Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist
IVP Readers' Choice Award
The Gospel Coalition Top Books
Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books
Outreach Magazine's Resources of the Year
We're all infected with a spiritual disease. Its name is shame.
Whether we realize it or not, shame affects every aspect of our personal lives and vocational endeavors. It seeks to destroy our identity in Christ, replacing it with a damaged version of ourselves that results in unhealed pain and brokenness. But God is telling a different story for your life.
Psychiatrist Curt Thompson unpacks the soul of shame, revealing its ubiquitous nature and neurobiological roots. He also provides the theological and practical tools necessary to dismantle shame, based on years of researching its damaging effects and counseling people to overcome those wounds.
Thompson's expertise and compassion will help you identify your own pains and struggles and find freedom from the lifelong negative messages that bind you. Rewrite the story of your life and embrace healing and wholeness as you discover and defeat shame's insidious agenda.
Introduction: The Story That Shame Is Trying to Tell
1. Our Problem with Shame
2. How Shame Targets the Mind
3. Joy, Shame and the Brain
4. The Story of Shame You Are Living
5. Shame and the Biblical Narrative
6. Shame's Remedy: Vulnerability
7. Our Healing Cloud of Witnesses
8. Redeeming Shame in Our Nurturing Communities
9. Renewing Vocational Creativity
Notes
Bibliography
"First and foremost, Curt Thompson is a wise, kind and generous guide through the foul thicket of shame. No word or topic sends people hiding more readily than shame, yet it is the brooding, merciless killer of joy in all our lives. Curt weaves biblical wisdom, neuroscience research and powerful stories into a covering that doesn't hide our shame but enables us to name what is keeping us from freedom and wonder. This is a magisterial work--thoughtful, compelling and transformative."--Dan B. Allender, professor of counseling psychology and founding president, The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology
"Though shame often exerts hidden, destructive power over us, The Soul of Shame invites us to find freedom with each other and in God's story of love for us. Curt Thompson weaves together experience, insightful stories, science and Scripture to invite us into a story of healing and flourishing together. This excellent book will help to guide my thoughts and relationships for a long time."--Kent Annan, author of After Shock and Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle
"As a wise man once testified, 'The worst moment in life is when you get everything you ever wanted and discover that it's not enough.' As Curt Thompson so clearly and compassionately demonstrates, it is this insidious not-enough-ness that embodies the very soul of shame. Anyone who longs to break free from the shackles of shame will find a wide array of valuable tools within the pages of this book."--David Williams, general superintendent, Evangelical Friends Church
"I've been waiting for Curt's book for fifteen years. As a pastor, professor and clinician, I see shame's devastation firsthand, particularly in the destructive coping mechanisms that accompany it. Curt doesn't offer quick fixes but instead provides a biblically wise, scientifically sound vision for a life lived in God's grand story, a story that renarrates our shame stories and enables us to experience healing and engage in mission. I'll be recommending this book often!"--Chuck DeGroat, associate professor of pastoral care and counseling, Western Theological Seminary, cofounder and senior fellow, Newbigin House of Studies
Curt Thompson (MD, Wright State University) is a board-certified psychiatrist and the founder of Being Known, an organization that develops resources for hope and healing at the intersection of neuroscience and Christian spiritual formation. He is also the author of The Soul of Shame and Anatomy of the Soul. Thompson and his wife, Phyllis, a licensed clinical social worker, are the parents of two children and live in Arlington, Virginia.
IVP
Pub Date: August 26, 2015
0.9" H x 9.1" L x 5.9" W
256 pages
hardcover