-SCOTT'S NEW BOOK-
TRAUMA AND GRIEF:
RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES FOR MINISTRY
In today’s world, trauma and traumatic loss are increasingly common. This book
surveys the important constructs, concepts, and dynamics of trauma, loss, grief,
and growth, offering resources and strategies that ministers and other spiritual
caregivers can use as they support and facilitate people in their journey from
trauma recovery to grief work to spiritual growth.
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The book presents a framework for understanding the interrelationship
between trauma recovery work, grief work, and spiritual growth. The author
argues that each of these components is essential for a full and complete healing
from trauma and traumatic losses and that they work together in the ongoing
process of healing.
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Traumas and traumatic losses are times of “crisis” in the sense that they are
turning points in people’s lives; people can either grow through the experience or
decline under the weight of their unbearable sorrow and anxiety. How people
handle traumas and signicant losses may be the most important variable in their
psychological, relational, and spiritual health. The author gives special attention
to describing ways in which God might draw close to the traumatized and
bereaved in their process of recovery and healing.
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“Trauma and Grief is a must-read for all pastors, seminarians, therapists, counselors, and the grieving. This book is full of healing wisdom and knowledge. It offers hope for
psycho-somatic and spiritual wholeness and growth beyond the mourning, shame, guilt, helplessness, and hopelessness of trauma. Such a sorrowful crisis may, however, show us the way to more profound and higher dimensions of life journey in God. It is an outstanding book
in every aspect!”
—ANDREW S. PARK, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio
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“Sullender distills an amazing breadth of knowledge about trauma, grief, and spirituality in this accessible, well-organized textbook. His pastoral voice guides readers on a journey through the suffering of trauma and grief toward recovery and hope. Sullender’s headings serve as signposts, providing a roadmap that readers will return to, over and over again, when they offer pastoral care to those overwhelmed by trauma and grief. Trauma and Grief ought to be on every minister’s bookshelf.”
—CARRIE DOEHRING, Iliff School of Theology, Denver
PREVIOUS WORKS
Losses in Later Life: A New Way Of Walking with God, Second Edition, focuses on seven major losses: loss of youth, loss of family, loss of parents, loss of work, loss of spouse, loss of health, and loss of identity. This second edition has been reworked with new research to include updated information about the loss of independence and several additional losses not discussed in the previous edition. You will explore the path to becoming a spiritually mature person who has faith and is able to grieve, let go, and release what is lost in order to live a mentally healthy and rewarding life.
With this valuable book, you will explore the issues of losses in later life from an approach that integrates psychology and spirituality to help you understand that loss is an inevitable and significant factor in the lives of people over the age of 40. Discussing the dynamics of loss and grief and defining spiritual health, Losses in Later Life examines the seven most common losses of the second half of your life from a positive perspective. Some of the areas you will read about include:
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spiritual health and grief
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the process of grieving
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abnormal and unhealthy grief such as worshipping a deceased person or other loss in a way that mimics the worship of a god
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marker events such as changing careers, the loss of dreams, and the loss of youth
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feeling you have a limited amount of time left
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finding new meanings of “old” and learning to embrace the present
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spiritual and psychological understanding for the loss of children to death or adulthood, the loss of parents, and the loss of a spouse
Caregivers and anyone interested in the psychology and spirituality of aging will find excellent help and suggestions from Losses in Later Life. This book is a necessary tool for spiritually assisting your times of grief and confusion. With proven suggestions and advice, Losses in Later Life serves to enlighten your path through the later years and enrich your soul.
There is a virtual epidemic of addiction in the United States, both traditional addictions to drugs and alcohol but also newer addictions, like sex, gambling, rage, work, and food/eating. Some authorities have labeled addictions the number one mental health problem in America. We are spending millions of dollars annually trying to prevent, understand, and treat this epidemic--and yet by any measure of success we are losing this "war" In this cultural context Dr. Sullender invites us to look again at the spiritually based scheme of the Seven Deadly Sins, which originated at the dawn of Western civilization. He suggests that what our spiritual forebears meant by "deadly" is best captured in the modern concept of "addiction" Based on this thesis, this book explores what is addictive about the sins of pride, envy, anger, greed, gluttony, sloth, and lust, and suggests that these sins are all obsessive, and as such become the mental component in the addictive cycle. Each chapter concludes by offering some spiritual resources, practices, and insights that can help us win the battle against addiction, which is ultimately won or lost on a mental or spiritual plane.
In these times, pastors face a difficult challenge. They are still the ones who are largely called upon to minister to the bereaved. The need is as critical as it has ever been. Yet, many of the traditional pastoral tools, such as ritual and beliefs, are no longer are helpful as they used to be. The changing culture has emptied the minister’s tool box. The growth of psychology and counseling, of course, has partially filled this vacuum. Yet, the challenge to the church is still there: how to minister to grieving people in an age when traditional resources, structures and methods are changing. Therefore, this book is important because it attempts to look at traditional pastoral resources and to understand how and why they did work, and how they might be strengthened, altered and enriched to become more effective. In short, the aim is to retool today’s pastor