Dr. Paul Hoard – a colleague of mine at The Seattle School – and I will be presenting at this year’s Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) conference. The title of our break out session is: “Against You and You Only Have I Sinned: Psalm 51 and Perpetration Trauma.” Dr. JoAnn Badley was the first scholar who introduced to reading Psalm 51 in relationship with 50 & 52.
Here is the description of our session as listed on CAPS’s website:
Building off of contemporary discussions around the impact of whiteness on those who inhabit a central social location, this presentation How can the contemporary discourse on whiteness help illuminate ancient, Biblical narratives in ways that can provide more complexity and questions to current tensions? Beginning with a reflection on the social location of the presenters as white, cisgendered, able-bodied, males and how that has impacted their ability to read and engage the scriptures, the presentation invites a discussion on whiteness in the white, evangelical church. This presentation explores the psychological impact of whiteness and of inhabiting a central social location on the white, evangelical church in the USA. Utilizing the Old Testament story of David and Bathsheba as a metaphor, the presentation problematizes common responses to calls for accountability and reconciliation. In using the lenses of power, perpetration trauma, and social location to conceptualize David’s psychological state, this presentation problematizes David’s reported repentance as it is expressed in Psalm 51 as a disavowal of his perpetration on more marginalized others, insisting instead on his culpability against “you [G_d] and you only have I sinned.” In this way, David can be understood as ignoring the suffering of the victims of his rape and murder in order to justify himself before G_d. Parallels are then drawn between the white evangelical church’s refusal to engage in recognition around questions of race and systemic oppression against more marginalized members of society and David’s insistence of his purely spiritual sin. Admissions of guilt that focus on the spiritual while denying the real suffering of oppressed bodies work to maintain structures and cultures of oppression instead of liberation.
CAPS – Break out Session Description
Peace, dwight
