R.Ruard Ganzevoort, Scars and Stigmata: Trauma, identity and theology Practical Theology 1/1 (2008), 19-31 © R.Ruard Ganzevoort Scars and Stigmata: Trauma, identity and theology

This paper reflects on the interaction between trauma and identity using the metaphors of scars and stigmata Two different attitudes toward trauma are described that need to be connected dialectically. The first sees trauma as an ‘alien ’ intrusion that calls for resistance. The latter sees trauma as integral to identity development. Implications for theological reflection are sketched In recent years, the concept of trauma has become an important aspect of understanding human life. This is the case not only in the helping professions, but also in the public domain. Individual experiences like car accidents as well as collective events like disasters and terrorist attacks are easily called traumatic. By using that term, we refer to shattering life events and we invoke the expectation that those involved suffer deeply and will be affected for the rest of their lives. Scars are supposed to last. The term thus carries profound dramatic and tragic overtones. The popularity of the term trauma has not always been like this. Herman (1993) has documented how attention for trauma has gone up and down in the past century, the shifts being directly related to social and political forces i