Sexual Assault

The horrors of sexual assault continue to plague the church in a variety of ways, which has led me to talk about the subject in most of my classes and begin writing on it. The following two papers began life as conference presentations and I am now in the process of publishing them. I’ve included brief summaries of them here.

The Rape of Tamar

The media is full of stories about churches that protect church leaders who have committed sexual assault. After surveying the data and stories, this paper uses the story of Tamar, Amnon, and David to warn churches what will happen if accounts of sexual assault by church leaders are swept under the rug. Spoiler: it will be far worse than if it was dealt with much earlier in the process.

 “The Story of Tamar, Amnon, and David as a Cautionary Tale for Those Ignoring the Sexual Sins of Church Leaders” (2019 ETS Annual Meeting)

Battlefield Rape in the Ancient Near East

As part of a book review panel of William Webb and Gordon Oeste’s book Bloody Brutal and Barbaric, I examined their claims about battlefield rape in the ancient Near East as compared to the Old Testament. The relevant point is that as barbaric and violent as the Assyrians and Egyptians portrayed themselves, sexual assault was not used as a weapon even by these empires. In contrast, the Old Testament recognizes the horror of this part of warfare and condemns it.

 “Battlefield Rape in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament: Hiding and Exposing the Horror” (2020 ETS National Meeting)