Abstract
When childhood abuse trauma occurs in a Christian environment, the god representation is disrupted. Despite counseling, the impact of the god of childhood on the lives of child abuse survivors is often not resolved. The impact of the accumulation of child abuse trauma can seriously impair the development of the god image or even cause the god image to die. If a member of the family dies, there is a funeral and a period of socially supported grieving. When god dies, no one holds a funeral. The nature of the Christian god representation necessitates that Christian child abuse survivors grieve the loss of their childhood god if they are to resolve spiritual issues.
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An earlier form of this paper was given at the American Academy of Religion, November 1994.
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Redmond, S.A. God died and nobody gave a funeral. Pastoral Psychol 45, 41–47 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02251408
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02251408