It is not my enemies who taunt meI could bear that.... It is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.... Ps. 55:12-13The paucity of resources for pastoral care of acquaintance-rapesurvivors highlights the invisibility of this growing crime and its largely uncharted pastoral challenges. In fact, most rape is by an acquaintance. Only 16 percent of such cases are reported; and, because they are difficult to prosecute, only 5 percent of those reported result in guilty verdicts. Focusing on the psychospiritual effects of this sexualized violence, Kristen Leslie offers the psychological and theological tools to religious professionals for understanding the deep spiritual trauma of the survivor and how best to work with her to reconstruct a personal world of meaning, trust, and faith. Based on extensive interviews with survivors, Leslie explains the personal and theological issues they raise, what they found helpful from religious professionals, the images and metaphors most germane to their trauma and recovery, and how they coped with or healed from the experience of rape. An exemplary and important study in practical theology, Leslie's volume will not only equip pastoral caregivers and counselors with specific guidelines. It will also enlighten them on the crucial role that theology can play in the re-construction of shattered lives.
Kristen J. Leslie is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Yale University of Divinity School. Her main research focuses on intercultural pastoral theology; womanist and feminist pastoral counseling, pastoral theological implications of sexualized violence and pastoral care with young adults. Her educational background includes a B.A. from The College of Wooster, Ohio, M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School, New Haven, MA and PhD. from Claremont School of Theology, CA. Ms. Leslie has written When Violence is No Stranger: Pastoral Counseling with Survivors of Acquaintance Rape (2003). She also co-authored with Gloria Johnson and Kathleen Greider in Three Decades of Women Writing for Our Lives, as well as publications in Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology (1999). Along with her publications she is actively involved in many memberships. Currently she is with American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, National Association of College and University Chaplains, and Society for Pastoral Theology. She has also presented for United Methodist Church at the Detroit Annual Conference.
Preface 1. Introduction 2. Facts and Theories about Acquaintance Rape 3. The Survivors 4. A Pastoral Theological Framework 5. Pastoral Care and Acquaintance Rape 6. When Violence Is No Stranger Bibliography Index
