The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves

Psychiatrist Curt Thompson is turning into one of my (James) favourite thinkers because of how he twins neuroscience and theology to make difficult personal realities transformative. Whether we realize it or not, shame affects every aspect of our lives, both personal and vocational. Thompson provides the theological and practical tools necessary to dismantle shame, based on years of researching its damaging effects and counseling people to overcome those wounds.

Thompson unpacks the soul of shame, revealing its ever-present nature and neurobiological roots. He shows how it seeks to destroy our identities, replacing them with damaged versions of ourselves and lifelong negative messages that bind us and gum up our creativity. But that is not how the story needs to end. With Thompson’s expertise and compassion, we can identify our pain and discover that the stories we tell ourselves about not being “enough” can be retold in empathic support networks to uncover a truer story. I believe that the underlying message of this book is that the God of the universe delights in us and is unleashing a story of new creation and vocational hope for us and all those in our spheres.

NB. The Soul of Shame is a slow read (lots of big words) and the process of finding freedom from shame is a slow one, but worth every minute.