In this post we introduce the latest volume in the Routledge Focus series “Rape Culture, Religion and the Bible.” This book has the title Abuse in World Religions: Articulating the Problem. It is the first of a pair of volumes edited by Johanna Stiebert. The second, Abuse in World Religions: Towards Solutions, is due to be published next month. Both volumes are open access and the first can be downloaded here.
How did the book come about?
This volume is one output of a large AHRC-funded project with the title “Abuse in Religious Settings: Organisational Cultures, Public Policy and Survivors’ Experiences” (AH/W003112/1) (see more here). The now concluded project, which was led by Professor Gordon Lynch (now at the University of Edinburgh), has focused on spiritual abuse and religious trauma from a range of perspectives that centre survivors. Johanna’s part of the project involved a series of workshops aimed at exploring abuse in religious contexts that include but are not limited to Christian ones. The collaborations that preceded and arose from the workshops have contributed to this volume.
How does this book relate to rape culture, religion, and the Bible?
The book opens out religious studies discussion on spiritual abuse to extend beyond the primary focus on Christian settings and situations. It emphasises the diversity and reach of spiritual abuse, providing snapshots and examples from five major religious traditions: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Sikhi(sm).
Most of the chapters show how religious contexts can contribute to abuse of multiple kinds, including forms of gender-based and sexual abuse. While such abuses are not more prevalent in, let alone confined to, religious contexts, certain features of such contexts – such as hierarchical and patriarchal structures, for instance – can promote abuse.
Sacred scriptures including those of the Bible, appear in all chapters. Sometimes sacred scriptures can contribute to harm; sometimes they facilitate healing. (The latter is covered more fully in the second volume.)
Sexual harm and domestic abuse are also discussed in these chapters. Both are manifestations of rape culture.
What are the main themes of the book?
Following a definition of “spiritual abuse” and a qualification of the application of the designation “world religions,” the five chapters – all by subject experts – demonstrate that spiritual abuse occurs across multiple traditions.
The chapter on Judaism is by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen and Yehudis Fletcher and explores several female characters of Jewish scripture. All the characters are abusively treated in the texts but they also offer models of resistance.
The chapter on Hinduism is by Elizabeth Motswapong and Tshenolo Madigele and explores the plight of Devadasis.
The chapter on Christianity is by Helen Paynter and examines domestic violence and its cover-ups in Christian settings.
The chapter on Islam is by Rahmanara Chowdhury and Rabiha Hannan and investigates institutional, domestic, and scriptural abuse.
Finally, the chapter on Sikhi(sm) is by Harjinder Kaur-Aujla and Christopher Wagstaff and presents and analyses a case study of a British Sikh woman who experienced domestic abuse.
Who can benefit from this book?
The book will appeal to academics of religious studies with interest in rape culture and spiritual abuse, as well as to upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates, and to religious leaders, or leaders of faith-based organisations, seeking to understand and to confront spiritual abuse and rape culture in their own communities.
Being one of relatively few publications so far that explore spiritual abuse beyond Christian settings, the book aims first, at distilling a series of snapshots, and second, at opening new conversations and creating networks of survivor-centred knowledge production and support.
The book is open access. We hope many of you will read, consult and engage with it.
