Lament

Biblical poetry, in particular the psalms of lament, provides a model of how composing one's own lament and performing it to God can be a positive element in healing the effects of trauma. In an empirical study, Zulu youth who had experienced various forms of trauma, learned to use the model of biblical psalms of lament to compose their own laments. The process of regaining agency, establishing a sense of justice (with an appeal for the perpetrator of the hurt to be punished), and a rekindling of hope for life going forward, all elements of biblical lament, are also vital parts of the healing process. Thus it is suggested that the use of poetry, in the form of biblical lament, can contribute to the healing of those who have suffered trauma.

Is there a place for sadness in contemporary praise and worship music? Should there be a place for sadness in contemporary praise and worship music? How can pastors, church leaders, and songwriters create a place for sadness in a contemporary worship service?

There appears to be little room for sadness in the contemporary praise and worship music. Creating collective religious rituals for lament is not only an effective way of mitigating sadness but also consistent with the rituals of lament found in the Psalms. Christians can find ways to express lament, even while confessing sin, remaining patient in hope, and joyful in expectation. However, with a few simple yet intentional changes, songwriters, worship leaders and pastors can play a role in creating a place for Christians to express sadness, and to do so not as ‘those without hope’.

Desperation, bitterness, and fear not only bring people to doubt themselves but also God. Psalm 13 can help enter into a conversation with God and overcome the hopelessness. This article demonstrates how the path that Ps 13 follows can also be significant for the modern reader. It leads us through a process of prayer in which we move from complaint through petition into a new trust and God as well as (anticipatory) praise. The article also responds to (Christian) objections to the legitimacy of complaint, emphasizing the importance of this form of speech with God.

This paper, a sequel to the one published in Vertigo 1-2/2018, presents a Slovak translation of the famous "Ubi sunt?" scene from the second part of La Chanson de Guillaume. Almost each stanza (laisse) is accompanied by extensive commentaries.

The noticeable analogies between the funeral laments of Anna and Juturna in the Aeneid have been often explained as a means of linking the sisters of the two main Aeneas’ opponents. But the common features of the two passages (and their differences) become more clear if we trace back them to the tradition of the historical funeral lament, already included in the Iliad and used by Virgil to represent nature and feelings of these two sad characters.

An examination of how Spurgeon used and highlighted the benefits of lament psalms in congregational worship in the book, Finding Lost Words: The Church’s Right to Lament. Edited by G. G. Harper and K. Barker. Australian College of Theology Monograph Series. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2017. The full book can be purchased here:
http://wipfandstock.com/finding-lost-words.html

Blake Wilson
Paper delivered at conference: “Henricus Isaac (ca. 1450/55–1517): Composition – Reception – Interpretation,” University of Vienna, July 1-3, 2017.

Published in: Henricus Isaac (ca. 1450–1517): Composition – Reception – Interpretation WIENER FORUM FÜR ÄLTERE MUSIKGESCHICHTE, eds. S. Gasch, M. Grassl, B. Lodes and A. V. Rabe (Vienna: Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, 2019), 153-176.

Remembering Isaac Remembering Lorenzo: The Musical Legacy of Quis dabit

In a lively series of articles and communications during the 1970s, Allan Atlas, Martin Staehelin, and Richard Taruskin focused our attention on Isaac's Lorenzo lament, Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, especially its relationship to his Missa salva nos. This paper seeks a fresh view of the motivic structure of Quis dabit, in particular its almost obsessive deployment of a figure drawn from the mass that is re-contextualized in the motet, and subsequently widely adopted as an expressive figura. This will then provide the basis for a close look at the legacy of this iconic work in the decades after the death of Lorenzo (1492), when early madrigal composers again took up a Poliziano text dealing with the subject of mourning, this time from his Fabula d’Orfeo. Also at issue here is the extent to which the citation of musical and textual material linked to Quis dabit (esp. in the madrigal by Francesco Layolle, whose direct allusion to Isaac’s music is the particular focus of this paper) invoked Florentine cultural practice of the Laurentian era at a time (the 1520s) when its composer had been dead but a few years, and when Florentine cultural & political identity hung in the balance. Or to put the question a different way: what meanings did the music of one of Isaac's most obviously Laurentian works hold shortly after the composer's death, when the city's political and cultural life was in flux?

