Connecting Horizons with Job

What specific contribution can the spiritual counselor or pastor make to the trauma healing process, alongside other professionals? From his own competence on religious domain, the pastor can guide the counselee in tackling the ‘Question of God’ and help to restore the connection with God. This pastoral counseling demands a safe setting, safeguarding of the counselee’s autonomy and a ‘non-anxious presence’ by the pastor. Especially important is that the pastor adopts an open attitude which does not shy away from the counselee’s (sometimes unspeakable) suffering and that he does not, on forehand, take an apologetic stance. The Book of Job can help to express the confusion of feelings that are evoked in a traumatic context, in particular in the relationship with God, other people and oneself. The language of Job appears to be very useful in formulating the experience of suffering and asking the most penetrating life questions.