“Why me?” “Why evil?” and “Why God?”

According to theologian and psychologist Karen McClintock, these are the three key questions that a person will ask of their faith in the aftermath of trauma.

Normally, a person goes about their life, making meaning of everything that happens to them, slotting it into a world that makes sense. Psychologist Bessel van der Kolk explains that a traumatic event short circuits this process. Trauma overwhelms a person, rendering them unable, in the moment, to integrate the event into their lives.

In the context of spirituality, trauma is a hand grenade, exploding two of spirituality’s primary functions: to help a person make meaning and feel at home in the universe. A survivor of trauma has two choices. They can develop a new way of making sense of the world; or live with existential despair,........

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