Relatively little attention has been paid to biblical parallels to the wretched "I" of Rom 7:14-25. A few scholars have observed features shared with the psalms of lament, but these studies have been limited in scope and have proved inconclusive in identifying the "I." A comparison between Romans 7 and one of the psalms of lament, namely Psalm 119, reveals a number of significant verbal and conceptual correspondences, which throw fresh light onto previously unclear aspects of the "I"'s monologue. In addition , Paul's wretched "I" is revealed as inhabiting the same symbolic world as the Christ-believers in Rome, experiencing with them the resurrection of lament in Christ.

Όταν ο Σοφοκλής καταπιάνεται με το μύθο του οίκου των Ατρειδών και τη δολοφονία της Κλυταιμήστρας από τον γιό της Ορέστη, επιδεικνύει καινοφανές (σε σύγκριση με τους δύο μεγάλους ομοτέχνούς του, Αισχύλο και Ευριπίδη) ενδιαφέρον για το πάθος και το ήθος της κόρης του Αγαμέμνονα. Στο πρόσωπο της Ηλέκτρας αντί στη δράση του Ορέστη πέφτει ο θεατρικός του προβολέας. Το βίωμα του ακατάπαυστου θρήνου της αντί η πράξη της μητροκτονίας τίθεται στον πυρήνα της δραματικής του αφήγησης. Η Ηλέκτρα του Σοφοκλή θα μπορούσε να ιδωθεί ως μια εμβριθής και εκτενής διατριβή στην προβληματική και στη δυναμική του γυναικείου θρήνου. Ο τρόπος που ο σκηνοθετικός σχεδιασμός της πρώτης παράστασης ενεργοποιεί και νοηματοδοτεί ποικιλοτρόπως αυτό το μεγάθεμα του Σοφόκλειου δράματος  είναι το κεντρικό ερώτημα που θέτει η εν λόγω εισήγηση. Εστιάζοντας στη φερώνυμη πρωταγωνίστρια Ηλέκτρα, η ανάλυση εξετάζει το πώς βασικές παράμετροι της  σκηνικής της παρουσίας (κινησιολογία, σκευή) λειτουργούν εντός του πλαισίου των ιδεολογικών και θεατρικών συμβάσεων της πρώτης παράστασης. Η απόπειρα να ψηλαφίσουμε το σώμα της θρηνούσας Ηλέκτρας μας καθιστά κοινωνούς του βαθύτερου νοήματος της χαρακτηρολογίας και της θεματικής του Σοφόκλειου έργου. Περαιτέρω δε διαφωτίζει πτυχές της τεχνικής  της (ανα)παράστασης του θρήνου στην αρχαιοελληνική θεατρική παράδοση. Μας φέρνει τέλος αντιμέτωπους εκ νέου με θεμελιώδη ερωτήματα για τη φύση του θεατρικού είδους υπό μελέτη, τη στενή σχέση ανάμεσα σε θρήνο και αρχαιοελληνική τραγωδία, για τη θεραπευτική δυνατότητα της θεατρικής αναπαράστασης του πένθους εν γένει.

By Federico G. Villanueva, 2007 -- An interesting feature in the Psalter, which has been the subject of much scholarly attention for almost a hundred years now, is the sudden change of mood in the lament psalms. Unfortunately, this subject has been approached only in terms of the movement lament-praise. As the very term that has come to be associated with the subject reveals - `Certainty of a Hearing' - lament psalms are always expected to move to praise or to some kind of resolution. Whilst not denying the presence of a movement towards praise, this dissertation seeks to offer a new approach by arguing that we do not only have a `Certainty of a Hearing'; we also have an `Uncertainty of a Hearing'. We do not only have a movement from lament to praise; we also have a reverse movement from praise to lament, a return to lament after praise and an alternation between lament and praise. It is important that we highlight these other movements. For focusing only on the movement towards praise actually leads to an undermining of the value of lament. Since lament is viewed as "always underway" (to use Westermann's words) towards praise, lament comes to be regarded simply as something to be done away with, praise being the goal, the more vital element. But by highlighting the other movements, the element of tension and uncertainty which forms a central part of the lament is restored.
(This dissertation was provided for research purposes at the following website:
https://ethos.bl.uk/ProcessOrderDetailsDirect.do?eprintId=493537&thesisTitle=The+%27Uncertainty+of+a+Hearing%27+%3A+a+study+of+the+sudden+change+of+mood+in+the+individual+lament+psalms&documentId=19)

The brokenness of this world inevitably invades our lives. But how do you maintain faith when overwhelmed by grief? When prayer goes unanswered? When all you have are questions, not answers? What do you say to God when you know he is in control but the suffering continues unabated? Is there any alternative to remaining speechless in the midst of pain and heartbreak?

