God, Gender, and Family Trauma : How Rereading Genesis Can Be a Revelation - Cory Pechan Driver

God, Gender, and Family Trauma

How Rereading Genesis Can Be a Revelation

By: Cory Pechan Driver

Paperback | 11 March 2025

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Most readers of the Hebrew Scriptures will identify Genesis with creation and the garden of Eden, Noahs ark, and the tales of the patriarchs. Biblical scholar and Lutheran minister Cory Driver helps us probe below the surface of such preconceptions, uncovering complex and often traumatic subtexts that help us recover hidden voices. Driver uses trauma-informed scholarship and Jewish midrash to invite readers into new understandings of Genesis. Viewing figures such as Sarah, Joseph, Tamar, and Dinah through this lens sheds valuable light on what the Bible can teach us about gender and family trauma. These ancient stories have vital implications for our own lives in ministry.



What does it mean, for example, to see Sarah as both victim and victimizer in a patriarchal system? How does the complicated story of Lot and his daughters illuminate complex dynamics of gender-based sexual trauma? What do our accounts of figures ranging from patriarchs like Jacob to marginalized women like Tamar tell us about agency, abuse, and sense of self? What is really going on with Joseph? Through careful analysis and pastoral attention to the impacts of trauma throughout time and space, Driver helps us understand how ancient stories can inform our contemporary ministry. God sees the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit, both in the ancient Near East and in our pews today--and the good news is that God is intimately present. Consequently, in Drivers words, "trauma-informed care is the work of the whole Body of Christ."

Industry Reviews

Rev. Dr. Driver peels back layers of the Genesis stories of faith that we know, to explore them in new and thought-provoking ways. As the stories come alive, he names the family traumas in such a way that the reader joins the story of Scripture, naming evil and the sins of patriarchy, racism, and sexism. Especially insightful are the implications for ministry. These insights are ways the church can see past the surface story and see people as people, support victims of abuse, and be a beacon of hope that God, in Jesus Christ, is with us even in the pain and suffering of life. Thank you for making this real. --Rev. Suzanne Darcy Dillahunt, bishop, Southern Ohio Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Driver's insightful work provides a fresh perspective on Scripture for those affected by trauma, particularly survivors of gender-based violence. This book offers a compassionate alternative to traditional patriarchal interpretations of Genesis, challenging shame-based beliefs often reinforced by such readings. While acknowledging that some survivors may choose to distance themselves from biblical texts, Driver creates a thoughtful and gentle pathway for those seeking to reengage with Scripture. This valuable resource serves as a healing balm for readers navigating the complex intersection of faith and trauma recovery. --Hannah Estabrook, MA, LPCC-S, executive director of Sanctuary Night, and author of Freedom to Heal: A Christian Clinician's Guide to Treating Child Sexual Abuse

In this crucial book, Cory Driver explores the traumatic experiences of biblical individuals and families with compassion, careful attention, and astute insight that offer wisdom and hope for those who have had their own traumatic experiences and those who accompany and care for them. Along the way, Driver brings the ancient and ever-new Jewish practice of midrash into living engagement with biblical scholarship and lived human experience to bring biblical stories and their characters to life in new, oft-troubling, and graciously redemptive ways. --Rev. Dr. William O. Gafkjen, bishop, Indiana-Kentucky Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

This is a book that "says the quiet part out loud," courageously naming the sexual trauma that pervades the experiences of characters in the book of Genesis. It can be deeply disconcerting to read these texts through the lens of trauma, but Driver does not leave his readers to despair. Instead, he helps us to turn both the horror and the hope of these sacred stories toward the healing of wounds in our communities. --Cameron B. R. Howard, associate professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary

Informed by rabbinic and modern biblical interpretation, Cory Driver offers careful and original readings of several biblical stories related to gender-based and sexual trauma. Driver reads these texts with thoughtfulness and compassion and proposes pastorally sensitive lessons to be learned from them. Undergirding his readings is the affirmation that "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). This book will be valuable both for those who have suffered such trauma and for those who care for them. --Rev. Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker, professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament, Luther Seminary

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