by Hilary Scarsella
The wisdom you’ve gathered along your journey of healing can help transform the ways we think about God and faith. I invite you to contribute to a 
collaborative project that takes the experiences of survivors as important sources for doing theology (i.e. thinking about God in ways that breathe love and life into all).
I’m working on my PhD in theology at Vanderbilt University, and I’m doing this work because I want to make space for the voices of survivors to reshape the systems of belief that define communities of faith. Over the next few years, I’ll be seeking out survivors’ theological wisdom on a number of themes, and right now I’d like to invite anyone who is interested to talk to me about your thoughts on Jesus – his life, death, resurrection, and his significance in your own story of harm and/or healing.
You don’t need to know a thing about theology to contribute! You don’t need to have pre-formed thoughts about Jesus to share. The fact that you are a survivor makes you perfectly qualified, and I’ll supply questions for you to reflect on.
Please comment here [on the Mennonite Women Voices blog] or click here to email me, Hilary Scarsella, directly if you are interested. Your anonymity will be protected, and I will be in touch with you about the details. We can set up a time for a phone conversation. Or, if you prefer, I can send you a list of questions that you can reflect on and respond to by email. If you want to talk more in order to decide whether or not you want to participate, I welcome that conversation as well.
My deadline for collecting responses is March 31st.
Again: You don’t need to know anything about theology to contribute. All you need is a willingness to share your own honest experience with the Jesus story and a desire for the church to learn from survivors.
Connie J Williams on said:
I am not sure how to help. But I survived a twenty year marriage which also included being hit in the face and threatened with a rifle and threatened with being killed and the body never being found. I stayed because I had two kids and finally left with Gods guidance and help when my youngest child was twelve or thirteen. then I was stalked by my exhusband. I became a christian early in the marriage but also ended up doing things I am not very proud of. I did listen to Gods voice and was told I would get away if I just waited on His/Gods timing. that came five years later.
Hilary Scarsella on said:
I’m so sorry that happened to you! And, I’m glad that it sounds like you’ve been able to find safety. You have survived a lot, and if you are interested in contributing to this project I would be happy to talk more with you about it. You can email me directly at hilary.j.scarsella@vanderbilt.edu
Deb Byler on said:
I am willing to help with your project. You can contact me at my email address.