"In God alone my soul can find rest" (Ps62:2) : Silence and pain in the Psalms and their narrativizations in Taizé

Abstract

Atheological perspective on dealing with crises that focuses on modes of endurance and gestalt, is supported by interdisciplinary resilience research. How can silence contribute to aproductive coping with crises and pain? Texts and practices of the Christian tradition are discussed with respect to their ways of dealing with critical and painful situations, namely a)the Psalm texts of the Old Testament, which are examined by means of exegetical methods for historical and cultural aspects of meaning and b)the practice of silence in the prayers of the Taizé community, which are examined from anarrative hermeneutical perspective. By understanding silence as an ambiguous and ambivalent phenomenon, it can contribute to aproductive way of dealing with pain that enables perception, confrontation and acceptance. It is crucial not to regard the silence of asufferer as amere endurance, but also to have an eye on the creative potentials. Cultural and religious narratives and practices can help to locate oneself in a"space of silence" in such away that aresilient way of dealing with experiences of pain becomes possible. In order for silence to promote resilience, it is necessary to keep an eye on productive as well as destructive processes of silence as an ambivalent phenomenon: These processes occur in an uncontrollable way and are shaped by implicit normative assumptions. Silence can be experienced as loneliness, isolation and the loss of quality of life, or silence can become aplace of encounter, of arrival, of security, and in prayer of trust in God.