Abstract
This article explores how it is possible to love again after experiencing violence. What scars does violence leave on this human capacity? And what exactly is violence? Do we need other's permission to claim we were violated or is our inner experience to be the judge? Drawing from Aristotle Papanikolaou, the concept of theosis understood as a way of learning to love is explored first in identifying the effects violence has on human soul and its ability to love and later in search for remedy in attempting to love again after violence.
Since violence, as explored by Judith Butler, is a complex phenomenon that escapes any attempts of simplified definitions, those responses will touch upon its various forms and contexts as lives of individuals, society and social structures are concerned. The question of how God, spirituality and tradition can be of help will be addressed, so as also to what extend a person who suffered or perpetrated violence is to take the journey to love again on his or her own and, following Dorothee Solle, what role a community might have in this endeavour.