is
overshadowed by the other two events. Because of its precarious positioning,
the middle can easily be covered over and ignored. It is subject to the
elisions of time, body, and language and therefore is difficult to witness. The
good news of Christianity for those who experience trauma rests in the capacity
to theologize this middle. It does not rest in either the event of the cross or
resurrection, but instead in the movements between the two—movements that I
identify through the concept of witness. The good news lies in the ability of
Christian theology to witness between death and life, in its ability to forge a
new discourse between the two.” (Shelly Rambo, Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining, 7.)
The middle.
Theology often focuses on death (the cross) or life (the
resurrection), but rarely the middle. Yet, that’s where we spend most of our
time. We are not dead but we are not yet risen.
What do you think? Do you typically think more of death (the cross) or life (the resurrection)? What does a healthy theology of the middle look like?
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