Sacred Trauma: Religion, Trauma Transmission, and the Attribution of Meaning in the Age of Totalitarianism

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between religion, cultural trauma, and the psychodynamics of human evil and suffering. Its principal contribution is the development of an explanatory model of trauma transmission whereby religion constitutes an important “carrier” of trauma across generations, even in instances where it may also serve as a protective factor. It does so primarily by exploring how the language, thought, and traumas of totalitarianism become encoded in myths, cultural practices, religious rituals, and shared histories. This study begins by examining contemporary definitions of trauma, as well as the modes and mechanisms of trauma transmission proposed in scholarly literature. Chapter One describes the challenges that arise in defining, identifying, and working with traumatic material. Chapter Two critically engages with postwar Polish history and intellectual thought (1945-1989) in order to illustrate how the complex interaction between religion and collective trauma may result in generational conflict, enduring internal division, and an inability to mourn. In Chapter Three, I argue that the concepts of “trauma” and “evil” take on a overlapping meaning in the context of twentieth-century totalitarianism. The integration of discussions around “trauma” and “evil” allows for exploration of the centrality of interpersonal relations in the transmission of trauma and the problems associated with conferring a “sacred” status to trauma narratives and myths, discussed in Chapter Four. Chapter Five critiques attempts to confine the understanding of trauma to the affective sphere of the individual, which minimize the ways in which experiences of trauma are often rooted in interpersonal evil and systemic injustice. The final chapter examines the possibility, necessity, and ethical implications of reconciliation and forgiveness following mass trauma.