How Christian trauma survivors construct models of God and solutions to the problem of evil

This phenomenological study examined the effects of a Type I trauma on models of God and solutions to the problem of evil. For all participants, the trauma occurred during adulthood. Participants (4 males, 5 females) ranged from 33 to 86 years old with a mean age of 58 years. The most significant findings were that, after the trauma, all participants described a positive God involved with humanity and active in their own lives. Those who felt close to God before the trauma, experienced God as even nearer afterwards. Since it is not uncommon for people's models of God to be shattered following the experience of trauma, it was notable that not one of the participants' models of God was. One reason seems to be that the participants' expectations of God were not fundamentally contradicted. In addition, the participants did not seem to hold God immediately responsible for the trauma. Results also showed that holding contradictory models of God did not compromise participants' ability to cope with and adjust to their experience of trauma. Participants were able to draw upon the model that suited their needs at the time; the opposing models either remained unconscious or did not pose a threat to the effectiveness of the model being used. For all of the participants, God was experienced as acting through the trauma to meet one of their deepest needs. Participants' constructions of God's responses depended more on their personalities than on the nature of the trauma. A major limitation of this study was that only 3 of the 9 participants reported that evil was a part of their experience of trauma, and one reported an act of human evil. Suggestions for future research include a repetition of this study with a group of people who have all experienced traumas resulting from acts of human evil.