1st Edition

Hope from a Body in Pain Theology, Psychology and Medical Narratives

By Lena Maria Lorenz Copyright 2026
190 Pages
by Routledge

190 Pages
by Routledge

This book explores the phenomenon of hope in the context of long-term ill-health. It brings medicine, psychology and theology in dialogue with the voices of those with first-hand experience of chronic pain. The chapters reflect on existing psychological literature on hope, the theological perspectives of three key figures - Augustine, Aquinas and Moltmann - and interview-based empirical research... Read more

Preface  Introduction, or When a body in pain calls for hope  Part I: Existing voices on pain and hope  1. The biomedical body in pain  2. The psychological mind of hope  Interim conclusion 1, or The absence of a hoping person in pain  3. The body in pain in traditional, ecumenical theologies of hope  4. The body in pain in a modern, Reformed theology of hope  Interim conclusion 2, or God as the beginning and end of hope  PART II: New voices on hope and pain  5. Empirical approaches to hope and pain  6. Lives marked by pain and fuelled by hope: New narratives  7. Conceptualising hope at the intersection of theology, psychology and medical narrative  Closing synopsis, or When hope dwells in a body in pain  Appendix  Bibliography. Index

Biography

Lena Maria Lorenz is a researcher with a PhD from the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK.