Eyes Wide Open: Gathering Up Shards of Stained Glass Ears wide Open: Hearing the “Holy Hush” (original) (raw)

The Church's Response to Domestic Violence

The Church has a central role in the intimate partner violence crisis plaguing society. Faith leaders are sought out more frequently by victims in crisis than anyone else. This paper addresses how faith leaders respond to those cries for help.

Domestic abuse in the household of God

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2007

The article compares the victimization that takes place in a dysfunctional abusive household and that which takes place in the household of God (Eph 2:9) where the bride of Christ (2 Cor 11:2) is abused at the hands of individuals that constitute what we know as the church system. This is often directed at the poor, individuals belonging to minority groups or those who for various reasons are unable to stand up against a system such as the Christian Church. The “analogical-familial theology” of Stephen Post is used as starting point. This “theology” involves four sequential, but nonlinear, stages: covenant, grace, empowering, and intimacy. The article broadens the spectrum of the theory beyond the family unit and to apply it to the broader family that belongs to God, the church. The aim of the article is to use these components from the analogical familial theology as framework and also as the criteria by which the experiences of those who see themselves as victims of abuse in the c...

Churches addressing domestic violence : the spaces between discourse & identity

for recognizing my potential and strengths and for pushing me to develop my voice and vision for my scholarship. I would also like to thank Nancy Nason-Clark for inviting me to be a part of the RAVE project. This dissertation project began with the invitation to join the RAVE team. In addition to Nancy, I would also like to thank my RAVE colleagues Barbara Fisher-Townsend , Steve McMullin, Lanette Ruff, and Catherine Holtmann for including me in the development of RAVE. Finally, this particular dissertation project would not have been possible without the amazing vision and synergy of the TREE founding group. To Kim Gage Ryan, Elaine Lawless, Heather Carver, Emilie Rollie, Debra Mason, Peggy Baum and Kim Webb, I am so proud to have been a part of this dynamic group of scholar/activist/ practitioners. I also want to thank all of the TREE participants who engaged in this project and inspired your faith communities to open up dialogue about the DV/SA.

Domestic Violence among Christian Women in the Church 2015

Domestic violence in the church has received alarming criticism; Pastors have always had problems addressing the issue of domestic violence in the home. A vast majority of clergymen will not speak on the issue of domestic abuse and feel it is acceptable for women to stay in abusive relationships; notwithstanding, the outcome may not be favorable. The church is definitely not exempt from Christians misinterpreting God's word. This paper will show that an overwhelming number of women are still compelled to follow their church teachings as well as their clergymen instructions to forgive and move on even in a crestfallen situation.

The church facing its shame over domestic violence in its midst: a pastoral counsellor’s response

St Marks Review, 2018

This paper explores the church's response to the issue of domestic violence and the ways in which it responds to survivors of domestic violence. The ways in which collective shame over the issue of domestic violence is explored as a contributing factor to failure to respond well the whole matter. "As a new relationship counsellor with a church-based counselling agency in the early 1990s, I was sent for training for dealing with the issue of domestic violence. Many of the agency's clients were church members; some were clergy families. Early on during the training, the trainer made a statement that I found somewhat startling for someone who had had little experience of domestic violence in my own family. He said that when he was working with a couple who had come for counselling, he always assumed that domestic violence was present unless demonstrated otherwise. Internally I railed against this assertion, naively believing that in the "nice" population of Christian clients I would be seeing at the agency, domestic violence would be present very occasionally, but that it was not something I should be routinely expecting."

Manuscript - MA (Practical Theology) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND PASTORAL COUNSELLING

This study investigates the consequences of domestic violence for the people who are subjected to this kind of abuse. South Africa has a high incidence of domestic abuse, along with a high crime rate in general. The study aims to contribute to pastoral counselling with people who have suffered domestic abuse. The approach of the study is to bring insights from the field of psychology into dialogue with insights from Scripture and spirituality in order to provide a counselling model for pastors who are often the first to be approached for help. The South African Domestic Violence Law is evaluated. The causes of domestic violence are analysed in order to clarify why it is specifically rampant in South Africa. Disturbances that result from domestic violence are described in order to provide a deeper understanding of the effects of domestic abuse that pastors will encounter in their practice. Two counselling models that are deemed useful to pastoral counselling with victims of domestic abuse are narrative therapy as developed by White and Epston and the Logotherapy of Victor Frankl. These models provide the counsellee with the prospect of hope and meaning of life for the future.

Claiming church as a space for healing and re-authoring pastoral support for those abused in intimate partner relationships

Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 2024

Social Justice frameworks continue to challenge citizenship. The notion of disabling oppressive powers and systems has remodelled a new consciousness around human rights, diversity, inclusion, and liberation for humanity. Within the church landscape, it has also gained traction, uncovering oppressive Christian tradition and patriarchal ideologies that have negatively affected women in various facets e.g., socially, economically, and mentally. Feminist thinkers like Schuller Fiorenza have flagged gender blindness in reading Paul’s letters, advocating for radical equality. Joining the voices of many feminist pastoral practitioners who are advocating for liberation, this paper reimagines transformational reading of the Bible particularly the reading of Galatians 3:28 and 1 Corinthians 7 as a means of claiming space for women. The paper also envisions braver spaces necessitating pastoral praxis by privileging women’s lived experiences. Voices emerging in academic spaces are making a phenomenal contribution to necessitating feminist consciousness and creating awareness about the systemic and structural layers of oppression where the marginalized can embrace their vulnerability and build solidarity support through listening to others’ experiences. This contribution is far from changing the landscape, as it disrupts theologies that have for the longest time a seedbed for male domination. Advocacy work around gender-based violence and academic work done on domestic violence has broken the silence about the abuse in the church. Toxic theologies that pinned down women survivors to stay in abusive marriages are the subject that is constantly interrogated as a means of holding the clergy and women accountable. More of such salvific work is geared toward healing men’s consciousness because patriarchy harms men with all its forms of oppressive systems, practices, and cultures that perpetuate gendered abuse. One critical question of all time is, where to from now? Black women who are survivors of violence in their homes have grasped how situations led to the reality of their oppression, they can name their pain. Yet, they remain stuck in defining what it is like to claim space for their healing and reconceiving change without being harmed. How does the church navigate conversations that affirm women survivors so that they bounce back and thrive in their social circles? What intervention strategies and resources can the church employ in accompanying the GBV survivors toward their healing and wholeness? What alternatives can offer social change? This paper asks a critical question – How can faith spaces as well as community practitioners engage GBV survivors on theological processes and resources to enable debriefing? The paper intends to reflect on how the bible can be a vital tool to affirm those whose lived experiences include gender-based violence mainly in intimate relationships. The engagement thereof makes claims that the church can redeem itself by becoming an invented space for healing so that all those who profess Imago Dei can be seen and heard such that they thrive, witnessing to the God of justice. Keywords Citizenship; justice; pastoral support; praxis; GBV; survivor; feminist thinking; hermeneutics

Christian Norms and Intimate Partner Violence in The Holy Spirit and Social Justice Interdisciplinary Global Perspectives History, Race & Culture

The Holy Spirit and Social Justice Interdisciplinary Global Perspectives History, Race & Culture, 2019

Go to Chapter 8 of this book proof. Christian Norms and IPV: Lessons from the 2016 Jamaica Women’s Health Survey The 2016 Jamaica Women’s Health Report (WHRJ) was the first comprehensive study of the nature and prevalence of violence against women and girls in Jamaica. It aimed to examine, in particular, the factors that are associated with violence against women and girls, the impact of violence on women’s physical and mental health as well as the various coping strategies employed by women in response to abuse. The WHRJ noted the intimate partner violence (IPV) was among the most prevalent kinds of abuse suffered by women and girls in Jamaica. It maintains that social and cultural norms were significantly associated with violence against women: “violence against women is abetted by cultural beliefs and practices, such as defining masculinity in relation to power and domination (natural head) and intergenerational violence, which propagate contexts in which violence against women is buoyed” (p.). Surprisingly, no mention is made of the impact of religious belief on this phenomenon - perhaps because religion was subsumed in the cultural beliefs and practices?). Or was the salience of the religious/spiritual dimension of the person missed? Yet religion shapes people’s understanding of their world in a significant fashion. The indications of the religious framing and grounding of these issues are seen, however, in the framing of male power and domination in terms of “natural head”, which serves as an explanation of the relationship between Jamaican men and women. Nonetheless, the WHSJ's silence on the impact of religious factors is particularly surprising a country like Jamaica, which is putatively religious with Latoya Lazarus describing it as “Christian-saturated”. At the same time, even more surprisingly, the Report notes that women who are subject to IPV do not seek assistance from the church or other social services like women's organizations In neither case does the Report suggest reasons. These are two very telling findings that beg for interrogation from within the Jamaican context where cultural norms and practices are significantly shaped and supported by Christianity. This chapter attempts to probe the nuanced relationship that may exist between IPV and certain Christian interpretations of male female relationships such as the natural “God-given” headship of the male. In addition, it interrogates why women are less willing to seek assistance from religious organizations. It does so by beginning to establish answers to these questions. Such knowledge of the dynamics at play can assist in pastoral care of women in the Caribbean who are the sufferers of intimate partner violence. In the absence of survey data that speaks directly to the question, the discussion mines the news stories concerning domestic violence and the Church in the major national newspaper, the Jamaica Gleaner, over the last three years. Among the reasons surfaced are the silence of the Church on the matter oftentimes in a bid to maintain membership (the Bible is against divorce), the implication of church leaders themselves in IPV, and the belief that divorce is a dangerous trend for family life and men’s role in the family. Clearly, sacred texts like the Bible and pastors and ministers, who are the elite interpreters of this text, play an important role in how the issues of IPV is framed. When it is highlighted through sermons and other mechanisms, women may feel safer to come forward. However, when it is absent from pastoral discourse, women will keep silent, seeing the issue as their own personal struggle and the cross God has given them to bear (For indeed, "Gad naa gi yu mo dan yu kyan bier").

Troubled homes: Pastoral responses to violent and abusive families

Pastoral Psychology, 1988

This article seeks to address five areas of concern for pastoral ministry with families which are violent or abusive. The topics covered are legal responsibilities, recognition of conditions which promote violence or abuse within homes, the role of cultural differences in assessing family violence and abuse, the potential for disruption in cases of reported abuse and neglect, and dealing with issues of blame and responsibility. Five "strategies" or suggestions for ministering to these families within a congregation are offered at the end of the article.

The Changing of the Gods: Abused Christian Wives and their Hermeneutic Revision of Gender, Power, and Spousal Conduct

Qualitative Sociology, 2006

In this manuscript, I use interpretive theory to explain how two formerly abused Christian wives exposed a more contextual and liberatory interpretation of gender, power, and conduct within the Christian marriage. Through narrative, I illustrate how meanings from the Bible and alternate ideological contexts helped them revise and subvert once oppressive hierarchal teachings on conduct and authority within marital submission. I also explore their discursive cultures and convictions to examine how text and interpretation hindered initial trajectories toward removing victimization. Future research on domestic violence and women should consider the religious contours of the experience and the processes that facilitate their meaning making. Qualitative inquiry can help expose the messages and strategies that compose abused religious women's oppression and agency.