When Did we See You Naked?. Группа авторов

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ in the torture and sexual violence experienced by Jesus – if anything – that saves us. In true feminist fashion, Starr reads the gaps in the stories, considering who is left out, whose story is not told, and why.

      In ‘Jesus is a Survivor: Sexual Violence and Stigma Within Faith Communities’, Elisabet le Roux builds upon qualitative research based on the lived experiences of survivors of sexual violence in various African countries undertaken by faith-based organizations. In this chapter, Le Roux considers the cultural contexts and perspectives that inform understandings and responses from individuals and faith communities that lead to stigmatization and pressure to conform and/or stay silent.

      Ruard Ganzevoort, Srdjan Sremac and Teghu Wijaya Mulya creatively tweak the words of Matthew 25.40 in their title ‘Why Do We See Him Naked?: Politicized, Spiritualized and Sexualized Gazes at Violence’. They offer a critical perspective on the differing ways in which we see, understand and make meaning of sexual violence, and explore how this applies to Jesus’ crucifixion. Drawing on academic conversations between sadomasochism and Christian theology, they ask how the torture practices of the cross can be seen by a Christian audience as both sexual and spiritual.

      In ‘The Crucified Christa: A Re-evaluation’, Nicola Slee critiques the representation of the abuse and humiliation of women in Christa figures and discusses how Christa figures might bring the nakedness, sexual humiliation and abuse of Jesus into clearer public view. From a feminist and practical theology perspective, Slee argues that the gendering of nakedness as female in Christian thought and representation may act as a further barrier to recognizing the significance of Jesus being naked on the cross.

      Writing from Botswana, Mmapula Diana Kebaneilwe combines womanist theology and critical discourse analysis methodology in ‘Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse: A Womanist Critical Discourse Analysis of the Crucifixion’. In this chapter, Kebaneilwe draws on the lived experiences of women in Botswana and explores how the stripping of women as an act of public sexual humiliation and abuse in Botswana can inform a reading of the stripping of Jesus and vice versa.

      Finally, with Part 4: Sexual Abuse, Trauma and the Personal, we gather together stories and reactions from survivors and those close to them. They consider the legacy of sexual abuse and the ways in which victims, survivors and the ones who love them make meaning of the experience. They ask searching questions for which there are no easy answers.

      The chapter from Beth R. Crisp entitled ‘Jesus: A Critical Companion in the Journey to Moving On From Sexual Abuse’ begins this final section. Crisp provides a personal victim/survivor account, considering the various tools and resources available within the Christian tradition and her personal faith that enabled her to reclaim her experience. She then explores issues related to communal responsibility and solidarity.

      From the perspective of those who bore witness to Jesus’ abuse, Karen O’Donnell explores what bystanders and witnesses are called to do in her chapter ‘Surviving Trauma at the Foot of the Cross’. O’Donnell calls us to an ethical activism that is informed not just by solidarity, but also by bearing witness and embodying a love that prioritizes survival out from the depths of fragmentation and death, and into life. Moreover she also constructs and includes a liturgical resource based in the Church of England (Anglican) tradition that takes the needs of victims/survivors and their community to heart.

      Shanell T. Smith writes a raw and powerful account entitled ‘“This is My Body”: A Womanist Reflection on Jesus’ Sexualized Trauma During His Crucifixion from a Survivor of Sexual Assault’. Smith is a womanist New Testament scholar and writes a personal reflection on the ongoing legacy and pain of sexual abuse and the questions that remain in relation to Jesus’ experience in the light of her own. This chapter reflects Smith’s 2020 publication touched: For Survivors of Sexual Assault Like Me Who Have Been Hurt by Church Folk and for Those Who Will Care.

      The volume concludes with ‘Seeing His Innocence, I See My Innocence’, written by Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, who are fellow co-editors for this volume. Their chapter reflects the findings from a qualitative research project with women who served in religious orders and were victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Figueroa and Tombs present responses from several women as to what acknowledging Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse means for them and how helpful that acknowledgement may or may not be in relation to their own personal experience.

      We have formatted the notes and referencing in a way that makes the scholarship as accessible as possible in order to facilitate further learning and research. Readers will note a diversity of sources. The work here is not limited to academic and biblical scholarship but also takes into account public sources such as news media, podcasts, TV series, poetry, fiction and other ‘everyday’ sources that help us make sense of what we encounter on a daily basis.

      We believe that understanding Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse matters in ways that might not be obvious at first. This is partly because truth matters, and this truth has been hidden for too long. It is important to be honest in naming the things that over 2,000 years of Christian tradition have largely not been named. However, we believe that naming this truth does more than just correct a historical record about the past. It is a truth that matters in the present because it can make a practical difference. For the wider Church, it can help to expose and challenge the stigma that many in the churches mistakenly impose on survivors of abuse. Some survivors feel a personal sense of solidarity and practical support in seeing that Jesus experienced sexual abuse. Other survivors report that Jesus’ experience should be acknowledged as historical fact but they do not take comfort in this as survivors. They say the concern for practical consequence should be directed at the wider Church rather than being seen as a help to survivors. It is important to hear these different responses and understand the experiences behind them. Understanding Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse will mean different things to different people. Diverse voices need to be heard and we hope this volume will lead to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ experience and further conversation on how and why this experience matters.

      Our hope is that with this volume the reader is challenged, encouraged and given tools to reconsider the story of the cross and what these reconsiderations mean not only for victims and survivors of sexual violence but also the Church as a whole. Ultimately, what makes this work distinctive and constructive is its commitment to testing whatever theological constructions and new forms of knowledge are made by setting them alongside the lived experiences of victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse. The following chapters offer new opportunities to question assumptions in received traditions and to think anew about the passion story, and they provide new tools and reading practices that work toward liberation, justice, healing and life.

      Notes

1 See also David Tombs, ‘Crucifixion, State Terror, and Sexual Abuse’, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 53:1–2 (Autumn 1999), pp. 89–109; Elaine A. Heath, We Were the Least of These: Reading the Bible with Survivors of Sexual Abuse (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2011); Wil Gafney, ‘Crucifixion and Sexual Violence’, HuffPost, 28 March 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-wil-gafney-phd/crucifixion-and-sexual-violence_b_2965369.html; Michael Trainor, The Body of Jesus and Sexual Abuse: How the Gospel Passion Narrative Informs a Pastoral Approach (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2014); Chris Greenough, The Bible and Sexual Violence Against Men (London: Routledge, 2020).

2 See especially John Neafsey, Crucified People: The Suffering of the Tortured in Today’s World (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014).

3 Indeed there has been very little serious discussion of the historical Jesus in relation to any form of sex and sexuality. Church traditions have sustained an association СКАЧАТЬ