Date

5-23-2025

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)

Chair

Ashley Elizabeth Davis

Keywords

Nehemiah 9, Trauma, Phenomenology, Metacognition, Hebrew Bible

Disciplines

Psychology | Religion

Abstract

This study defends the thesis that Nehemiah 9:5–37 is a sermon with psychotherapeutic qualities, aimed at processing unaddressed and cross-generationally stored trauma. It does so through two modes of interpretation: מְפֹרָשׁ “informing” andשֹׂום שֶׂכֶל “forming.” The sermon is delivered on the Day of Atonement, in the aftermath of a communal Scripture reading in Jerusalem, sometime after the return from the Babylonian Exile. Phenomenological and metacognitive frameworks inform the analysis of the passage as transformative and identity-shaping, grounded in repentance and self-reflection.

This textually rich passage weaves together quotations, allusions, echoes, reinterpretations, and summaries—likely the result of multiple editorial hands. Yet, a sophisticated process of scripturalization is at work, employing various strategies (deindividualization, ancestral identification and literary mellowing) to communicate covenantal standards to a community suffering from generational trauma. Notably, the passage demonstrates how Scripture grows organically within the community: the author incorporates both theological and psychological insights about the audience and carefully adapts interpretation to their needs. The context of the Day of Atonement is significant and shapes the penitential tone of the passage. The people physically and spiritually reenact the rituals of the day: they wear sackcloth, cover themselves with ashes, and fast. Their bodies are afflicted, as are their souls—ready to renounce sin and embrace life with God. Their unprocessed trauma is somatized; they are depersonalized, feeling disconnected from reality, describing themselves as mere carcasses and slaves to sin, unable to move forward. The power of repentance—confessing sins stored for generations—initiates change and reawakens the desire to reenter a covenantal relationship with God, an experience akin to psychological flow or spiritual wholeness.

This study traces how the text transforms the people and their behavior—from sinful disorientation to communion with God. After being informed, the people are being formed, they apply the Scriptures in the present moment, transitioning from the burdens of past trauma to the optimal experience of unity with God. There, they rediscover a creational, whole life that transcends time and focuses entirely on their Creator. The ritual of reading the Scriptures and their implementation processes stored trauma, overcomes the limitations of mundane life, and brings the people into a meaningful ‘now’—the faithful covenant with God.

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