Horror and Its Aftermath

Download or read book Horror and Its Aftermath written by Sally Stamper and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Horror and Its Aftermath: Reconsidering Theology and Human Experience, Sally Stamper brings together psychoanalytic theory, early childhood development, and theological recourse to psychology into a fresh conversation about human suffering and the contingencies of human existence before God. She argues that a constant awareness of vulnerability to profound suffering shapes and inflects human experience and that insight into the consequent human anxiety is a powerful resource for theological reflection on sin, grace, salvation, and redemption. Stamper narrates what she calls “normative anxiety” by taking recourse to object relations theories of early childhood development and critical readings of literary texts for young children, including Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and Dr. Seuss’ “What Was I Scared Of?” Building on Marilyn McCord Adams’s treatment of horror-participation and Jonathan Lear’s argument for radical hope, Stamper develops a complex argument that gestures toward a new eschatological vision centered on a transcendent God who is both radically other and intimately engaged in human life.