The Reverend Shanell T. Smith is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and associate professor of New Testament and Christian origins at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She is the author of The Woman Babylon and the Marks of Empire (Fortress Press, 2014) and contributor to Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in the New Testament (forthcoming). She lives in Hartford, Connecticut.
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"Shanell Smith guides readers on a soulful journey through the spiritual abuse church folk inflict when they silence, shame, and ignore survivors. But she does not leave us there. On she leads--down that slow, hard, but life-giving road to hope. To healing. To being better--for survivors, for ourselves." --Linda Kay Klein, author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free, and founder of Break Free Together "Shanell Smith's book is profound, significant, troubling, difficult, and deeply faithful. Smith writes with characteristic practical and profound passion. She tells a candid story about the church and sexual assault--a story filled with practical wisdom for both survivors and those who love them. Touched is powerful realness and practical wisdom for anyone touched by sexual assault." --Katherine A. Shaner, Wake Forest University, School of Divinity "Touched is a transformative volume that professional caregivers desperately need. Shanell Smith has provided a life-giving gift for wounded healers with a desire to help and not further harm those who find their way to us. The wisdom within these pages are a must read for people of faith in this new millennia in the age of #MeToo." --Shelley D. Best, President & CEO The Conference of Churches and The 224 EcoSpace of Hartford, Connecticut