The purpose of this study and book is to research and create a tool and process for both immediate and long term disaster spiritual response. It is to be called “Sacred Turf: Storytelling After Disaster.” It will build upon my doctoral work done at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia which was titled “Megaphor” in which I studied the power of story in our understanding of God’s involvement with humanity and in the communication of faith. This project will seek to explore the use of individual and community storytelling as a spiritual tool for individuals and communities recovering from disaster. It will seek to assist persons of all faiths discover within their stories the sacred narrative that lives within them The premise of the study is to explore the connection between the chaos individuals experience following a disaster and the establishment of a foundation of hope upon which recovery can be based. The project will focus upon the re-ordering one's internal "sacred story" [Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, 1980, University of Chicago Press] after that story has been damaged by natural or "man-made" disaster (such as terrorism).

The study will result in a book on the subject followed by a User Manual and training designed for faith based community leaders and Disaster Spiritual Care providers.

The term “Sacred Turf” refers to I call “Kadel’s Law which asserts “When things don’t add up, you are treading on sacred turf.” It also implies my belief that God is active in the midst of disaster and that the locus of that disaster becomes, therefore, sacred.

The project will have three phases: 1) Development of the Premise, 2) Testing of the Premise, and 3) Production of a Book and related resources for those who provide spiritual care to others who have experienced disaster. This grant proposal will focus on Phases Two and Three.