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This book seeks to underscore the multifaceted ways in which we encounter suffering in clinical and social settings. The fear, greed, and guilt cause an individual to suffer privately, while the deception, betrayal, and revenge lead others to suffer.
Suffering and evil affect us all, both at a general level, as we look at a world filled with injustice, natural disasters and poverty, and at a personal level, as we experience grief, pain and unfairness. And how we think about and process the reality of pain is at the heart of why many people reject God. Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing is no stranger to pain and gives a heartfelt yet academically rigorous examination of how different belief systems deal with the problem of pain. She explains the unique answer that is found in Christ and how he can give us hope in the reality of suffering. This empathetic, easy-to-read and powerful evangelistic book is good for both unbelievers and believers alike. It will help those hoping to answer one of life’s biggest questions as well as those who are either suffering personally or comforting others.
Suffering is a fact of human existence. In his interdisciplinary investigation of the causes, types, value, and outcome of human suffering, Adrian C. Moulyn has discovered a purpose in it. In The Meaning of Suffering Moulyn presents his thesis, (Suffering) heals the blemishes and the fractures in our problem ridden existence, in light of the binary nature of human temporo-spacial structure. Moulyn analyzes the source of suffering as a combination of the arbitrary nature of life itself (no one actually chooses to be born), and the dichotomy of the world as we see it (objectively) and the world as we want it (subjectively). While the melancholy of being thrown-into the world lays the groundwork, the discrepancy between desires and wants and the degree to which they are satisfied becomes a source of suffering. The value of suffering is in its healing powers. Suffering helps close the gap between what we desire and what we obtain. The outcome of constructive suffering is an increased ability to deal with the inherent contradictions of life, an enhanced awareness of the truly necessary and desirable, and a stronger, more secure conquest of happiness when it is achieved. Moulyn's thesis is an intriguing and optimistic analysis of human experience, and will be an asset to philosophy collections.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • An "extraordinary ... profoundly moving" history (The New York Times Book Review) of the American Civil War that reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation. An estiated 750,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of today's population would be seven and a half million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust describes how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil War's most fundamental and widely shared reality. With a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Servant Song of Isaiah 53 has been highly significant in both Jewish and Christian thought. Rarely, however, has it been explored from the broad range of perspectives represented in this long-awaited volume. In The Suffering Servant ten talented biblical interpreters trace the influence of the Servant Song text through the centuries, unpacking the theological meanings of this rich passage of scripture and its uses in various religious contexts. Chapters examine in depth Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the Hebrew original and in later writings, including pre-Christian Jewish literature, the New Testament, the Isaiah Targum, the early church fathers, and a sixteenth-century rabbinic document informed by Jewish-Christian dialogue. Contributors Jostein Ådna Daniel P. Bailey Gerlinde Feine Martin Hengel Hans-Jürgen Hermisson Otfried Hofius Wolfgang Hüllstrung Bernd Janowski Christoph Markschies Stefan Schreiner Hermann Spieckermann Peter Stuhlmacher
A guide to the transformative power of Buddhist psychology—for meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. You have within you unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom—and here is how to awaken them. In The Wise Heart, celebrated author and psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West. Here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility—and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.
The Power of Suffering is psychologist David Roland’s personal investigation into the nature of human suffering. When our world is turned upside down, what does it do to us, how do we survive it, and, most importantly, how can we grow as a result? David takes the lived experience of eleven incredible people and follows them along each step of their journey from crisis through to acceptance and triumph. Within each story, David draws on his own experience of life-altering trauma and clinical research to offer insights we all can gain from. Each life story examined is a moving testimony of the human spirit’s ability to rise and rise again – an executive tragically loses his family in a car crash and finds healing in the rehabilitation of wildlife, a teenage victim of domestic violence becomes a fierce advocate for abused women and brain-injured youth, a football superstar overcomes bigotry and dyslexia to forge a career in acting, a mother experiences the aching depth of love lost after her teenage child’s life is tragically cut short. These are but a few of the intimately told stories, all pointing to a path through the storm and beyond. The Power of Suffering is a revelatory account of how the darkest night can lead to the most profound dawn. 'Poignant and powerful.' The Library Within 'A beautiful book... exquisite storytelling, and a book that could only be written by someone with the unique causes and conditions of David Roland – a personal journey through suffering, a psychologist’s eye and the capacity to weave his own story and observations with the stories of others.' Aussie Reviews
Published on February 11, 1984, Salvifici Doloris addresses the question of why God allows suffering. This 30th anniversary edition includes the complete text of the letter plus commentary by Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD, a priest and physician trained in geriatrics with an expertise in palliative care. Acknowledgments of recent episodes of violence bring the papal document into a modern context. Insightful questions suited for individual or group use, applicable prayers, and ideas for meaningful action invite readers to personally respond to the mystery of suffering.
In this book James Davies considers emotional suffering as part and parcel of what it means to live and develop as a human being, rather than as a mental health problem requiring only psychiatric, antidepressant or cognitive treatment. This book therefore offers a new perspective on emotional discontent and discusses how we can engage with it clinically, personally and socially to uncover its productive value. The Importance of Suffering explores a relational theory of understanding emotional suffering suggesting that suffering, does not spring from one dimension of our lives, but is often the outcome of how we relate to the world internally – in terms of our personal biology, habits and values, and externally – in terms of our society, culture and the world around us. Davies suggests that suffering is a healthy call-to-change and shouldn't be chemically anesthetised or avoided. The book challenges conventional thinking by arguing that if we understand and manage suffering more holistically, it can facilitate individual and social transformation in powerful and surprising ways. The Importance of Suffering offers new ways to think about, and therefore understand suffering. It will appeal to anyone who works with suffering in a professional context including professionals, trainees and academics in the fields of counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychiatry and clinical psychology.
Suffering is a central component of our lives. We suffer pain. We fall ill. We fail and are failed. Our loved ones die. It is a commonplace to think that suffering is, always and everywhere, bad. But might suffering also be good? If so, in what ways might suffering have positive, as well as negative, value? This important volume examines these questions and is the first comprehensive examination of suffering from a philosophical perspective. An outstanding roster of international contributors explore the nature of suffering, pain, and valence, as well as the value of suffering and the relationships between suffering, morality, and rationality. Philosophy of Suffering: Metaphysics, Value, and Normativity is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology as well as those in health and medicine researching conceptual issues regarding suffering and pain.
