Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome

Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome: Christian Women and Domestic Violence is article written by Kathryn Joyce on Religion Dispatches. Kathryn is also the author of, "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement"



This article was written about Saddleback Church's position on domestic violence, divorce, and how they feel it should be handled. I had written prior how I think their stand on how you 'can't escape the pain' so you need to separate and figure this things out is an unrealistic view of the overall picture he is attempting to address.

The article in question goes into that audio I spoke about, and also another one that speaks about miserable marriages. Tom Holladay decided that he could qualify what he feels as domestic violence as being, "habit of beating you regularly". A SHOVE doesn't qualify you see!

Three writers that I have spoke about here prior were quoted within the article.

Jocelyn Andersen of Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence

and

Danni Moss of Because It Matters

and

Barbara Roberts, Australian author of Not Under Bondage: Biblical Divorce for Abuse, Adultery and Desertion

They speak about the experiences that they have had within the Christian church while dealing with domestic violence within the home. They also speak of their reactions to Saddleback's conclusions.

The article ends:

Refuting Saddleback’s position on biblical grounds is direly important, says Roberts, to account for the different and additional burdens Christian women experience in weighing whether to leave a marriage. “Devout Christian believers are more intensely bound by their desire to obey God: their very real Savior, who they do not want to displease in any way. Christian victims thus put a positive internal pressure on themselves to ‘stay, submit, pray, forgive, and forget the previous abuse because that would be holding unforgiveness.’” Simply put, Roberts says, “A Bible-believing Christian woman needs a biblical argument for leaving a dangerous marriage because she loves God and wants to obey the Bible…Her scriptural dilemma can only be solved by applying and properly interpreting more scripture to counterbalance and correct her unbalanced emphases and misunderstandings.”

It’s to that end that Roberts and her fellow travelers are amassing a library of resources—novels, personal testimonies, and exegetical material—for women to whom secular reasons for leaving can’t appeal. Perhaps what’s most compelling about the existence of these seemingly contradictory stances on women’s rights, submission, complementarianism, and abuse is the fact that complementarian teachings and domestic violence are both large enough issues within the evangelical church to give birth to such an array of approaches. These including such nascent theological attempts—neither quite feminist nor complementarian—to help give biblically literalist women a safe exit.

Definately a good article, and worth checking out! I encourage you also to go and visit the author's blogs and websites as well. I have read Woman Submit, and I'm currently finishing Not Under Bondage. I want to say both are worth the investment! Check them OUT! Educate yourself so you can take the stand that God wishes you to when it comes to dealing with domestic violence within the church!

If we don't speak about Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome nothing will ever change! Stand up for your right Bibically, and with your education we can all save alot of lifes within the church!

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