Rising from the Dead or Radical Ecopsychology

Rising from the Dead: Stories of Women's Spiritual Journeys to Sobriety

Author: Patricia D Nanoff

Help bridge the gap between the non-religious recovering community and the religious community

Rising from the Dead: Stories of Women's Spiritual Journeys to Sobriety details the recovery stories of alcoholic women in long-term sobriety and the role spirituality has played in transforming their life histories into healing narratives. This powerful book guides helping professionals to an understanding of how the 12-step spirituality practiced by women in long-term sobriety has helped them through difficult life experiences and how the stories of those experiences can act as a rich resource for communities of faith.

The stories told in Rising from the Dead demonstrate the catastrophic nature of alcoholism, illustrating models of therapeutic listening and pastoral counseling that can help pastors, pastoral counselors, and chaplains working in the Christian community assist those who suffer from addiction. The book examines barriers that are specific to helping professionals and pastoral counselors, offering suggestions for the use of story in pastoral ministry and strategies for counseling. It includes practical applications for constructing a spiritual life story and suggested journal questions.

Rising from the Dead examines:

• Narrative construction
• Stories as sacred containers
• Stories from a therapeutic perspective
• Shame and guilt
• Threshold experiences
• Finding a path through Christian traditions
• God language
• Constructing a life story and a soul story
• And much more

Rising from the Dead: Sobriety Narratives and Sacramental Encounters is a comprehensive professional resource for pastors, pastoral counselors, chaplains, parish nurses, and seminary faculty teaching in the area of addiction ministry.

What People Are Saying

James B. Nelson
Repeatedly etched throughout these women's stories are the themes of new life, new community, and new visions of the sacred, and Nanoff weaves these themes into an effective demonstration of narrative counseling. Particularly compelling is her understanding of healing from shame as a deeply incarnational process grounded in spiritual community. . . . A SPLENDID RESOURCE FOR BOTH THERAPISTS AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS—and it is a joyful celebration of true resurrection in recovering women. (James B. Nelson, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities; Author, Thirst: God and the Alcoholic Experience)

Katherine van Wormer
HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN REVEALING THE POWER OF REDEMPTION AND THE JOY OF HEALING. The women's stories are compelling as well as empowering to the reader. . . . MUST READING FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE PRACTITIONERS, whether they are of the 12 Step tradition or as myself, of the harm reduction school; PASTORAL COUNSELORS WILL FIND MUCH OF VALUE HERE. Nanoff writes with conviction yet not dogmatically from the perspective of a feminist Christian theologian and clinical social worker as she takes us into the world of women who have found a 'pathway from hell to redemption.' Nanoff, through her skillful editing of interviews with women in recovery, maps the territory of their journeys so that others might follow the same path and find hope even in the most depressing of circumstances. Women battling the throes of addiction willing to embark on a spiritual journey will find many gems in this delightful volume on spiritual growth and recovery. Social work educators will find much of interest here for use in their teaching. Pastors will certainly want to keep copies on hand to share with members of the congregation dealing with issues related to alcoholism and drug use. Because the book is relevant to women's issues, counselors in women's shelters might well keep a supply on hand to share with residents who so often have a history of alcohol problems. (Katherine van Wormer, MSSW, PhD, Professor of Social Work, University of Northern Iowa; Co-Author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective)

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Part One: We Come to Tell Our Story
Chapter 1. A Conversation in Ordinary Time
Chapter 2. Entering Sacred Space
Part Two: We Come to Break the Bread
Chapter 3. From Story to Theory
Chapter 4. Descending into Hell: Shame and Guilt
Part Three: We Come to Know Our Rising from the Dead
Chapter 5. Standing Between Sin and Grace
Chapter 6. Navigating within Traditions
Chapter 7. To Speak Rightly of God
Chapter 8. Radical Brokenness and Radical Relationship
Chapter 9. On the Road to Emmaus
Chapter 10. More Conversations in Ordinary Time
Appendix
Notes

See also: Globalization and Resistance or Strategic Management Creating Value in Turbulent Times

Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life

Author: Andy Fisher

Personal in its style yet radical in its vision, Radical Ecopsychology offers an original introduction to ecopsychology-an emerging field that ties the human mind to the natural world. In order for ecopsychology to be a force for social change, Andy Fisher insists it must become a more comprehensive and critical undertaking. Drawing masterfully from humanistic psychology, hermeneutics, phenomenology, radical ecology, nature writing, and critical theory, he develops a compelling account of how the human psyche still belongs to nature. This daring and innovative book proposes a psychology that will serve all life, providing a solid base not only for ecopsychological practice, but also for a critical theory of modern society.

Author Biography: Andy Fisher is a psychotherapist in private practice.