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Christianity in Narratives of Recovery from Substance Abuse

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Abstract

This article focuses on the different roles and expressions the Christian faith has been given in narratives of recovery from substance abuse. The article is intended to advance discussion about the spiritual and religious aspects of recovery by introducing a narrative point of view. Four different story types are presented, each expressing a unique relationship between sobriety and the Christian faith: (1) “Third Time Lucky,” (2) “First Be Rid of Wickedness, Then Be Rid of Holiness,” (3) “A License to Live,” and (4) “Out of the Blue.” In the first story type, only the third conversion effected a permanent change. In the second, gaining and maintaining sobriety happened in two phases. In the third story type, the major achievement was accepting oneself. And in the fourth, a complete change took place surprisingly and suddenly. The findings show how the Christian faith can contribute to recovery in various ways and that no specific type of Christian faith is universally helpful. Faith appeared in many forms, even within the same narrative. This study is part of a larger research project based on qualitative data collected in 2010 in Finland. The data consists of in-depth interviews of 21 former substance abusers.

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Notes

  1. This is a quote from an interviewee (Person 4). The English translation loses the rhyme of the original Finnish quote. In Finnish, “wickedness” is “paha” and “holiness” is “pyhä,” which makes the expression (“Ensin eroon pahasta, sitten pyhästä”) both informative and poetic.

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  1. University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 4, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Pekka Lund

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  1. Pekka Lund
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Lund, P. Christianity in Narratives of Recovery from Substance Abuse. Pastoral Psychol 65, 351–368 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0687-3

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