Theological Analysis
From what I observed, the theological assumptions was that despite her abusive situation, she was required to stay in an abusive environment because she had always been taught of the sins of divorce. What do you say? How do you encourage a woman to pray to a God who has “allowed” her to live at the hands of an abusive man. How do you tell her that everything will be okay? Then I remembered the comments made by one of my classmates who stated “the woman has to reach a point of being tired and realize her strength.” With this statement now plaguing my thoughts, I realized that her reaching out for help signified her “strength”. It displayed that she was ready to reclaim her life; but the question still lingered, how do you interject “God”. She believed God expected her to survive and cope with her situation in order to remain “obedient”. My theological assumption was she potentially suffered from poor image of self. I don’t believe she understood her dignity of being a virtuous woman, who has value for the simple fact that she was made in the image of God. Being abused by her husband probably provided her with a distorted view of marriage, submission, and God’s intention of hierarchy and authority. I naturally empathized with her, viewing her as a victim who has been victimized on many different facets.
Many other theological issues are also intermingled with the situation pertaining to her abuse. There is an element of guilt, shame, blame, anger, fear, and injustice. Romans 7:21-25 is biblical text which provides some insight into how to give a person the opportunity to recognize their dignity and self-worth. It is important to reiterate that she is a woman of value because she is made in God’s ...
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...in being successful in my counseling. The final area in which I identified is obtaining more knowledge on the effects of abuse. This is critical when reaching out to others in their time of need. In order to provide a comfortable environment for someone to share freely, one must truly feel safe and free. My previous preconceived notions no longer obstruct my ability to reason and understand. Domestic violence is an unspoken epidemic where countless women live in silence because they have been faced with people who just don’t understand. To put it more accurately people who just don’t want to understand. As before mentioned often it is through someone else’s pain that we can subtly begin to see the good. My own personal pains have offorded me such an opportunity. With my continued growth I can only remain optimistic about the counseling which is yet to come.
In Queen’s “Being Emotionally Abuse: A Phenomenological Study of Adult Women’s Experience of Emotionally Abusive Intimate Partner Relationship”, focused on a total of 15 women, who have been emotionally abused from an intimate partner relationship and wanted the women to describe, “What is it like to live the life of a woman who is emotionally abused by her intimate partner?” When experiencing emotional abuse, it can be express as “not easily detected; it is non-transparent in there is no physical markers.” (Bornstein 2007, Campbell & Humphreys, 1984; Evans 1996; Gelles & Strauss, 19888; Kurst-Swanger & Petcosk, 2003, O’Leary 1999; Walker, 2000). The emotional abuse can be very hurtful towards the women at times because while in the cycle of the relationship, the woman cannot tell when something bad or good will happen. While this is happening, she begins to lose strength that she once had before and in away she is trapped inside her own mind. With physical harm, individuals outside the relationship can notice the bumps and bruises on the skin. Alma, a young mother of three pre-teen girls describes her personal experience with emotional abuse as, “I was very restricted. He wouldn’t allow me to contact my mom...my family, my friends. After I had my daughter, I wasn’t allowed to go to the doctor. I could only go to take my daughter...I didn’t know anything about our checking account..I didn’t have my own money.” When thinking about emotional abuse, understand that you cannot see the “bumps and bruises” but you can still see the effect it has on the partner by using their minds as their weapon rather focus upon the individual. According to Queen and others, after their research, they would define
Who could be better at helping one heal than Christ, who suffered every sin, and felt every emotion during the Atonement? Through Him, a victim of abuse can find forgiveness- and forgiveness can heal deep wounds and replace them with the love of Christ. In 3 Nephi 12:44, one of my favorite scriptures, Christ said “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.” By letting the Atonement and words of the prophets into their hearts, victims of abuse will be able to stop the cycle and truly heal. It’s my testimony that abusers will have to answer to Christ for the horrible acts they have committed, and that Christ, in his perfect love, will extend healing to those who have been hurt by the unrighteous use of agency by
Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960’s with Black Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its ideas are pretty old, which can be clearly seen in spirituals sang by Africans during the time of slavery nearly 400 years ago.# It was through these hymns that black liberation spawned. Although Cone is given credit for “the discovery of black liberation theology,” it’s beliefs can quite clearly be seen in the efforts of men like preacher Nat Turner and his rebellion of slavery in mid 1800’s or Marcus Garvey, one of the first men to “see god through black spectacles” in the early 1900’s. More recently black theology emerged as a formal discipline. Beginning with the "black power" movement in 1966, black clergy in many major denominations began to reassess the relationship of the Christian church to the black community. Black caucuses developed in the Catholic, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. "The central thrust of these new groups was to redefine the meaning and role of the church and religion in the lives of black people. Out of this reexamination has come what some have called Bla...
Instead, she’s turned her personal triumph as a domestic abuse survivor into a platform to help other victims. She would provide women with a place where they could talk freely about their experiences. The members would all be women who understood what domestic abuse is like, and why it can be so difficult for women to leave. Besides, she says, “I wanted to educate about domestic violence in our community since it is so misunderstood. Usually, people don 't know the warning signs of [domestic violence]. After deciding to leave your abuser some people don 't understand how to move forward in a healthy environment or relationship, because they don 't understand what normal is anymore.”