This book is about finding words to use when life is hard. These words are not new. They are modes of expression that the church has drawn on in times of grief throughout most of its history. Yet, the church in the West has largely abandoned these words--the psalms of lament. The result is that believers often struggle to know what to do or say when faced with distress, anxiety, and loss. Whether you are in Christian leadership, training for ministry, or simply struggling to reconcile experience with biblical convictions, Finding Lost Words will help you consider how these ancient words can become your own.

The overall intention of this new (2019) study is to provide an analysis of the poem “Lament” that, hopefully, will be beneficial to both students and interested Dylan Thomas readers. The essay first addresses the background to “Lament”:- its position as a ‘late’ poem within the twenty-year (approximately) calendar of the Thomas oeuvre; the possible influences of the poet’s domestic and productive life at the time of writing; its synchronicity with Thomas’s other creative endeavours. Then the poem’s raunchy theme and its objective are examined: what is the poem about and what is its overall purpose? What is the poem’s thematic structure, its mood and its tone? What is Dylan Thomas trying to communicate to his readers and listeners? But the core of this essay centres upon detailed explication:- a stanza by stanza, line by line construal which, noting imagery, vocabulary and syntax, endeavours to elicit meaning, poetic intention and, where appropriate, identifies alternative interpretations. Then there’s an examination of the poetics:- “Lament”, written just thirty months before Thomas’s untimely death, exemplifies a wide range of poetic techniques and the art of versification. The abundant metaphors and symbols are reviewed; the prosody and Thomas’s craftsmanship are also examined by highlighting and suggesting the poet’s rationale behind instances and usages of (e.g.):-  structure and metre, themes and tone, alliteration and assonance, consonance and rhyme, refrain and repetition, enjambment. Next, the essay  reviews how the poem sounds in recital. Almost all of Thomas’s poetry was primarily designed for the ear - it was for ‘listening to’ as well as for ‘looking at’. “Lament” in particular, is a poem noted for its powerful auditory impact. Thomas’s own remarkable recorded recitation of the poem is examined and his tonal, volume and vocal variations are recognised and the effects explored. Finally, within the range of works which evaluate and critique Dylan Thomas’s poetry, assessments of “Lament” are conspicuous - probably due to its erotic themes, its reputed bawdiness and suggestive imagery. The essay notes some of the views expressed and challenges or applauds them as appropriate.

In this paper, I explore how Greek and Roman poets alluded to the lamentatory background of elegy through the figures of the swan and the nightingale. After surveying the ancient association of elegy and lament (Section I) and the common metapoetic function of birds from Homer onwards (Section II), I analyse Hellenistic and Roman examples where the nightingale (Section III) and swan (Section IV) emerge as symbols of elegiac poetics. The legends associated with both birds rendered them natural models of lamentation. But besides this thematic association, I consider the ancient terms used to describe their song, especially its shrillness (λιγυρότης/liquiditas) and sweetness (γλυκύτης/dulcedo) (Section V). I demonstrate how these two terms connect birdsong, lament and elegiac poetry in a tightly packed nexus. These birds proved perfect emblems of elegy not only in their constant lamentation, but also in the very sound and nature of their song.

The Psalms contain some of the most uninhibited and volatile expressions of emotion in all of the Bible. This is perhaps seen most sharply in the psalms of lament, of which Psalm 88 stands as the one of the most emotive and agonizing examples in the genre. Psalm 88 is a hopeless exception among the laments in
which the psalmist does not end with a confident turn to the ‘Thou’, but rather lingers in his solitude and anguish. Other psalms - such as 39 and 143 - may lack resolution, but none end as bleakly as 88. Given that this psalm stands as such a unique entry in the Psalter, it will be valuable to look more closely at its
theological message. This essay will suggest that its unresolved and unanswered suffering provides an important model of a faithful sufferer who continues to cry to God though he feels abandoned by him.

