In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi ISSN: (Online) 2305-0853, (Print) 1018-6441 Page 1 of 8 Original Research Introducing a re-reading of Lamentations through the lens of trauma studies: The challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic Author: When the world went into lockdown (2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the streets and 1 Johan L. Serfontein places of socialising became deserted – much like in the opening verse of Lamentations. This Affiliation: prompted a desire to re-read this book in light of the pandemic. The question was asked 1Unit for Reformational whether this book, set amidst the calamity of the Babylonian captivity and destruction of Theology and the Jerusalem, can be helpful. Can this book help us make meaning and sense in the face of a new Development of the South enemy that threatens the world? The article took note of all the necessary interpretations and African Society, Faculty of Theology, North-West introductions to the book of Lamentations and concluded that it can be read as lament and, in University, Potchefstroom, particular, communal lament. The language of lament, sometimes lost in a world of technology South Africa and positivity, can be helpful to verbalise loss and trauma. This elicited a discussion of trauma and biblical studies, and how they interact. Much of literature that originated in traumatic Corresponding author: Johan Serfontein, circumstances became ‘meaning-making literature’. It was the case with Lamentations back in
[email protected] the wake of 586 BCE and also in many other instances when the book was re-read. This article provided examples of these instances.