We witness and experience suffering in our world on a regular basis: devastating weather events, violent crimes, unexpected health complications, and other kinds of trauma. In the overwhelming firehouse that has been the discussion of atonement theology this semester, where is suffering?

Theories of Atonement

Ransom theory, the main theology of atonement for 1000 years, cites Christ’s purpose on earth was to pay a ransom to the Devil to get humanity back. One of the interesting components of this theory is that under it, the devil is just as powerful as God. Christ isn’t just saving us from sin. Christ is saving us from evil. By defeating these powers, Jesus saves humanity from our suffering.

Satisfaction theory focuses on the problem of our sin as something  we cannot reconcile ourselves. God created humanity, so only God could absolve humanity. In the Incarnation, God became human to save us, since sin can only be forgiven by God. There’s no issues of the devil being on par with God. While suffering isn’t explicitly mentioned, if it is associated with sin, then it creates a very problematic answer to the problem of suffering…

Penal substitution, as previously discussed, focuses on the law and Christ bearing the punishment for our sins, suffering in our place. It’s confusing in terms of suffering: if Christ is suffering the punishment for our sins, then what did we do to deserve suffering?

Moral influence theory (my favorite) states that Christ was sent by God because God loves us. It’s big with the warm fuzzies and does not have the problem of violence that the other two theories are often criticized for:

“Indeed how cruel and wicked it seems that anyone should demand the blood of an innocent person as the price for anything, or that it should in any way please him that an innocent man should be slain – still less that God should consider the death of this Son so agreeable that be it he should be reconciled to the whole world?”[1]

This theory of atonement leaves more room for the human heart, but raises the question: if all you need is love, where is there room for suffering? Is all suffering evil?

For those of who who’ve seen the wonder that is Inside Out, we know that happy rainbows and butterflies and glitter cannot fix everything, and for those of us who’ve done CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education), we recognize Sadness’s amazing counseling of Bing Bong, as she helps him process his grief and name his feelings. Even Joy eventually recognizes the importance of sadness! Our visible signs of suffering, even from the smallest indications of strain, cue others that we need help, support, and comfort.

How do we handle suffering on a societal level?

While cultures of over commitment and putting on a brave face generally seem to handle suffering by avoidance (not the CPE recommended approach), when I try to think of an example of acknowledging suffering well, one stands out about all the rest: South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

There are some brilliant documentaries on this that know far more than I do; I know enough to know just how much I have left to learn!

Here, after the fall of apartheid, South Africans from all walks of life were invited to tell their stories[1]: the crimes they witnessed, and the injustice and violence they or their loved ones experienced. Even more, white South Africans who had served in police forces could be granted amnesty in exchange for their truths too, in hopes of helping people who left wondering about what had happened to their loved ones to get the answers they needed to properly grieve. The numbers are staggering:

• Over 6,750 statements were received from witnesses
• 1,355 hours of recordings were collected
• 7 national events held[2]

Just stop for a second and think about what an amazing undertaking it is to support people in truth-telling about such a deep wound on a national scale. Perhaps places where small-scale reconciliation didn’t quite go as planned should take a page from South Africa’s book. There are plenty of pages to choose from; the final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is six volumes!

How do we translate this success to a personal level?’

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my group and I had the privilege of dining with Fr Michael Lapsley during our pilgrimage to South Africa in January. Born in New Zealand in 1948, Michael Lapsley went to Australia as a teenager to study to be a priest, and in 1973, he went to South Africa to serve as a chaplain for the Anglican Student Federation in Durban, where he was required to be a priest to black, white, and coloured students. His activity in the anti-apartheid movement led to his being exiled from South Africa in 1976. Lapsley continued his anti-apartheid work in Lesotho for several years, but when it became unsafe to remain there, he relocated to Zimbabwe in 1982. In 1990, his life changed when he received a mail bomb packaged as a religious magazine, triggered by his opening the cover. This act of terror inflicted serious injuries on Lapsley, who lost both his hands and sight in one of his eyes in the blast. By 1993, he had recovered sufficiently to serve as the Chaplain of the Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town during the Truth and Reconciliation Process.

Fr. Lapsley’s journey up to this point inspired him to found the Institute for the Healing of Memories, which focuses on creating a safe space for people to tell their story and work through their grief in a parallel process that builds on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He believes that his own success in working through his experience is a result of his story being acknowledged, reverence, recognized, and given a moral context, so he seeks to create a space that provides these four pillars for others as they process their trauma. A nation needs to focus on the political, social and economic for its well-being and people needs to focus on the physical, emotional, and spiritual for theirs.

Fr. Michael Lapsley spends 3-4 months per year in the United States doing Healing of Memories workshops.

The space between the suffering of the crucifixion and the joyous, redemptive miracle of the resurrection is the tension we must navigate as we lead and as we serve.

[1] You know how I feel about storytelling

[2] Truth and Reconciliation Commission: By the numbers

[1] Reid, Patrick V. Readings in Western Religious Thought. 2 vols. New York: Paulist Press, ©1987-1995, 195.