On Suffering

My mind has been cloudy with many a theological thought these days.  Namely, thoughts on soteriology, suffering, and redemption.  I can't seem to stop thinking about it.  Situations in the lives of my friends, and my own life, keep lending to the questions.  I do love how whenever I'm this passionate about some theological topic or another, new people and ideas seem to pop up wherever I go, and I find myself stumbling into the conversation when I least expect it.  Poor professors, especially, open this particular Pandora's Box without really meaning to, and are disrupted from their lectures by my taking to my proverbial soap box.  I can almost hear them thinking, "No, really, I was just talking about the church in the 13th century...not your struggle with victimization and the divine."

But then I think--are they ever truly separated from each other?  If I'm going to learn about history, pastoral care, even Hebrew, don't I also have to cope with my all of my theological struggles alongside?  I don't think we can treat theology like the plates they give you at picnics--pre-divided so that the food can be easily managed and organized.  Faith, theology, it is all much messier than that.

All that being said, I have nothing but questions at this point.  They are all questions that come from places of deep grief in me, but also places of deep hope for healing.  I am not scared of the questions--I'm actually happy to be this engaged in my faith.  I haven't felt this way in a long time.  Yet it is not without a little trepidation that I ask them at all.

So, onto the questions: how do we talk about the death and the suffering of Christ as redemptive without encouraging, on some level, patterns of violence?  Can we talk about hope in suffering while also telling people that they are allowed to leave harmful situations?  Can the portrayal of suffering as strengthening/hopeful/etc. ever be empowering to the victimized?  Is suffering different than victimization?  What do we think the Bible has to say about this all?  Thoughts/more questions/dissertations are welcome :-)