Healing Violent Men : A Model for Christian

Violence, forgiveness, and healing

Domestic violence is a widespread, though largely invisible, problem, often exacerbated by the pastoral urge to "keep the family together" at all costs. Yet if that is not a solution, how should the church relate to batterers?

"I believe that the Christian community, if it is to be genuinely a community of healing and hope, must attend to both the victims and the perpetrators of domestic violence", says David Livingston. Addressing the complex phenomenon of intimate violence against wives, lovers, and children, Livingston profiles batterers and battering and traces it to larger cultural pathologies. He explores the ambiguous role of religion and then offers practical advice of pastoral and programmatic efforts to embrace simultaneously the twin Christian imperatives of forgiveness and responsibility.

David J. Livingston is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Mercyhurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania. In his prior work with the Nashville Coalition against Domestic Violence and since, he has counseled batterers and devised and implemented community-wide treatment programs

Preface	p. ix
Violent Men in Our Communities: The Dynamics of Intimate Violence	p. 1
The Ambiguity of Reconciliation	p. 3
Encountering Violent Men: Revulsion and Hope	p. 5
Working with Violent Men	p. 6
The Dynamics of Domestic Violence	p. 7
The Stages of Violence	p. 12
Power and Control	p. 15
The Possibility of Healing	p. 24
Violence: Destruction of the Mysterious Human Center	p. 26
Cultural Influences on Violent Men	p. 26
Are Men Inherently Violent Creatures?	p. 29
The Hydraulic Model	p. 30
A Girardian Interpretation of Violence	p. 32
Ready to Snap like a Mousetrap	p. 34
Gender and Violence	p. 35
Media and Violence	p. 37
Interpreting Violence as Constructive or Destructive	p. 38
Crime and Punishment: Constructive or Destructive Violence?	p. 39
The Warnings Offered by Violence	p. 44
Does Christianity Throw Gas on the Flames of Violence?	p. 47
The Classic Symbol of Marriage	p. 48
The Marriage of Hosea	p. 49
Historical Christian Interpretations of Marriage	p. 50
Wives Be Submissive	p. 53
Rape in Marriage	p. 54
The Theodicy Question	p. 56
Marriage as a Symbol of Hope	p. 57
Images of the Divine	p. 59
God in Control	p. 59
God as Omniscient and Omnipresent	p. 61
God's Vulnerability in Christ	p. 62
Reconciliation: A Model for Addressing Male Violence	p. 64
The Biblical Logic of Reconciliation	p. 66
Reconciliation in the Early Christian Tradition	p. 67
A Thomistic Interpretation of Reconciliation	p. 69
Contrition	p. 70
Confession	p. 74
Satisfaction	p. 76
Absolution	p. 77
Reconciliation: A Responsible Approach to Intimate Violence	p. 81
Scarring: An Important Metaphor for Understanding Violence	p. 83
Healing the Individual: Reconciliation in the Individual Sphere	p. 85
Contrition: The Recognition of the Face	p. 87
Confession, Satisfaction, and Absolution	p. 87
Healing the Interhuman Sphere	p. 89
Healing the Community: The Social Level of Reconciliation	p. 93
The Dialectic of Reconciliation	p. 96
Appendices
Indicators That a Man May Kill His Partner	p. 99
Accountability	p. 102
Control Log: Men's Education Groups	p. 104
An Annotated Website Bibliography	p. 106
Notes	p. 109
Selected Bibliography	p. 121
Index	p. 127
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Healing Violent Men : A Model for Christian Communities

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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