Trauma

I discovered the field of trauma theologies quite by accident. In the first few months of my PhD study, my supervisor Professor Siobhan Garrigan suggested I read Serene Jones’ chapter “Hope Deferred” in Trauma and Grace. I had never read anything like it (I will admit my theological education was typically - and boringly - confined to the ‘canon’ so I had little to compare it to) and it immediately captured my attention.

At the time, very few theologians were working on trauma. And those that were working on it were mainly based in the United States. I didn’t realise at the time but the work I was doing was helping to shape a blossoming field, especially in the UK.

Focusing research on the importance of trauma-informed theologies and trauma theologies (not the same thing!) has been a significant element of my work over the last decade. I’m pleased to link to a few publications here:

• Pre-publication version of “Trauma and Liturgy” - this will be published in the forthcoming Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Liturgical Theology edited by Porter Tyler.

• “Trauma Theology” in Saint Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology.

• “A (quite feminist) Eucharistic Liturgy for Sexual Assault Survivors” - this was published as part of my chapter “Surviving Trauma at the Foot of the Cross” in When Did we See you Naked? Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse edited by Jayme Reaves, David Tombs, and Rocio Figuera (SCM Press, 2021).

• O’Donnell, Karen. Broken Bodies: The Eucharist, Mary and the Body in Trauma Theology. London: SCM Press, 2018.

• O’Donnell, Karen. “Eucharist and Trauma: Healing in the b/Body.” In Tragedies and Christian Congregations: The Practical Theology of Trauma, edited by Christopher Southgate, Carla Grosch-Miller, Hilary Ison, and Megan Warner. London: Routledge, 2019.

• O’Donnell, Karen, and Katie Cross, eds. Feminist Trauma Theologies: Body, Scripture, and Church in Critical Perspective. London: SCM Press, 2020.

• O’Donnell, Karen, and Katie Cross, eds. Bearing Witness: Intersectional Perspectives on Trauma Theology. SCM Press, 2022.

• O’Donnell, Karen. The Dark Womb: Re-Conceiving Theology through Reproductive Loss. London: SCM Press, 2022.