Many people have heard about the “Black Lives Matter Movement”, “Feminist Movement”, but one of the most important “Movements” in American history is the Harlem Renaissance. After slavery was abolished racism was still intense. Due to this, expression and racial pride were the only real opportunity for African Americans to find their identity while dealing with white oppression. Also, the economy was developing and there were many available jobs in the North, attracting lots of African Americans because of the opportunity to become financially successful. The Harlem Renaissance was considered a “Renaissance” because it was a “rebirth” of the african american community, through inspirational art. The many different manifestations these African
Spiritual Side of Domestic Violence Organization (2009). Can abusers change? Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org/id32.html
Pamela Cooper-White presents various types of violence women experience today followed by an examination of pastoral responses in her book, The Cry of Tamar. The introduction with the Biblical passage, The Rape of Tamar, sets a precedence of not only the history of violence against women but also the gender bias women have been and are subjected to. As the book points out, the Church’s responses are often a reflection of the patriarchal society which re-victimizes the woman rather than seeking justice for the violent crimes against them. While there is some noted progress, Cooper-White presents suggestions for pastoral responses to better assist those who experience this violence and striving to educate society to stop gender bias violence
Shortly after Rachel was written in 1916, the New Negro Movement began to gain traction in the African American community. This broad cultural movement focused on promoting a public image of African Americans as industrious, urban, independent, and distinct from the subservient and illiterate “Old Negro” of the rural South. Unlike his predecessor, the New Negro was self-sufficient, intellectually sophisticated, creative, knowledgeable and proud of his racial heritage (Krasner, Beautiful Pageant 140). While these concepts had been promoted since the turn of the century, it was not until 1917-1918 that they began to crystalize as a concerted effort among African American intellectuals. These men actively supported the creation of black drama because they recognized that “At a time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through…a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through art” (“New Negro Movement” 926). The New Negros therefore shared the same overall goal as black intellectuals such as DuBois, but believed that black artists should focus on presenting the reality and beauty of the “black human experience” instead of an idealized vision of what life should be. Ultimately, the transition from “political” art to that which held creativity in high esteem was complex and divisive. Fortunately, just as Dubois emerged as the primary advocate of the former Political Theatre, so too would Alain Locke help guide the New Negros to support the idea of Art Theatre.
Thistlethwaite writes on how the Bible may be interpreted by a dominating patriarchal view, where men use the Bible as a source to account for the abuse given to these different women. Yet, she also mentions how there is also a feminist biblical interpretation, interpretations that allow these battered women to see a different side of the Bible, to be interpreted in a way that favors them, that defends them and claims how important they are to God. The main thesis in Susan Thistlethwaite’s essay of Every Two Minutes; Battered Women and Feminist Interpretation is pointing out the problem of husband against wife violence in Christian families based on a misogynistic interpretation of the Bible. She points to this misogynistic interpretation
During 1980’s and 1990’, the countries was exploded with burgeoning protest activities for ‘anti-globalization’. However, Black movements crossed national and oceanic boundaries which “collectively breaks the territorial and classificatory boundaries” in 1950s to 60s even before ‘globalization’ occurred. Martin stated that the black movement has a value as a victory of National liberation movement by the accepting of diversity and multiculturalism. Also, it publicized continuous global movements against global racial inequalities. The author asked the question about how the black movement succeed as “world scale and world-creating movements.”
At the age of nine, her nineteen-year-old cousin sexually abused her. Adding to the sexual abuse, her uncle molested her at the age of fourteen-years-old (Adler 13). In a book about her life, she exclaims “I know what it is like to lie in bed and know that the other person is there, and you are pretending you are asleep, hoping he won’t touch you” (Adler 15). While growing up, she moved around a lot and as a young child, she would receive harsh chastisement and whippings as punishment for wrongdoing (“Oprah Winfrey”). Although she had a rough childhood, she did not let that stop her from growing into a strong
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr. Black lives Matter movement is that is working for the validity of Black life.
Joyce Hamilton Berry, a clinical psychologist in the Washington D.C. area states that “women often find themselves in such circumstances because society puts the burden of maintaining the relationship or marriage on the female. She says in everyday social interactions we continue to hear comments such as "She let her man get away" when in fact the woman never had him, or perhaps he lost her. By the same token, many abused women believe they did something wrong and that is why they are abused” (Norment 126).
It is not always easy to determine in the early stages of a relationship if one person will become abusive. Abusers may often seem wonderful and perfect initially, but gradually become more aggressive and controlling as the relationship continues. Violence and control always intensifies over time with an abuser, despite the apologies (ncadv.org). I Choose Life attempts to give a voice to the victims and survivors of domestic violence. Along with, offering an understanding to domestic violence, we construct educational seminars and programs that will help to drive that change. Domestic violence is the sole responsibility of the abuser.
According to the book review at Barnes and Nobel.com, “Black Power was one of the clearest manifestations of the movement's change of direction in the late 1960s.” Black Power was a change set out by one man to give rights back to black people and put an end to prejudice and imperialism. One of the goals set out by Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton, the authors of Black Power was to make black people stronger and overcome the subjection of a white society. Suppression by whites was the central problem trying to be solved. Attempting to achieve a new consciousness of the problem, by responding in their own way to a white society, was the overall goal of the movement.