When Faith Meets Violence: A Trauma Theologian Responds

Dr. Septemmy E. Lakawa teaches mission studies, trauma theology, and feminist theology at Jakarta Theological Seminary. She interviewed women who have experienced violence and responded to the sexual abuse of Chinese women in Indonesia. To do justice for the abused victims, she urges us to address their ruptured lives and the wounds that remain. She believes that love is still possible for these victims, but it is a kind of ruptured love. She also shares her current research on blue theology to address climate change. Since much has been done on green theology, she wants to research women’s rituals and the sea—including rituals of resistance, healing, and persistence. She is the first female full professor at her school and the author of Compassion and Trauma: A New Imagination of Christian Mission in Indonesian.