Writing About Religious Trauma
In this intimate six-week workshop, Sara Moslener will guide writers through telling personal experiences and trauma related to religion
Paid Narratively Academy members get 20% off all classes, including this one. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to join—or to get the paid member promo code if you already are a member.
Cost: $495
Class size limit: 10
Writing is the craft that can free us from the hauntings, but it often means turning around and staring the ghouls in the face.
Sara Moslener is the author of two books on evangelical purity culture and has been teaching university courses for over fifteen years that focus on the religious roots of racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. In this intimate six-week workshop class, Sara will guide writers through telling personal experiences and trauma related to religion, and you’ll start to share your own story with an instructor and peers who appreciate the unique nature of religious trauma and can help you represent it with accuracy and compassion.
The work of writing is hard enough and the complications of religious trauma can sink us into despair or they can be composted into creative fuel. This workshop will offer raw materials for cultivating the latter. We will spend time reading and discussing theories of religious trauma (a new field in both trauma and religious studies) in order to learn and use its language. We will read creative writers who have navigated this terrain in their fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Each participant will also have the opportunity to workshop a piece of their own writing during one of the class sessions.
This is the right class for you if…
You are navigating religious trauma and are seeking strategies for using those experiences as a creative resource.
You are seeking a creative community where the study of religion and the harm it can cause is taken seriously.
After this class you’ll have…
Resources for understanding the nature of religious trauma.
A vocabulary that offers genuine compassion and insight into religious-based harm.
A project that has been workshopped in a community dedicated to building resilience for the creative writer.
This class takes place on Thursdays from 7-9, starting on June 11, 2026 and ending on July 23, 2026 (taking a break on July 2). All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world. Sessions of this class will be recorded and shared with all enrolled students in case there are any you have to miss, but live attendance at a majority of sessions is required.
Instructor Bio: Sara Moslener, PhD. holds degrees in theological and religious studies. She has been teaching university courses for over fifteen years that focus on the religious roots of racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. She is the author of two books on evangelical purity culture, including Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence (Oxford University Press, 2015) and After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America (Beacon Press, 2025) which was supported by the Luce Project on Religion and Sexual Abuse. She and her work have been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Sojourners Magazine, Jezebel, Religion Dispatches, Religion & Politics, Religion News Service, and The Baffler. She has appeared on numerous podcasts and in 2023 released her own series Pure White: Sexual Purity and White Supremacy with Axis Mundi Media.
Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.
50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.
No cancellations after the class start date.
Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.
Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.