Addiction, Theodicy, and the Theology of Sacred Brokenness
This essay proposes a comprehensive theological framework for understanding addiction through the integration of contemporary addiction theology with Jewish mystical concepts, particularly the kabbalistic doctrines of tzimtzum (divine contraction), Shekhinah consciousness, and the vav ketia (broken vav) as paradigm for sacred brokenness. Drawing upon the work of Walker, Godlaski, and colleagues on the Augustinian underpinnings of Alcoholics Anonymous; Hopson and Moses on Pauline paradox in addiction treatment; Messer on neuroscience and theological determinism; Morgan and Jordan on pastoral theology of addiction; and Chen on existential suffering in recovery, this study demonstrates how these diverse theological approaches find synthesis in a mystical framework that transcends conventional theodicy. The essay argues that addiction represents not merely a medical disorder or moral failing, but a profound theological crisis of divine presence and absence that requires what we term 'hermeneutic medicine'—an approach to healing that treats the addicted person as a sacred text requiring interpretive engagement rather than mere diagnostic intervention. Through examination of therapeutic tzimtzum, the dialectic of divine concealment and revelation, and the phenomenology of suffering as sacred witness, this work offers healthcare practitioners and pastoral theologians a framework for understanding recovery as participation in cosmic tikkun (repair), wherein the brokenness of addiction becomes the very site of redemptive encounter.