Published in 1659, "Appresso ai molli argenti"  exemplifies Strozzi’s sophisticated approach to the mid-seventeenth-century cantata-lament. Analysis of the poetic structure reveals a five-part textual form, but Strozzi articulates two distinct yet complementary halves: an extroverted outpouring of grief followed by consolation through reminiscence. Strozzi defines these sections by drawing on two distinct trends in the operatic lament tradition—the recitative lament and the aria-based descending-tetrachord lament. She further uses two distinct tonal plans, the first cadencing on a wide range of key notes and the second more firmly centered around A. In part two, Strozzi further juxtaposes the descending tetrachord with moments of “pure voice,” heightening the consolatory reprieve of the work’s second half. By giving voice to despair while creating room for musical and emotional reprieve, Strozzi shapes the poetry into a tightly-knit and musically-compelling narrative that surpasses the implied structures of poetry alone.

Within the last few decades, a Christian movement has emerged led by scholars such as Claus Westermann and Walter Brueggemann to reclaim the tradition of protest against God as a resource for dealing with suffering and catastrophe. In attempting to reclaim protest against God, it would behoove Christians to sit at the feet of the Jewish people who have been utilizing and developing the tradition beyond the canon of Scripture for the last two millennia. This essay offers a theological explanation for the persistence and development of the tradition of protest against God in Judaism and its paucity in Christianity. After a brief survey of the Jewish tradition of protest against God, the essay will move towards a comparative moment by seeking new perspectives on Christian spirituality in light of Jewish protest against God.

This paper analyses the roles played by Contemporary Worship within Christian work with young people. It draws from Stages of Faith categories identified by Westerhoff and Fowler. It correlates the "searching" stage with Brueggemann's "disorientation" psalms, and discusses the lack of lament within youth worship. This essay was written for my King's College MA in Contemporary Worship.

By looking at storytelling in Ireland, the Fenian Cycle, and the idea of marriage, I will lay a foundation to take a closer look at Créde and Gráinne in their own episodes. From there, I will discuss their individual elopements and their laments, and what this tells us about the women. Though Tóraidheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (‘The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne’) is one of the best-known stories of the Fenian Cycle, the story of Créde and Cáel will be included in this paper because of Créde’s well-preserved lament. The focus of this paper will be on what we learn about these women and their characterisation through their tales and own words. This will be done by discussing Créde lament and Gráinne’s lost lament.

Author: Douglas Groothuis
Publisher: CBE International

Biblical feminism is an oxymoron—or so I thought when I met Becky Merrill in 1983. She had leanings in this direction, but I did not let that stop me from being interested in her. But time makes fools of us all, especially when God undermines our convictions and replaces them with new insights into old issues. That year Becky joined the staff of The McKenzie Study Center, a campus ministry in Eugene, Oregon, which served The University of Oregon through teaching, writing, and discipleship. Fresh after receiving my bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1979, I joined this ambitious ministry, modeled on the vision of Francis Schaeffer. As a small team of under-funded but earnest evangelicals, we desired to defend and apply the Christian worldview at a secular university. Becky joined us to work as a graphic designer, editor, and writer—all before computers were used for this.

The process of canonisation of the Hebrew Bible resulted in more than simply a collection of discrete short stories, linked only by all being about God’s relation with creation focused through Israel. Instead, the redactional work of chronological ordering, thematic linking, and intertextual allusion brought about something greater than the sum of the parts: the story of Israel. There is a discernible narrative logic, coherence, and momentum present in the canon. Hence it is appropriate to interrogate this overarching narrative with questions of narratological analysis: what sort of story is this? what is the occasion/s of its telling? who are its characters? and crucially, what makes this story “tellable”?

Theories of narrative claim that the “tellability” of a story depends on a story containing both disruption/disequilibrium, a breach of expectation, and the subjective experience of  such disruption, “what it’s like” to live through it. As applied to the story of Israel as a whole, the catastrophe of Exile is the ultimate breach, for it strikes at the heart of the canonical claim that the God of Israel is a God of promise, compassion, and sovereign power, committed to the wellbeing of Israel and all peoples without reserve.

