Music, Trauma and Theology Talk (Dr Chelle Stearns)

Dr Chelle Stearns (The Seattle School) 'With “Sighs Too Deep for Words”: Silence, The Holy Spirit, and Music in the Processing of Traumatic Experience’

Abstract: Post-traumatic experience is often marked by silence. Emotions and fear flood the senses while the capacity for language dissipates. Helplessness ensues, and God can feel distant and silent. In this wordlessness, however, we are promised the presence of the Holy Spirit, translating our groans and inarticulateness with “sighs too deep for words.” Within this vulnerable interchange, music has a strange ability to bear witness to both our hopelessness and the interceding presence of the Spirit. Join us for a conversation about how musical lament can generate new (Spirit) language in post-traumatic life, even as our sorrows and struggles remain.

After Dr Stearns' presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

LRC Lecture Room, St John's College • Durham University, 3 South Bailey, Durham, United Kingdom