Interrogating trauma within the Christian framework is a relatively recent development in theological research. There is a flourishing body of scholarly research investigating the impact of violence on victims and the effects of traumatic events in the lives of survivors. However, there remain limited resources on theological reflection by survivors about the impact of trauma in their very own lives. Aizaiah Yong’s Trauma & Renewal is a welcome contribution to fill the gap.
Yong survives a near-death motorcycle accident in 2018 leaving him with a chronic physical disability. In Trauma & Renewal, Yong ventures back to that harrowing event to examine the memories of his ordeal and reexplores his pathway toward healing and wholeness. Yong navigates through his traumatic experience while being mindful of his identity (cisgender male), multiethnic background, middle socioeconomic status, “contemplacostal” spirituality, and training in psychospiritual models of healing (particularly the Internal Family System model). He has also involved his Chinese-Malaysian father and his Mexican-American mother, who witnessed his suffering and are considered as secondary trauma victims. His parents narrate their son’s accident and hospitalization from their own perspective. Their reflection has been embedded in the text.
In renarrating his trauma and renewal, Yong affirms the empowering and reenergizing effects of spiritual narratives and story-sharing in the aftermath of trauma. Yong develops this in three parts, and each part has three chapters. The first part, “Witness,” focuses on bearing witness to trauma in all its multidimensional reality. The three chapters, “Unknowing,” “With-ness-ing,” and “Befriending the Tears,” emphasize how trauma strips us bare to our most vulnerable minimum and how its harrowing memories intrude the quality of daily living. The second part, “Visions,” is divided in three chapters: “Radiating Love,” “Experiencing Aliveness,” and “Every Being Belongs.” In this part, Yong narrates his various experiences of visions during his thirty-day hospitalization. Yong relates how renewal could be catalyzed through dreams and other alternative states of consciousness. These visions, Yong reckons, trigger in us to engage human suffering with sacred wisdom. The third part, “Liberative Community, has three sections: “Seeing One Another,” “Expanding Companionship,” and “Rising Again … and Again.” This last part recognizes the significance of interrelationship in c-creating liberative, intercultural, and trauma-transforming communities. Yong maintains the need for continuous embodied experiences and practices that lead to the transformation of our pains and sufferings.
Moreover, the questions crafted by Yong at the conclusion of every chapter situate the reader to their own experience of vulnerability and healing. It encourages the reader to be mindful of their own inner movements, thought patterns, and behavioral practices that could possibly lead to their continued growth and flourishing. The same questions can also be utilized by people accompanying those who are suffering and searching to regain their personal sense of wholeness.
Yong’s work could prove to be a helpful resource for people and faith-based communities, who are in the mission of accompanying individuals, and the public, who are going through traumatic experiences and laboring toward their healing process. For seminarians and for future faith leaders, Trauma & Renewal is an empowering tool that ought to be on their must-read list.