And here we encounter a conundrum: the expression of the subjective experience of undergoing the Exile is notably absent in the accounts of the Exile (2 Kings 25; Jer 52), but nevertheless found elsewhere in the canon in poetic form (Lamentations), displaced from its narrative frame. Why is this the case, and given such displacement, can we have confidence that the story as a whole is tellable?

We begin by noting that this absence of subjectivity in Exile narratives is not an isolated instance. Rather, Hebrew Bible stories are renowned for their emotional minimalism, their disinclination to render the interiority of characters. As Robert Alter famously said, they excel in “the art of reticence”. So why then are these stories not untellable?

Literary critics of the Hebrew Bible, such as Alter, Sternberg, Kermode, and Josipovici, have argued convincingly that despite (and sometimes even through) such minimalism, Hebrew Bible stories do in fact convey a depth of characterisation, but do so in subtle, understated ways, in a style unfamiliar to most modern Western readers.

This paper however explores a different argument to address this question of tellability, especially as it pertains to the story as a whole. First, when we study poetry embedded in/paired with narratives, the poetry in each case conveys an abundance of subjectivity (e.g. Gens 2; Exod 14-15; Judges 4-5; 1 Sam 1-2; Jonah; Job; etc.). This suggests that the Israelites expressed “what it’s like” to live through disruption primarily through poetry. Secondly, there are many examples of richly subjective poetry that have been displaced canonically/literarily from their originating stories but are strongly tied to such (e.g. Lamentations, Psalm 51). Thirdly, there are a number of such poems which are weakly moored to a narrative event, typically through a superscription or vague referents in the poem itself (e.g. Psalm 34). Finally, there are many examples of such poetry which are free floating, able to be read as the subjective experience of the inside any number of stories (e.g. Psalm 13).

In developing the argument in this way, not only is the rationale for this disjunction (and its gradable variants) explained, but crucially, our confidence in the tellability of the story of Israel as a whole is shown to be well-founded, because expressing the subjectivity of the experience of disruption through poetry is shown to be as much a part of Hebrew Bible literary technique as its narrative minimalism.

The implications of this are significant, for if the Hebrew Bible lacked lament altogether the problem would not be simply its ostensible emotional blandness – the arguments of literary critics notwithstanding – but that the story of Israel in its entirety would risk losing its “tellability” and hence fail as a story. So for this reason I endeavour to argue the case for the narratological necessity of lament.

Biblical poetry, in particular the psalms of lament, provides a model of how composing one's own lament and performing it to God can be a positive element in healing the effects of trauma. In an empirical study, Zulu youth who had experienced various forms of trauma, learned to use the model of biblical psalms of lament to compose their own laments. The process of regaining agency, establishing a sense of justice (with an appeal for the perpetrator of the hurt to be punished), and a rekindling of hope for life going forward, all elements of biblical lament, are also vital parts of the healing process. Thus it is suggested that the use of poetry, in the form of biblical lament, can contribute to the healing of those who have suffered trauma.

Discusses choral lament scenes in French Baroque opera in the context of historical state funeral culture.  Asks what staged choral mourning can tell us about the political imagination of publicity and participation under Louis XIV and Louis XV.

Review article of Nili Samet's "The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur." Mesopotamian Civilizations 18. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014. With an edition of the overlooked bilingual fragment BM 67111. To be read together with U. Gabbay and L. Vacín, The bilingual Ur Lament tablet BM 67111: Corrections, additions, collations, Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires 1/2018, no. 35: pp. 58-59.

Da Omero a Virgilio: la riscrittura epica del lamento funebre tradizionale. Seminario tenuto il 12 aprile 2022 presso il Dipartimento di Scienze umane dell'Università della Basilicata nell'àmbito dei Seminari di Archeologia e Cultura classica - IX Ciclo e del Dottorato in Storia, culture e saperi dell'Europa mediterranea dall'antichità all'età contemporanea - cicli XXXVI e XXXVII.

I follow the thread of the theme of the sacked city from its earliest
manifestation in Mesopotamian historiography to the Iliad, showing that
the Greek epic picked up on many themes originating in early second millennium Mesopotamia, and reworked them to new purposes. As with
the Hittites, the Greeks used the claim of responsibility for the destruction
of a famous city to position themselves on the world stage and to place
themselves in world history, conceived of as a series of cities destroyed in
turn. The deepened understanding of the tradition behind the Homeric
epic improves our ability to appreciate the innovations as well. Furthermore, I  suggest that we take into account not only the interplay
between female personal lament and male epic in the Iliad, but also
possible influence from an indigenous liturgical lament tradition originally
cognate with the Mesopotamian one, but diverging decisively when it
began to be used to celebrate in cult a city whose ruined walls became
the locus of cultural memories about a lost age of heroes.

