Traumatized Church: What Paul's Relationship with the Corinthian Church Teaches Us About Helping Those Who are Hurting

by Scot McKnight, Adrienne Gibson

A compassionate and practical framework to address the wounds of trauma and learn how to develop churches as trauma-informed spaces.

Whether you're a pastor, counselor, church leader, or someone who has been hurt by the church, Traumatized Church—written jointly by New Testament scholar Scot McKnight and therapist Adrienne Gibson—will help you on the road to healing and understanding.

Diving deeply into the realities of trauma—how it impacts individuals, communities, and ministries—Traumatized Church pairs theological insights with counseling expertise to guide readers through the four R's of trauma  Realize, Recognize, Respond, and Resist.

McKnight examines the life of the apostle Paul and his complex relationship with the Corinthian church, offering biblical wisdom from Paul's life that helps us shape a renewed response to trauma within the church today.Gibson relates stories of real experiences, practical advice, and scripturally grounded therapy insights to encourage a Kingdom-minded approach to community, rooted in love and restoration rather than re-traumatization.
From understanding the symptoms of trauma in today's church members to providing actionable steps to foster safety, trust, support, collaboration, and empowerment, this book creates a roadmap for healing.

If you're ready to transform your understanding of trauma and begin building spaces of redemption, Traumatized Church is an essential resource for your ministry or personal growth.

Together, we can create churches that reflect Christ's healing and compassion.

Genres: Christian

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 21, 2026

About the author

Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of forty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).

Reviews

[Jake Augeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrienne & Scot have done a beautiful job of speaking to a need that it seems like large portions the church don’t want to believe exists.. They rightfully speak about the reality that churches today are filled with people who have experienced trauma at the deepest levels. How a church responds to and cares for those people is absolutely critical. In taking a deep dive into Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, they have provided a fresh perspective on how he approached deep pain and trauma in his own life. In doing so, they teach from both a biblical and clinical perspective what happens when people experience trauma. This insight is incredibly helpful and informative so that we can better love and serve those in pain. This book provides a needed road map that weds the church to the mental health field in a way that’s refreshing, challenging, and convicting. This is a book that pastors, mental health practitioners, and those who simply want to serve and love others in pain should read!

[Cora Kertzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had good points about listening to our congregations, and I even liked the perspective about Paul’s persecution as a minister … but I felt there was an underlying agenda, a lot of personal hurt coming from the authors, and not a lot of practical tips or super applicable Scripture.

I think this book has to be for a certain audience, and that just wasn’t me.

[Laurel Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is invaluable to you if you want to create a safe church or organization. A must read for leaders to prevent unintended harm as well as to safeguard themselves from harm or burnout. Creating trauma informed spaces is necessary for creating safe spaces for people to grow. A book every church leader and member should read!

[Dan Bouchelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important work. The material on trauma and trauma care is a helpful summary of more robust resources, but the insight on the Apostle Paul and the norming of ministerial trauma is exceptional and refreshing, in addition to making all of Paul’s epistles more approachable and useful. Also, the concept of “Gospel Fawning” is compelling.

[Hannah Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biblically solid with practical application. I am now more equipped to be a church leader that is more trauma-sensitive to those in my care.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic book! I found the lens through which McKnight and Gibson invite us to explore Paul’s relationship with the church in Corinth to be insightful and helpful. This book builds on McKnight’s previous co-authored books, Tov and Pivot, adding reflections on how churches or groups within churches can harm pastors. Combining biblical exegesis with insights from trauma research provides an important resource for exploring the often complex relationships that occur in church, especially where power dynamics are at play. As a former pastor and current leader within a local church, I have witnessed and experienced the harm that goes both ways. This is an important work! I highly recommend it for church leadership teams.

[Rande K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunate

The book is an excuse for a political opinion. McKnight can’t hide his disdain for conservatives. I cannot recommend this book.

[Ryan George · Rating 1 out of 5]

Scot McNight spends his sections of the book extrapolating upon the theory that Paul was traumatized by the church in first-century Corinth and writing from a place of PTSD. This premise and its ramifications could’ve worked without that strained conjecture. It’s an original premise to reframe church hurt as not always being top-down but also collectively congregation-up or peer-to-peer on a church staff. Adrienne Gibson’s fewer and shorter sections of the work proved more practical, especially the short finale.