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John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper: Food, Rest, and Healing for Shivering Souls

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Abstract

This article explores how the Lord’s Supper may contribute to the healing of traumatized persons. Drawing on the 1541 French edition of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and on contemporary literature on trauma, I suggest that individuals who have experienced traumatic events may find in the Lord’s Supper a trustworthy and nourishing relational home, a therapeutic space for truth-telling, and a life-sustaining absolutism.

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Notes

  1. All biblical citations in this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

  2. For an example of a Lord’s Supper liturgy for survivors of trauma, see Prey-Harbaugh (2004, pp. 44–49).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iliff School of Theology, 2323 E. Iliff Ave, Denver, CO, 80210, USA

    Rubén Arjona

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  1. Rubén Arjona
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Correspondence to Rubén Arjona.

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Arjona, R. John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper: Food, Rest, and Healing for Shivering Souls. Pastoral Psychol 66, 177–190 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0740-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0740-2

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