Post-traumatic growth and the origins of early Christianity

This paper applies the concept of post-traumatic growth, and some contemporary psychological models of wisdom, to the phenomenon of the emergence and development of Christianity in the aftermath of the traumatic death of its leader. It is argued that a process of 'sense-making' is evident in the New Testament texts, particularly the Passion narratives. There is evidence that this process involved a modification of existing cultural schemas to accommodate both the challenges posed by the death of Jesus and his followers' affective experience of his continuing presence. The texts also contain evidence of a developing wisdom tradition based on the transformation of suffering into victory, the finding of strength in weakness, and the emergence of wisdom where human thinking reaches its limits. It is suggested that the meaning and social cohesion that this provided for the primitive Church go some way towards explaining its dramatic growth and resilience in the face of persecution.