VCU news

By Michael Ford
University News Services

A Virginia Commonwealth University scholar of religion draws on ancient wisdom found in the Bible’s book of Psalms in a new book about understanding pain and managing it.

In her book “Living Through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness,” Kristin M. Swenson, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies in the VCU School of World Studies, examines chronic pain and how it affects all aspects of a person on mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and social levels. Swenson describes the Psalms as the voices of people speaking with candor about real human conditions. Their words can be instructive and useful to people living with pain, and to those who care for them.

“Their perspective is theological and practical as they wrestle differently with how to live fully in the midst of suffering and in the midst of a greater community,” Swenson wrote. “They demonstrate an effort to live, in all states of health and illness, with integrity as an individual within a social group.”

Swenson will attend a book signing event for “Living Through Pain” at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 at the VCU Bookstore, located at 1111 W. Broad St.

According to Swenson, of the 150 psalms within the book of Psalms, about 20 percent deal specifically with pain. She has chosen six of these biblical poems to examine closely. They are Psalms 6, 22, 38, 69, 88 and 102.

Swenson points out that the Psalms are not theological prescriptions for curing pain. “The Psalms do not tell us how to live through pain; they invite active participation in the process itself,” she writes.

She also makes a distinction between curing and healing. According to Swenson, when someone is cured, that person returns to a previous mental or physical condition. But pain changes us, she notes. Cure is elusive, but healing is possible any time.

“Healing is the process of making a person whole, reintegrating a person – body, mind, spirit and as part of a greater community, even in the midst of great pain. It is to incorporate all aspects of a person’s self within the present context of his or her experience,” Swenson said. “A person may be cured without being healed and a person may be healed without being cured.”

Swenson earned her bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., where she majored in biology and religion. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Boston University.

Swenson is interested in how biblical interpretation shapes contemporary thinking about matters such as health, social relationships and the environment. She has begun work on a new book concerning religion and food, tentatively titled “Fasting, Feasting, and Just Plain Eating: Feeding the Religious Body and Soul.”