5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #5: “Talking About Spiritual Abuse Will Just Lead to False Accusations Against Pastors”
In anticipation of the Nov 8th release (note: it’s been bumped back a week!) of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, I am making my way through a 5-part blog series on misconceptions and misunderstandings of spiritual abuse. You can read prior installments here, here, here, and here.
We come now to the final misconception in the series: “Talking about spiritual abuse will just lead to false accusations against pastors.”
As I have engaged the topic of spiritual abuse over the last several years, I have observed a repeated sentiment that pops up again and again. … Continue reading...
5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #4: “Spiritual Abuse Is Not As Harmful As Other Kinds of Abuse, So We Shouldn’t Worry Too Much About It”
In anticipation of the Nov 1st release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, I am making my way through a 5-part blog series on misconceptions and misunderstandings of spiritual abuse. You can read prior installments here, here, and here.
We come now to misconception #4: “Spiritual abuse is not as harmful as other kinds of abuse, so we shouldn’t worry too much about it.”
In my research for my forthcoming book, I was a bit surprised to discover how many people think that the harm caused by spiritual abuse is a distant second (or even third) … Continue reading...
What Does It Mean To Be Winsomely Reformed?
There’s been a lot of discussion in the last year (and the last week) of what it means to be winsomely reformed. And, sadly, the loudest voices have been undeniably against the idea of being winsome. It has been critiqued as wishy-washy, a failed cultural strategy, or as an expression of weakness rather than strength.
While this is certainly an important conversation for any evangelical right now, it is particularly relevant for Reformed Theological Seminary because we have historically emphasized the importance of being winsomely Reformed.
Indeed, I can still remember that I was asked about this issue in my original faculty interview, back in 2001. The concern was not … Continue reading...
5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #3: “The Bible Doesn’t Talk about Spiritual Abuse–It’s Just a Modern Psychological Construct”
In anticipation of the Nov 1st release of my new book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, I am making my way through a 5-part blog series on misconceptions and misunderstandings of spiritual abuse. You can read prior installments here and here.
We come now to #3 in the series: “Spiritual abuse is not in the Bible or church history—it’s just a modern psychological construct.”
A number of folks may balk at the idea of spiritual abuse solely on the grounds that the terminology itself is relatively modern. If it does not appear in the Bible (or church history), it is argued, … Continue reading...
5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse: #2: “Spiritual Abuse is Only a Problem in Independent Churches That Have No Established Church Polity”
In anticipation of the Nov 1st release of my forthcoming book, Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022), I am working my way through a new blog series, “5 Misconceptions about Spiritual Abuse.” You can find the prior installment here.
We now come to the #2 misconception in the series: “Spiritual abuse is only a problem in independent churches that have no established church polity.”
In the research for my book, I was surprised to see the widespread nature of this sentiment. Across the board, folks regularly expressed the idea that authoritarian, domineering pastors must be linked to a church polity that … Continue reading...