Abstract
A truly original book in its grouping of four studies. Two come from the Christian tradition (John Calvin and Gregory of Nyssa’s account of the death of his sister, Macrina); and two from the present day – racism in the USA, and ‘Veteran healing’. Given the mindless rhetoric of ‘This is Britain’ and what is known about modes of military engagement in both Iraq and Afghanistan, it is essential to engage with all four chapters as a whole, with the last a ‘must-read’.
Calvin’s commentary on John 20.19–28 leads his readers to suppose that ‘the use of the wounds was temporary’, instrumental in bringing Thomas to faith, by hearing Christ’s invitation (p. 30). So, in Calvin’s view, wounds counter the promise of resurrection. Rambo’s focus, however, is on the ways in which ‘resurrection wounds’ enable us to conceive of life that is marked by wounds yet is recreated through them (p. 42), as in Gregory’s account of Macrina’s death, focused on what is known as the ‘scar scene’ when an attendant prompts Gregory to attend to a mark on his sister’s body. It is through reflection on this scene that Rambo is able to move to her third and fourth examples.
In ‘Surfacing wounds’ she turns to the untended wounds ‘below the surface of the collective skin’, for which much Christian tradition offers ‘sacred bandages’ for those wounds it has helped inflict on both ‘black’ and ‘white’ America (p. 73). The ‘politics of trauma’ are concerned with ‘the processes involved in rendering suffering invisible’ and in keeping truths from coming to the surface (p. 78). Rambo’s reflections on the Johannine text are of particular importance for her final chapter, ‘Discovering wounds: veteran healing and resurrection in the upper room’.
Many readers will be familiar with the line that X fought in a war but that ‘he’ never spoke about it, which affected not only himself but also the next generation and the kinds of adults the children became in their turn (p. 127). A movement called Warriors Journey Home provides collective (i.e. including ‘civilians’) opportunities and rituals, which make possible both the re-telling and the hearing. Crucially, ‘the soul is the part that you cannot figure out – on your own’ (p. 123) and ‘the soul does not belong to you alone’ (pp. 124–5), to the extent that a surviving soldier may bring home with him the soul of a deceased companion who also needs release, as may also be the case for those who hear what is said. In this chapter in particular, Rambo’s insights enable her to provide a vision of how a community may carry forward the message of Jesus, re-envisioning the meaning of resurrection in its power to confront ‘the complexities of life beyond “deaths”, whether literal or figurative’ (pp. 149–50). Important to read.