Scott Jimenez is a relatively new friend. He attends the church where our son-in-law was pastor until recently. While we haven’t had many conversations, we’ve been together in Sunday school classes and church services during our visits there, and sometimes at Wednesday night men’s group. Scott , has recently published a book, and I asked if I could interview him for the blog. So here it is.
Q. Your first book is PTSD: A Theological Approach. Tell me something about your life experiences that led you to write this book.
A. I was an officer of Marines; went to war; then became a Navy chaplain, often to Marines; then became a VA chaplain, working with Vets who had PTSD. I worked within the psychological and medical models we had. But, 22 Vets a day still commit suicide. Something was not being addressed.
Q. What differentiates your book from other books available dealing with PTSD?
A. I wanted to find something holistic. I went back to the Bible, and found, in the conquest of Canaan, my answer. There are currently no theological approaches to PTSD. Because it is Biblical, it has been tested for over 4000 years, so it is the premier evidence-based solution there is. And, because it is Biblical, it works for other types of PTSD, on trauma, and on stress.
In Exodus 15:26, God gives us a name for Himself, Yahwe Rapha. Rapha is generally translated as to heal. But there is another meaning, to restore. My book focuses not just on healing, but on restoration. Not restoration to what we were in the past, but restoration to the Image of God we were originally made in.
Q. What do you want someone suffering from PTSD, or loved ones of a sufferer, to take away from your book? How do you hope they will be helped?
A. That they are not alone, that there are safe places where they can be listened to, that there is a community built in faith that can become their new friends and adoptive family, that there is healing, and that normality is searching for a new normal.
Q. Do you have a follow-up book planned? If so, what’s it about, and what is a target time for its release?
A. The next book I am writing and hope to have out by Christmas is tentatively titled Too Blessed to Be Stressed: How the Church Speaks to Stress. It focuses on the subjects we often don’t discuss in church, but need to. Topics such as: Unplanned Pregnancy, Abortion Recovery, Suicide, Dying and Death, Immigration, and Biblical Identity are just some of the topics that seem taboo to discuss. Why? They happen, and if they happen, we need to talk about them.
Q. And, any long-term plans for other books or writings?
A. I have one on articles and blogs I’ve written called Articles of Faith. I am compiling a 365-day devotional with a daily Bible verse and short thoughts. Perhaps a title might be Pensados. I also want to do a children’s book on the story of my mother’s journey from the mountains of Colombia to Colombia’s Caribbean coast. This journey happened when she was about 12. It is a story of peril, of grit, of resourcefulness, and about what life was like 70 years ago in a foreign land far away. I want to call it Maruja: Crossing Colombia. My last book would be about, and called, Collected Sermons.
Scott’s book is available at Amazon in several formats: hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and e-book. It is also available at Barnes & Noble (online and some retail stores) and Christian Book Distributors.