How shall we love our neighbors in traumatic times? This introduction to Christian ethics provides a constructive account of living in love, justice, and solidarity in a traumatized world. Grounded in God’s love for all of creation, this book offers hope for individuals and communities seeking to live as neighbors. Bearing witness recognizes the inherent dignity of every person. It expands the love commandment to address systemic injustices and oppressions through practices of attentive presence, historical clarity, and meaningful participation. Trauma-informed Christian ethics equips us to address tough moral challenges, including sexual violence, racism, climate change, and institutional betrayal. Together, as neighbors of many faiths, we can imagine God’s will for a more just world and join in bringing it about, strengthening the bonds of moral community in society.
Trauma-Informed Christian Ethics: Bearing Witness Through Love, Justice, and Solidarity in Community is forthcoming from T&T Clark (January 2026).
Keywords: Christian social ethics; psychological trauma; trauma-informed care; bearing witness; religious ethics; solidarity; social action; diakonia
This book is part of a series. T&T Clark Enquiries in Embodiment, Sexuality, and Social Ethics features textbooks and coursebooks for seminary, graduate, and advanced undergraduate learning. Books in this series adopt an intersectional approach using tools of social analysis to conceptualize, interpret, and analyze the ethics of sexuality and embodiment, broadly construed, integrating theory and praxis, doctrine and lived faith, and ideology and material existence. The series promotes progressive scholarship intended to advance critical understandings of sexuality and gender.
Related Publications
“Bearing Witness: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Christian Ethics.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 39 no. 1 (2023): 155–74. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.39.1.10.
“Bearing Witness as Social Action: Religious Ethics and Trauma-Informed Response.” Trauma Care 1, no. 1: 49-63. https://doi.org/10.3390/traumacare1010005
Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom: Living into the Church’s Moral Witness through Radical Discipleship. New York: United Methodist Women, October 2020. ISBN: 9781952501043.
Teaching Sexuality and Religion in Higher Education: Embodied Learning, Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy, and Perspective Transformation, co-edited by Darryl W. Stephens and Kate Ott. New York: Routledge, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429327162.
“Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom.” Special issue Reflecting on the Possibilities of Religious Education Research. Religions 11, no. 9 (2020): 449. doi:10.3390/rel11090449.