Full Description
This timely work addresses the problems of coercive control and hypermasculinity in church readings of the bible, examining the role that biblical texts play in the experiences of survivors and perpetrators of gender-based violence and domestic abuse.
The volume is entirely transdisciplinary in approach, including work from scholars representing biblical studies, practical theology and psychology as well as practitioners working as church leaders, charity workers, and social workers. The contributors consider ways in which university researchers working on the bible can assist in the practice of church and charity workers who actively support survivors of gender-based violence. The work also provides a space for academics to listen to the work of church and charity practitioners in order to reconsider and reshape future research agendas.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Part One: Coercive Control
Introduction - Holly Morse, The University of Manchester, UK and Kirsi Cobb, Cliff College, UK
1. 'Yes, You Too: The Magdalene, the Madonna, and Conditioning for Coercion.' - Siobhán Jolley, National Gallery and Kings College, London, UK
2. "'Has No One Condemned You? Neither Do I." Exploring Confession, Absolution, and Trauma Related Shame.' - Beth Keith, St Mark's Church in Sheffield, UK
Jolley and Keith: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
3. Male Indifference in the Curses on 'Daughter Babylon' in Psalm 137: 7-9 and Isaiah 47: 1-15 - Meghan Hansen, independent scholar, UK
4. Voices from the Ground: "Church Is not a Safe Place for Me." - Robyn Riggans, Founder and CEO of WORTH (Women on the Road to Healing), UK
Hansen and Riggans: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
5. "But Love Holds Me There": The Problem of the Theological Legitimation of Domestic Abuse through the Lens of "Control." - Katie Cross, University of Aberdeen, UK
6. '"Why Doesn't She Just Leave? An "Applied Theatre" Approach to Engaging the Church with the Issue of Coercive Control.' - Matt Britton, theatre director, Press Red, UK
Cross and Britton: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
7. 'The Bible is Filled with Landmines!' - Exploring the Use of Biblical Discourses in Experiences of Coercion and Control - Lisa Oakley, University of Chester, UK
8. The Blind Onlooker: Psychosocial and Theological Reflections on Improving Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Churches - Colin Perkins, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, Diocese of Chichester, UK
Perkins and Oakley: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
Part Two: Hypermasculinity
Introduction - Holly Morse, The University of Manchester, UK and Kirsi Cobb, Cliff College, UK
13. Reclaiming our families: Raising Children in a Toxic World - Bekah Legg, CEO of Restored, UK
14. Onward Christian Soldier? 'Neo-Muscular' Metaphor and 'Biblical' Discourses of Hypermasculinity in the Promise Keepers' Tender Warrior - Charlotte Thomas, University of Exeter, UK
15. Legg and Thomas: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
16. "Preaching from Mars Hill": Mark Driscoll, Paul and the Inflected Rhetoric of Ideal Masculinity - Andrew Boakye, University of Manchester, UK
17. Reflections on Men, Domestic Abuse and the Church - Ollie Lamping, Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Service with Bracknell Forest Child Social Care and Bright Hope Church, Reading, UK
18. Boakye and Lamping: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
19. The Effects of Patriarchal Belief Systems Upon Males Born into High Control Religious Organisations - Claire Alison Hams, University of Chester, UK
20. 'Wanting a Macho Jesus': A Crisis of Masculinity and the Cross - Will Moore, Westcott House, Cambridge, UK
21. 'It's Raining Manliness': The Complex Interaction of Hyper-Masculine Ideals in the Gospel of John' - Anna Budhi-Thornton, University of Manchester, UK
22. Hams, Moore and Budhi-Thornton: Reflections on the Collaborative Process
23. Holly Morse and Kirsi Cobb: Conclusion
Index
