Rating: 
Summary: FINALLY . . .
Review: Finally, someone has given victims and survivors a voice! Rev. Miles does an excellent job of addressing abuse within the church that has been perpetrated both, from the pulpit or from the inactions of leadership. Miles does not skirt the issues but challenges clergy of both genders to confront the myths, faulty theology, false beliefs and teachings that have perpetuated abuse within congregations. Rev. Miles' first hand knowledge of the inadequacies of clergy motived him to develop and give seminars to equip pastors.
He accomplishes this by applying truth to four myths. The myths are:
1)There are no abused women in my congregation.
2)Christian survivors need only faith, prayers, and a positive attitude, and God to be freed from domestic violence.
3)Domestic violence occurs only in certain cultural, racial, and socioeconomic groups, and only in urban areas.
4)Victims can stop the battering by changing their behavior and this will save their marriages and families (50-69). Rev. Miles' work is invaluable for two of reasons. First, he helps pastors who wrestle with theological issues. Miles clarifies such issues as headship and submission, the hierarchy of the family, the relationship between man and woman, forgiveness, and the grounds for divorce. And he focuses on the responsibilities of pastors to educate their congregations in dealing with the victims of domestic violence, including the perpetrators and their children.
Second, as this awareness increases in pastors and congregations, victims, who turn to their pastors more than to any other resource, will finally receive the understanding, counseling, and moral support they need to improve their circumstances.
Miles is utterly convinced and convincing that teamwork is the only solution to domestic violence. "Even with proper domestic violence education and training, which many ministers do not have, ministers (or those in any other discipline) would still be taking a risk to act as lone rangers when it comes to caring for battered women. Victims need not only spiritual support, but also the emotional, financial, legal, physical, and psychological care of individuals with a wide range of expertise" (71).
He analyzes the reluctance of pastors to become involved. He finds five underlying reasons, " . . . denial, fear and helplessness, lack of appropriate training, sexism, and the fact that some clergy are themselves perpetrators of domestic abuse" (166). Miles discusses these reasons in depth. Collaborating with other professionals helps "victims break the isolation and provides them with options for achieving safety in their lives," (72) giving victims the sense of control they need.
Miles addresses the inaction of both clergymen and clergywomen. He says, " . . . their inaction has actually contributed to the violence perpetrated against women and their children" (168). And clergywomen, by choosing to believe " . . . that since most of the perpetrators of violence against women and children are males, it's up to male pastors and other men to 'fix the problem' are actually helping abused women to remain victims" (168).
I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to know the truth of how and why domestic violence has been and is still perpetrated within the walls of the Christian church.
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative, Hard Hitting!
Review: My major is Human Services focusing in Victimology. I have long suspected the church was/is not doing all it can when it comes to counseling victims of domestic violence. Basically, Pastor Miles, gives members of the clergy clear guidelines to deal with a subject some have long been in denial about. There are some very clear choices here: either counsel these victims with some degree of common sense; or, the next time they see them they may be performing their eulogy.
Rating:
Summary: Great Resource For Pastors
Review: This book is a wonderful resource for Pastors! When I wrote "Battered But Not Broken: Help For Abused Wives And Their Church Families" in 1996 (see my booklisting on Amazon.com) I was very concerned about the lack of appropriate information available for the Church. Little by little, more books have been written on the topic of domestic violence within the Faith community. Everyone who works with victims of domestic violence within a Church setting should read this book! Patricia Riddle Gaddis prose@dnet.net Author: Dangerous Dating (Waterbrook Press, 2000) and "Battered But Not Broken: Help For Abused Wives and Their Church Families" Judson Press, 1996
Rating:
Summary: Great Resource For Pastors
Review: This book is a wonderful resource for Pastors! When I wrote "Battered But Not Broken: Help For Abused Wives And Their Church Families" in 1996 (see my booklisting on Amazon.com) I was very concerned about the lack of appropriate information available for the Church. Little by little, more books have been written on the topic of domestic violence within the Faith community. Everyone who works with victims of domestic violence within a Church setting should read this book! Patricia Riddle Gaddis prose@dnet.net Author: Dangerous Dating (Waterbrook Press, 2000) and "Battered But Not Broken: Help For Abused Wives and Their Church Families" Judson Press, 1996
Rating:
Summary: A MUST HAVE
Review: This book shows the uphill battle of abuse myths. An easy read, particularly for those just learning about domestic violence. It gives practical and sound advice that every minister must know.
Rating: 
Summary: Battered Christian Man
Review: What every pastor needs to know won't be found in this book. This heavily biased book takes the popular radical feminist approach that domestic violence is an all male phenomena: MAN BAD! WOMAN GOOD! If one merely looks at the U.S. Dept. of Justice Statistics you've already got the proof on this one big lie, but you will find other misleading "facts" not based in fact. Isn't one of the ten commandments, "Thou shalt not lie?" How many falsehoods does one need to discover before trust in the author is totally lost?
Perhaps the greatest fault that I find in this book is that, on the subject of domestic violence, Pastors are portrayed as ignorant, sexist bigots. This has certainly not been my experience when confronting the caring clergy I know on this complicated issue.
I believe that this author is extremely deficient by not addressing the domestic violence that occurs against men in the church and how their lives are effected. How should a pastor confront a woman who is battering her husband and then lying about it as well? No help is offered as to how a man can escape the cycle of domestic violence in his family. Yet this author fails to recognize this greater need of men than women since not one penny of the billions of dollars allocated to violence against women can legally be spent on sheltering or helping battered men
Also, you will never find anything in this book addressing the fact that the real agenda of the radical feminists' movement, in bringing domestic violence misinformation into the church, is primarily to sow the seeds of discord and destroy the power of this last bastion of the patriarchy. They view the mere existence of a male dominated clergy as abusive to feminist women and their goals. Undoubtably the subordination of that is more the intent of this book than helping women and men with issues of domestic violence. This book has been weighed in the balance and found gravely wanting.
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