ABSTRACT
Among the symptoms most closely associated with the phenomenon of trauma is an acute sense of fragmentation and disorder, observable in a lack of stability that overwhelms the subject and inhibits her capacity to cope. Thus, the effort to understand and to cultivate resilience in the aftermath of trauma very often centres on the importance of achieving a measure of stability within chaos, a glimmer of hope in the midst of calamity, and an ability to make some sense of a world that seems to have become ruptured, fragmented, and overwhelming. Within the book of Jeremiah, the reader is confronted with numerous images of potential resilience, involving both the collective people of Judah and the individual prophet who mediates their relationship to YHWH. This paper offers an exploration of the value and limitations of the concept of resilience as a lens through which to understand both the figure and the book of Jeremiah. This broad hermeneutical exploration is brought into sharper focus through an exegetical case study of Jeremiah 18–20 in conversation with theological discourse informed by the study of trauma and resilience.