First of all as it is defined as a form of action, ağlama-lament is a way of expression in the music means being an indication of the cultural identity and women identity respectively.
The screams which are taking place in the outcome of the woman sentimental life and which are trans- formed with proficiency into the melodi as” ağlama- lament “, are the important examples of the change and the transformation issues while in becoming alienated to the former and to the new era with the impact of the new locality accordingly. These exam- ples with emphasizing the difference of women kind of expression, in the mean time the existence of the musical productions belonging to the women has been confirmed once again. The Ağlama-lament which is examined as “lament” in the perspective of music and literature has been included in the work- shop by processing the area investigations previ- ously. As investigation issue, the cultural workshops, folklore, musicology and etnomusicology methods are used hereof. Subject to the “participant observa- tion” and site observation methods respect to the etnomusicology are performed by using the verbal history by taking into consideration that each person has their own personal history.
In the beginning the examples of “ağlama-lament” taken from the city Trabzon’s the montain pasture Hacka which is attached to the district Düzkoy, Çalkoy and Çayırbagı villages situated in the east- ern Black Sea, furthermore it has been met at the North Cyprus Turkish Republic in return. The exam- ples taken, following the Turkish Peace Operation of 1974, in Bahceli village attached to Girne in which the (Black Sea originated) people which are concen- trated there coming from Trabzon as immigrant and the examples taken from the woman originated from Trabzon immigrated to Istanbul have shown the similar characters. Although together with the im- migrated land and the difference of location impact the differentiation function of woman life has been a question of. So together with the transformation of the screams into the music and the differentiation
due to the transformation are meaningful in defin- ing the women identity and the women music respec- tively. Thus, in this article, it is aimed to take up the differentiation between the past and today, change and formation, and their effects on social structure with the reflection upon women music and identity. And it is tried to explain that it is production of women or formed with women saying, coming from traditions to nowadays and including various im- ages are belong to females world. But women’s own lives which are secret, is not written or drawn much, their womanhood, and the conditions of living as women have been examined with “women music” samples including expressions on women lives.
Cultural identity is a sort of identity, at the same time it is one of the expression ways of identity. It is in a change and formation with different factors. Music which is located in cultural identity is one of the expression ways and it has been evaluated as “female (women) music”. “Women music” defines the music which has been produced by females, and has been recorded from females. “Ağlama-lament” is rare and very important samples which belong to “women music”. Musical samples are taken from ordinary people, the wealth in women’s expression of their own worlds and creativity in imaging these and expressions are the most important determining properties. But, it is possible to obtain these samples from the women over 50 ages. Because the younger generation do not want to know singing and produc- ing of these musical samples, and for this reason they do not know.
Thus, it is certain that they have changed in time. It is possible to say that this change is a reflection of a change in identity. The process in modernizing and the change occured in culture and formation of cul- tural identity have affected the musical tastes and even though they live in the same region they do not have any request possessing the traditional ele- ments. Some of these elements belong to “women music”. Although the women have worked in agri- cultural areas, change in form of production and daily life has changed the musical function with musical production.

Biblical lament provides a vital way of maintaining a healthy relationship with God when one’s life experience does not match up with one’s beliefs. Not to lament in such a situation is to deny authenticity. And, as the psychological theories of authenticity indicate, this leads to a person having reduced self-esteem and a lower sense of personal well-being.

In this study, women (and a few men) from a poor community in Cape Town, South Africa, were invited to study some psalms of lament and then to compose their own laments. A validated measure of authenticity (the Authenticity Index) was administered to them before and after the lament exercise, as well as Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and two measures of personal well-being (the Affect Balance Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale). It became apparent that the opportunity to express themselves using the form of biblical lament led to a greater sense of authenticity for participants. Their responses on the other scales also indicated that they found the opportunity to lament led to an enhanced sense of self-esteem and well-being. This suggests that those committed to facilitating psychological healing for those who have suffered trauma will do well to provide space for pain-bearers to lament following the biblical pattern.