Program & Presenters

Shelly Rambo is associate professor of theology at Boston University School of Theology. Trained as both a systematic and constructive theologian, she is particularly attentive to the transmission of Christian theologies of suffering from history to the present. She teaches courses in constructive theology, feminist and womanist theologies, trauma theology, and chaplaincy. As one of the pioneering scholars in trauma theology, Rambo has been instrumental in bringing together the emerging field of trauma studies with theological doctrines and practice. She does this through her teaching, publications, and public speaking.

Dr. Rambo’s books Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining (Westminster John Knox, 2010), Post-Traumatic Public Theology (co-edited with Stephanie Arel, Palgrave 2016), and Resurrecting Wounds: Living in the Afterlife of Trauma (Baylor University Press, 2017) explore the significance of Christian theology as it meets contemporary expressions of post-traumatic life in the broader culture. Her current book project, Spiritual Guides for the Afterliving (Fordham University Press, forthcoming), builds on her extensive work with chaplains and collaborations with Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, a hub for education and research in chaplaincy. She is co-editor with Wendy Cadge on a primer for chaplains, Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century (UNC Press, 2022).

For the past 19 years, Rambo has been educating and training future church leaders about how to respond to trauma by drawing on the organic resources of their theology and faith practices. As principal investigator for the “Trauma-Responsive Congregations” grant, Rambo has been able to partner with 10 congregations to support them in expanding their ministries through greater awareness of and resources with which to respond to trauma. She has supervised all aspects of the grant and organized the program around five goals for congregational participants: identifying trauma, deepening theology, broadening networks of support, and developing restorative and spiritually vitalizing practices that can sustain congregations in ministry. She will write the primer, Trauma-Responsive Congregations, that is currently under contract with Fortress Press and scheduled for publication in 2026.

Plenary Session 1: Friday, 9:00 am

Growing the Human Spirit After Trauma: Challenges and Opportunities

As we witness people in clinical, classroom, and congregational spaces struggling to recover from harm experienced in religious spaces, it is increasingly important to articulate faithful and imaginative counterpoints to theological messages that impede growth after trauma. This session proposes a theological route for healing and growth by re-engaging spiritual teachers working at the edges of Christian doctrine.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate three types of theological messages that may be traumatizing
2. Offer three alternative theological perspectives to these traumatic messages
3. Consider particular types of interventions to work through theologically traumatizing messaging

Plenary Session 2: Friday, 3:00 pm

Re-Engaging Your Inner Authority: Rebuilding Spiritual Trust Through the Writings of Julian of Norwich

Fourteenth-century English mystic Julian of Norwich penned one of the most compelling affirmations of the human spirit. She did this in the face of diminishing theologies, whose harmful effects she witnessed on the lives of those she counseled. This lecture explores Julian’s timely insights on the dangers of outsourcing one’s inner authority and her discovery of a path to rebuilding spiritual trust. Her work provides a psycho-theological direction for clinicians working at the intersection of religious trauma. 

 

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:  

1. Identify two spiritual insights to employ in their meaning-making work with clients
2. Reframe one clinical case drawing on the insights of Julian of Norwich
3. Utilize theological insights in work with clients impacted by church hurt or religious trauma