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Confronting
abuse
by Marianne Arbogast
While Martin Luther stressed the solemn responsibility of parenthood, he failed to question the assumption that children were property and took physical punishment for granted. And while he recognized human sexuality as a blessing (albeit a "marred" one) and showed sensitivity to women’s experience of rape as violence, he employed startling metaphorical rape imagery to describe Christ’s work in the soul. For survivors of sexual and domestic violence, the Lutheran tradition is ambivalent, carrying some themes that can be helpfully emphasized and others that must be rejected.
This is the subject of an article by Mary Pellhauer, a retired Lutheran seminary teacher and child abuse survivor, in The Journal of Religion and Abuse: Advocacy, Pastoral Care & Prevention (Vol. 2, No. 2), a quarterly journal addressing issues of abuse from an interreligious, interdisciplinary perspective, published by Haworth Press and edited by Marie Fortune of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.
Founded by Fortune in 1977 in Seattle, Wash., the Center marks its 25th anniversary this year. From its beginnings as a resource for education, training and pastoral care of survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse, the Center has grown into an internationally recognized organization addressing a wide range of issues through a multicultural lens – from clergy sexual abuse to child abuse to healthy teen relationships. Staff members have produced an array of books, videos and workshops on these themes, and publish a quarterly newsletter, Working Together, which is available on the Center’s website, <www.cpsdv.org>. The Journal of Religion and Abuse was launched in 1999.
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Too often our religious communities have been roadblocks for victims and survivors. Many women have been abandoned by their communities, shamed with guilt trips while their perpetrators have had a license to continue their abuse. The final consequences of all this has been the destruction of families, of individuals and an erosion of people’s trust in their religious institutions. If our religious institutions are going to be of any help in this whole situation, they need to begin with confessing that they have not been helpful up until now. No woman should ever be forced to choose between safety and her faith community. She should be able to access the resources of both, advocacy and shelter as well as a faith-based support or counseling response. These two resources should be working collaboratively to provide consistent advocacy and support for safety and healing for victims or survivors. If a woman is put in the position of having to choose, she will often choose her religious affiliation and community because it is familiar and because it is a high priority in her life. If she finds leadership that does not understand her experience and does not empathize with her experience and proceeds to blame and shame her, she will be further cut off from the resources she desperately needs. – Marie Fortune, excerpted from "Domestic Violence: The Responses of Christian and Muslim Communities," Journal of Religion and Abuse, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2001 |
Despite the Journal’s academic format, the articles collected in it are, with rare exception, remarkably jargon-free and accessible to a wide range of readers. Many, like Pellhauer’s on Luther, examine aspects of religious tradition (primarily Christian, Jewish and Muslim) that bear on issues of abuse – from scriptural interpretation (the rape of Dinah in Genesis 34) to liturgical custom ("giving away" the bride) to pastoral practice (positive and negative models of the Church’s work with prostitutes). Some address social and psychological issues that affect particular groups, such as the pangs of disloyalty that Jewish women can feel if they speak out on domestic violence in the Jewish community.
Substantial book reviews are included in each issue of the Journal, and some issues contain transcripts of panel conversations – in one issue, a dialogue on "Men and Women Working Together to Stop Violence Against Women" sponsored by a Presbyterian men’s organization; in another, a conference presentation on the responses of Muslim and Christian communities to domestic violence.
"There is no question in the overall strategy to end sexual and domestic violence, that our congregations, mosques, stakes, etc., as well as our denominations, movements, and organizations are key to the effort," Marie Fortune wrote in a recent issue of the Journal. For anyone pursuing this goal within a religious institution, The Journal of Religion and Abuse is an important resource.
Marianne Arbogast is The Witness’ associate editor.
