When Stories Wound - by Nathaniel Samuel (Paperback)

About the Book

"How do we live responsibly in a world shaped by narrative? When Stories Wound explores the significance of narrative for moral agency and engages the harm that our current polarizations have inflicted and our apathy and indifference towards it. When Stories Wound urges readers to be conscious of the stories we live and to re-imagine what responsibility looks like"--

Book Synopsis

How is moral agency shaped by the narratives we inherit, tell, and live through?

How do we live responsibly in a world shaped by narrative? When Stories Wound explores the significance of narrative for moral agency and engages the harm that our current polarizations have inflicted. This harm is often rooted in false, stereotyping, and dehumanizing narratives about others, by which we rationalize the existence of the wounded and abrogate responsibility for the work of healing and restoration.

Faced with the task of discerning how to live within our increasingly contested public spaces, Nathaniel Samuel suggests that the primary moral question for today is not centered on questioning what is the right thing to do, but rather asking, What are the right stories that must be known, and what is the fitting response? When Stories Wound urges readers to be conscious of the stories we live and to re-imagine what responsibility looks like--as only such commitment can break the hold of the divisive myths that we live, and recover the truth of our common humanity, shared brokenness, and mutual dependence.

Review Quotes

"Samuel invites me, yet again, to consider the stories I live inside of, to question my own tired assumptions, to wake up to the gift of love and the growth that produces fruit."
Cynthia Wallace, The Englewood Review of Books-- (5/16/2025 12:00:00 AM)

"Nathaniel Samuel reminds us that we are responsible for one another, for our stories are intertwined, shaping and reshaping one another's stories and lives. A clear, accessible, and profound theology of everyday living nudges us to cross divides, to risk encounter, to be neighbor--to commit to solidarity in compassionate, concrete care and love."
M. Shawn Copeland, professor emerita, Boston College-- (11/18/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"When Stories Wound is a lucid, insightful, persuasive account of how the deep--often hidden--cultural and personal stories that shape our lives can distort our perceptions, diminish our humanity and root our ongoing destructive political, religious and social polarizations. Samuel recognizes that in the situation of deep conflict, only living in and living out a more inclusive deep story can begin to heal the wounds. Working to heal is challenging, but Samuel offers a guide to walking that path. A terrific contribution to doing practical theology in our fractured context."
Terrence W. Tilley, Professor Emerita, Fordham University, author of Story Theology-- (11/22/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"This text is critically important considering the world in which we live today. In the United States, the major story is of the presidential election as presented to us in numerous stories, some of which distort the truth and speak in lies and negativity, while others attempt to heal that which divides us. Calling for mutual responsibility in healing the wounds, and moving 'from apathy to responsibility, ' Samuel calls for significant changes in how we live today. The author calls us to 'cross the road' as the Samaritan did and seek to re-envision our lives as Christ did, creating new stories of love and empathy, caring and 'response-ability, ' that is healing and holy for us all."
Diana L. Hayes, Professor Emerita, Georgetown University-- (10/31/2024 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Nathaniel Samuel, PhD, is assistant professor of liberation theology at the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago, where he teaches classes in social justice, social ethics, and political economy. He holds graduate degrees in theology and ministry from Boston College and in economics from the University of London. Originally from St. Lucia, he lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.