Edward Schillebeeckx’s Theology of Suffering

The twentieth-century Flemish Catholic political theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx can provide a framework to articulate the shape of human salvation in the context of senseless suffering. Schillebeeckx’s understanding of experiences of suffering as “negative contrast experiences” allows us to proclaim God as present to the sufferer without sanctifying her abuse, to name experience as a trustworthy source of divine revelation, and to claim sufferers’ agency in experiences of extreme violation. Though Schillebeeckx never discussed sexual trauma himself, his theology of suffering can highlight that God is “for” humanity, desiring holistic human good, including bodily-material healing, interpersonal healing, and political-institutional posttraumatic healing. Human beings are commissioned to participate in bringing about human salvation through posttraumatic healing work. Yet, the healing that we can expect from God transcends that which we are able to accomplish through our own efforts.