Setting the Captives Free: A Christian Theology for Domestic Violence

by Ron Clark

"Abuse is a problem that needs to be understood, addressed, and challenged. The abused are humans in the image of God who need to be protected, loved, and empowered to stand with us and walk through life with respect and dignity. When God brings a victim to us, we have a responsibility to love them as we want to be loved and be faithful to that responsibility. We must make sure that they and their children are safe, protected, and given the chance to live in peace and love. Abusers are also humans who are in the image of God, and they need to be taught how to live and respect all others. They must be confronted and challenged to change or face prosecution by our legal system and our spiritual communities.
"I believe that the faith community is in a great position to address this problem. We have a God who grieves over the violence that occurs in families. Yet we have a God who grieves even more over the fact that spiritual leaders have failed to act as servants of Yahweh in this respect.
"The rest of this book is an appeal to you to gain an understanding of what it really means to face domestic violence and how to help bring peace and wholeness to victims and their children caught in the web of abuse. It is an appeal to you to confront those who abuse others rather than shut your eyes . . . ."
--from the Introduction

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2005

About the author

Ron Clark is a minister/church planter at the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, OR. He and his wife Lori led a small team in 2006 to begin a congregation reaching those in abuse, homelessness, prostitution, and addiction. Agape continues to partner with local agencies to help people experience freedom, self respect, and joy. They believe that Jesus' call to Christians and Christian leaders is to be a resource for their cities.

Ron is adjunct instructor at George Fox Evangelical Seminary and teaches Pastoral Counseling, Addressing Domestic and Sexual Abuse, and is a dissertation adviser for Doctoral students.

He and Lori have been married over 25 years and have three sons and a daughter in law.

Reviews

[Jessica Brazeal Slaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I was really pleased with Clark's coverage of the issue. He included correct statistics, a correct conceptualization of the dynamics withing domestic violence, and had a clear and strong stance regarding the church's response to this issue. The one area that I felt concerned about was his assertion that the victim and the church should confront the abusive partner. While I understand and support the abuser being held accountable, I thought he needed to be clearer in his explanation on how and when he meant for this to occur.

All in all, well done.